to think this should be more than enough to live of?

[Jennyscarkey]

I am feeling really shit at the moment. I never seem to have any money and I work long hours and thought I had a decent income. I’m one of the lowest paid in my team but I came from a poor background and I’m just grateful to have had the opportunity to earn more than minimum wage. Yet even though I earn more than I ever thought possible for someone like me and where I grew up, I don’t think I can manage my money at all? My take home pay is 3,600. I am a single parent and also get 300 on top of this for maintenance. My rent is 900 and my little girl goes to nursery full time and that costs 1,400 a month. I claim the tax free part. I don’t have other outgoings expect 200 a month on a loan and usual utilities. Don’t have sky or Netflix etc.

I have gone through my cards to see what I’m spending and honestly it is just food, petrol, entry to soft play or a lunch here and there. I don’t buy clothes or make up or go on holiday. I was paid again yesterday and I had 2 pounds left before the money came in. I just don’t know where I am going wrong? I will never be able to afford a mortgage at the way this is going.

I do benefit calculations as part of my day job. If the op is taking home £3600/m she could be entitled to claim UC. As she will have a work allowance, is paying rent and child care costs. Running those figures through a benefits calculator I can see a potential claim. The amount will depend on the exact figures.

The key is that she is paying rent so much will depend on where she lives and what proportion of her £900 rent can be included in her claim. The local housing allowance for a 2 bedroom property in her area will determine the maximum housing element under UC.

UC is replacing WTC/ CTC so working people with children and child care costs often can claim some UC, usually a relatively low amount. But it is always worth checking.

Really? Because type the info into any benefits calculator and you will be told you are not entitled to claim because your income is too high.

the government don’t pay benefits just because you’ve chosen to rent an expensive property. I would be shocked if any person on the OP’s salary would be entitled to anything at all. It’s classed as a high salary - higher than what 90% of the population earns.

Ooos just realised it says monthly

@Needsomesupport84

Everyone's circumstances are different. With UC there's no set income limit. Your research is incorrect.

Like others have said, it sounds like you're spending a fortune on food and 'bits'. A tenner a day leaking away on nothing is £300 pm.

You need to review everything as lots of little savings will add up and make a big difference

Do a money makeover and potentially save £1,000s - Money Saving Expert

For food, do you waste a lot? Eat expensive things all the time (fresh fish, imported fruit and veg etc?). Do you get toiletries and cleaning products when on offer or do you buy more expensive brands when you need them?

If you shopped more frugally, you could probably cut loads off your grocery bill without a noticeable difference in what you buy. Get whatever is on offer, or shop in Aldi/Lidl.

Set a budget for your lunches out and soft play etc. If you're doing these things regularly, the cost can really add up. You earn a decent salary, but not so much that you can spend what you like all the time without any effort to control the cost.

But there's light at the end of the tunnel. When your DC goes to school, you'll only need to pay for wraparound care, and your disposable income will increase significantly. But definitely do a benefit check today, with high rent and childcare costs, you may be entitled to some top ups and however small it is, every little helps and might entitle you to extra cost of living payments that are paid to everyone on UC.

Forgot to say, if you find 'food' a chore, Gousto/Hello Fresh might help as it will mean your main meals are taken care of. It's expensive, but not as much as popping into the supermarket for some bits and spending over £100 on things you don't need. Or try Lollipop, which is a similar experience, but your shopping comes from Sainsbury's so is normal grocery prices.

£300 maintenance?? How can these men get away with this. Surely at the very least (morally if not legally) he should be paying half of your childcare costs? Does he have joint custody?

The only thing I can see you’re spending much more on is the food shopping, you should not be spending that much in the supermarket for just an adult and a child.
If you can’t change that, you just need to wait till you’re no longer paying £1400 for nursery. That’s a killer even for a 2 income household. When you DD starts school, you’ll have at least £1000 extra that you can save for a mortgage so it’s just a matter of being patient till then and just to get some extra funds now, reduce what you spend on the food shopping.

Well! I tried the Turn2Us website, put in the details Op has provided (so assumed a £55k income, no pension, and used my own council tax liability), and it said she’d be eligible for more than £900 a month!

As I said benefits knowledge is my job. Of course it is impossible to prove that in any meaningful way in an anon forum 😅

I don't use online benefits calculators I have custom software to make calculations and I know my benefits knowledge is correct. But rubbish in rubbish out so the accuracy of a projection depends on the inputs (like completely accurate info on income and location).

Op it is tough out there at the moment, get any help you can and good luck.

Ultimately @Jennyscarkey it’s prioritisation. What matters more, expensive food shops and meals with friends or mortgage and a home?

I saved up enough for a deposit for my house when my full time job gave me £1,600 a month after tax. You have to make sacrifices to get on the property ladder (not saying this to beat you up, but after my rent and bills I had £1K - same as you, but I saved £800 of it). You know you’re going wrong somewhere so that’s a start.

