A thread for lower earners to discuss!

[AlexBalex]

AIBU to make a thread for lower earners?

I feel like every thread I read on MN is full of middle to high earners or just posters where it's commonplace for a household to be earning really high amounts like £80k, £100k, £150k.

Now I fully understand the national average is approx. £30k. But does nobody on here and their partner take home minimum wage each resulting in a household income of about £45k?!

In real life I'm surrounded by plenty of 'low earners' but the representation on here seems to be massively skewed the other way.

Where are all the retail staff, hospitality staff, nurses, school teachers etc? Apologies, I don't know the salaries of these roles but they're understood to be below the national average right?

Just wondering if anyone with a not insanely high, lower than average household income (i.e. less than £60k) exists out there?!

Thoughts welcome, was just looking for a discussion really as fed up of reading about 'high earners' all the time .

Council tax support? I certainly don't get that and I get UC. That is for people who work barely any hour or unemployed.

Eh? I get £500 a month UC including housing element and my salary is £22k and I pay full council tax (with single person discount).

Have you applied?
Different councils have different schemes - and their own criteria. I used the benefits calculator from entitledto.co.uk then confirmed with the Council Tax Support calculator on my council website.

Of course I I wouldn't know your council rules but these figures are not far off people in my area. I don't think they are that accurate, the total benefit figure is 1.6K with the benefits calculator and the actual amount people get is a grand or slightly over. But, that's still a large amount.

And before people ask me 'how' I know this I've been helping quite a few people with their budgeting, forms etc etc. I'm good with numbers, forms and bureaucracy (not a sexy, but very useful skill). We don't have kids yet so don't claim anything for now...

Yeah, I claim everything I'm entitled to. Our council have quite a low cut off for council tax support. I had to pay over half of it when I was only working 16 hours a week so no chance now I work full time 😂 thankfully my rent is low.

*I put in a single mother earning 32K with 2 DC into a benefits calculator and came out with the below.

Whether it's 'enough' is one thing but it's certainly a large enough top-up that you're better off than someone earning more but with less benefit entitlement.

Total benefits entitlement
£404.96 / weekly
Our estimate is based on the information you have entered and does not guarantee entitlement. It uses 2023/24 benefit and tax rates.
This amount is made up of the following benefits:
Universal Credit£354.15 / weekly
We estimate your monthly Universal Credit award will be £1,534.66.
Council Tax Support£10.91 / weekly
Your full Council Tax bill of £26.60 per week will be reduced to £15.70 per week because of your entitlement to Council Tax Support.
This estimate is based on your local authority's Council Tax Support scheme but there are some rules for how earnings are treated that we are unable to include at this time.?
Child Benefit£39.90 / weekly*

Single mum here earning 30k with 2 dc and I get around £440 a month UC depending on childcare costs. That doesn't include child benefit. I have a mortgage so don't get "help" with that.

I bring home £21750 before tax and husband £25k before tax

This is why I get annoyed on these threads, and in general, and this isn't aimed at you personally. Your pre tax household income is slightly higher than mine, yet you're classed as a low income household and I'm not, even though my household only has one earner.

Less than 25k here. I'm self employed, hubby on disability benefits which never increase. It's hard.

I earn mid thirties but am a single person household so it doesn't stretch far at all, I think I'd be alright if I had someone else living with me earning an average salary but as I'm a parent to a six year old i wouldn't move my partner in. It sucks 🤣

A bit late…
*Single parent.
*42.
*1 teenager.
*£31.2k +UC + CM. Working to improve that before my daughter gets to 18 and the supplementary incomes end.
HA, though wouldn’t believe it with a rent of *£750pm for a 2BR flat.

Not late, I'm glad this thread is opening up again. It's been a really informative and interesting read. Thanks everyone.

Working to improve mine too, hi! My DS is 15 so I've got 3 years to get sorted. I'm only on £22k. To be able to live the same lifestyle I live now and pay my rent I need to be earning around £30k by the time the UC stops.

Hey! I have 3 years too. Keeping my fingers crossed for both of us ☺️

I’m 44 and a single parent to one teen. I work full time and earn £28k. I also receive child benefit and £150 per month child maintenance. Thankfully my mortgage is mostly affordable at £580 per month.

Don’t believe everything you read on MN OP - people can pretend to be whatever they want and can completely make up their earnings.

Thank you for starting this thread @AlexBalex.
I had to hide the other thread. I earn the average for my area (pro rata), which is a lot less than the national average. However, I work part time and don't even earn enough to pay tax.

I work in care earning £11 per hour. I worked part-time for a few years to accommodate my studying for a professional qualification, but since I finished studying last December, I work a lot of overtime hours - I guess I average £1,300 pcm. I'm not entitled to any benefits but do have a cheap all-inclusive rent of £460 pcm in an OK area of a pretty great city up north. Sounds great...until I remember I live in a houseshare with random folk and one of them is too lazy to flush the toilet after he pees.

I often daydream of living with a partner in a one bedroom flat, having two incomes coming in and having a better quality of life. I try not to think of the future too much because I get anxious about the insecurity of renting and not being able to afford anywhere privately. I'm 48, no kids, saving like crazy and will try shared ownership in a couple of years, if I haven't got enough money for a bigger deposit for a traditional mortgage. Housesharing sucks.

Well said @MrJollyLivesNextDoor

The people on mn are liars!! Apparently they all have incomes of 150k and moan about school fees!!

Why on earth would anyone lie about their earnings on an anonymous forum?!

Escapism?
you see threads get removed all the time for not being who they say they are and making up all sorts.