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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Work doesn't pay

205 replies

Bucketheadbucketbum · 02/05/2023 14:59

Just that really

Got a promotion . Started new role in april. This promotion was one that I secured after a hard fought year, means taking on extra hours and much more stress . Big impact on work life balance, kids etc. Worth it I thought ....

NO IT ISN'T!!!

Seems since this I've entered a near 100% tax on my payrise, so thanks to current tax setup in uk, my take home pay is static!!!!!! yet responsibility and hours gone up

Planning to resign the promotion from my job

Ridiculous situation!

OP posts:
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8
IpsyUpsyDaisyDoos · 04/05/2023 06:15

fitzwilliamdarcy · 03/05/2023 13:10

What boils my piss is that my tax is going to fund benefits for people on the same salary as me (or those in a household with double my earnings) who’ve decided to work less so they can pick up their kids or whatever. That should be a personal choice funded by their household, not the state. I can’t afford to reduce my hours - I’m single and have no dependants, so I need every penny I am paid and the prospect of promotion too. I’ve never been entitled to anything despite living in near poverty in the past, because I was a single adult.

The state isn’t there to provide you with more money because you’ve put all of yours in your pension or decided to go part time. That’s not what it’s there for, and I resent that my money is being given to anyone doing that.

And then you have people with disabilities and carers, who have to live on fresh air and who have no freedom to game the system to ensure their income goes further.

It’s a joke.

For the record, not everyone chooses to do the things that boil your p*ss.

I went part time to look after DC the other days. I didn't choose to do this for lifestyle reasons. I did this because in our income bracket we get ZERO benefits, whether we both work or not. If I worked full time, with what childcare would cost us I would be paying to go to work, which someone else looked after my child. Financially, it makes no sense for me to work full time at the moment. But I still pay tax. I still pay NI. I still contribute to my own pension and retirement pot. I'm not benefitting from YOU working full time at all.

Not everyone is doing it to sponge off you.

Mortimercat · 04/05/2023 06:59

TheRookie · 02/05/2023 15:07

If you are a higher tax bracket then it is quite scary how little a pay rise shows. My DH is, and he got £250 bonus recently. £84 in the bank 🤯

Rubbish.

BashirWithTheGoodBeard · 04/05/2023 07:12

notsurewherenotsurewhy · 03/05/2023 22:13

Yes - I'm in this position as a single parent, working full time for £53k, with substantial childcare costs and a fairly average rent for my modest and slightly overcrowded flat in a not-too-desirable corner of London.

I get a bit of UC for which I'm grateful, and which is an indication that by some equation I'm considered not to earn enough for my family's needs. And at the same time I pay back some of my CB, which is an indication that by some other equation (or - maybe - some very outdated arbitrary threshold) I'm considered to be a high earner. Meanwhile my employer expects me to turn in the kind of unpaid overtime they associate with a role paying relatively well in comparison with the national median etc.

My tax and NI contributions far exceed my UC and CB, although I imagine when you take into account the benefits in kind I receive (state schooling etc) I'm currently still getting out more than I put in.

I've deliberately chosen to avoid promotion until my children are old enough that my childcare costs drop dramatically, even though professionally I'm very ready. My next promotion would take me to £62k-ish, and my employer's expectations would increase accordingly, but the effective tax rate is huge. There's a real bottleneck in my profession after that point, and I wouldn't expect to take another promotion for at least 5-6 years. My life is demanding enough, I'm not prepared to tip myself over the edge for the sake of an extra £20 a month and the warm glow of being entirely out of the benefits system.

As in that article linked on the first page - this group should in no way be the priority cohort for whom the tax and benefits system needs remedying. We're not the heating vs eating households. But it is fucking stupid and I totally get where you're coming from OP.

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And for all the finger wagging, it's incredibly obvious why you'd just stay where you are for now and perhaps increase your pension contributions a bit. Your effective marginal tax rate wouldn't justify the effort.

The existence of these perverse incentives is a bad thing for society as a whole, because we lose out on labour. The sooner we all understand that, the better.

usernamealreadytaken · 04/05/2023 08:42

Bucketheadbucketbum · 02/05/2023 15:19

I don't pay 100% overall, but the additional amount I've earnt is effectively taxed at 100% as tip over a tax bracket, ni bracket, benefits lost

So net at the end of the month I'm no better off for working almost 20% more hours

I give up

Show quote history

This is what's wrong with the benefits system; people who are earning a decent wage feel hard done by because the state is no longer providing them with support that they no longer need, and instead they are actually having to work for their money. Unfeckingbelievable.

BashirWithTheGoodBeard · 04/05/2023 09:12

It's not really unbelievable though, is it? People wanting to see the benefit if they work more is actually pretty normal behaviour. Hence this whole discussion. The fix needs to be systemic, because berating people will do the square root of fuck all.

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