Meal plan.
Stop the coffees.
Stop lunches.
Walk instead of drive.

It all makes a difference. I know lunches out are nice and eating good food is nice…but realistically you’re spending £200+ a week on food for you and DC. That’s bonkers. I don’t even spend that now and I buy organic, And have two large dogs to feed (they cost £130 a week!). Start by cutting down on what you’re buying food wise and the money will start adding up. :)

Many people assume your childcare costs will disappear when your daughter starts school, but this is not true. You can go down from 1400 to say 600-700 for a wrap around childminder, but there's no way it goes down to zero.

I find that hard to believe as I'm entitled to around 900 on a 1100 per month wage . Also have used turn 2 us website many many times.

I would be shocked if any person on the OP’s salary would be entitled to anything at all. It’s classed as a high salary - higher than what 90% of the population earns.

Prepare to be shocked, then. I don't know about OP specifically, but there are people whose salaries are so high they pay 40% tax and still get UC.

https://chasedeveremedical.co.uk/universal-credit-eligibility-expands-to-higher-rate-taxpayers/

https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/inconsistent-incentives/

You do need to have high childcare and rent costs to be a high earner and still eligible, but it's most definitely a thing.

Doesn't mean anything without also factoring in rent and childcare costs. That's not the way the system works. Someone who earns more than you can be entitled to more than you.

It certainly makes a mockery of the £50k CB rule as it's likely that the OP is entitled to UC because she's considered to need help, but at the same time won't receive CB because she earns 'too much'.

It is an utterly ridiculous situation. Not least because the CB system is bullshit. The title of that Resolution Foundation report I linked to is 'Inconsistent Incentives' which I thought was quite apt.

Another recommendation for YNAB here! I started last month after reading the support thread on it in the Money Matters section on here and it has already made such a difference to my attitude to money, because it makes you not just really look at where every penny goes, but also control your financial decisions more deliberately. That disappearing money thing just stops happening. You could also do the same thing with a spreadsheet, if you prefer.

I'm really struggling to get my head around a benefits system that offers hundreds of pounds each month to someone on £60k+ who's spending £200pw on food and groceries for themselves and a small child...

So is this why rents are going up? Because people in rentals can always claim more on UC?

I think you're doing really bloody well, well done. Single parenting, working to keep you both afloat, paying all the childcare, rent and bills on your own, that's huge in such a shitty economy! You actually deserve a pat on the back, there are so many others who falter in this situation and just give up, it takes so much energy.

Just keep in mind - those higher paid folks had to start somewhere, like you're doing now. Keep your eyes open for any opportunities to climb the ladder - e.g. internal training courses to build your skills, vacancies for the next step up, either internally or elsewhere. Make sure your management team know who you are & what you do - if you can get childcare to go to a works social event and make contacts which will be useful later, take advantage.

How do you think people on minimum wage manage to live?!

Yep. This is why rents are so high. In the 90s before caps came in and councils would just pay whatever, that pushed rents up because landlords took the piss, and this is why we are where we are today.

The fact that someone earning so much could be entitled to UC is fucking disgusting and anyone on that sort of money claiming it should be ashamed of themselves imo.

Totally disagree there. The "fucking disgusting" thing about benefits is how people are literally starving in the UK because they don't have enough to live on. The op may be able to get a bit of UC but it is less than she is paying out each month in tax. The only reason she will get some UC is that she is working and earning enough not to be impacted by the benefits cap. If she lives in an expensive part of the UK her LHA may be high enough to mean she gets some help.

The high costs of child care and rent in the UK are a problem will not be solved by lowered benefits rates.

The op may be able to get a bit of UC but it is less than she is paying out each month in tax.

I've paid income tax every year of a 43-year-long working life and never qualified for benefits. And indeed, was never in desperate need and so wouldn't have sought them. I was only ever in a higher rate tax band for a couple of years in all that time, so I've never been what most people would consider well off — but despite that I'd guess I'm better off than 60% of the population. The idea that because I've paid in I'm entitled to benefits has never crossed my mind. Benefits are supposed to be a safety net for those struggling at the bottom, surely, not for those who are managing okay.

And OP, I echo what others have said: you're doing well and by managing your money better you can build the savings you're aiming for. Starting off with a child or a new mortgage is always going to be hard, but it will get easier. The trick is learning to manage your money more carefully. Benefits can be withdrawn or changed at any time but if you know how to budget you'll always be fine.

I would suggest that a single parent paying 64% of monthly income in rent and childcare is likely to be struggling. But maybe that is just me. Benefits that are in recognition of housing and childcare are exactly how redistribution of tax should work. In my opinion. The attitude displayed on this thread is dismaying as there are real issues of inequality and poverty in the UK which are in no way caused by situations like the ops which will be short lived. And she will not be getting any additional support through benefits once her child is in school.