To not want to work more hours? (Universal Credit)

[Abneyandteal19]

Hi
Have never claimed benefits before except child benefit as we've always earns over threshold, situation now is....
3DC ages 4 (preschool) 6 and 8.

I work part time professional job management - but job share 15hrs PW. Income £14500

DH professional job in region of £60-65k has never been out of work until now. His contracts ended in Dec. Had a job lined up for Jan- company funding issues have meant they've delayed his start indefinitely. Of course he is desperately searching.

Done all calculations and looks like we are entitled to some UC, so filled in all forms. Have to agree to commitments, DH has to look for work log jobs applied for work coach etc...all fine no problem

But my commitments have come back with I must agree to look for more hours work. I am not sure I can do this... my job is job share split 40/60 so there are no more hours. I have my preschooler everyday I don't work.

Main point is we were just looking for a bit of help for a few months until DH starts and then gets paid for a new job. Chances are he will absolutely get one in next 3 months and then of course will will cease claiming anything and then me working part time will be totally fine again.

It's not that I don't want to work more just not that easy to find something for a few hours a week that will pay more than childcare will cost? Any thoughts/experience? So AIBU not to want to work more hours?

You’re in a secure PT job.

Tell them you’ll Agree to looking for jobs that fit around your current job as this is where you’re skilled and once child is old enough you’ll be switching to FT hours within this job so you’re not going to quit as it’s secure and you’ve been there X years already. doesn’t matter if you don’t got FT when they’re in school. Just tell them this is your plan.

My husband was let go/ fired unexpectedly (for asking for flexibleworking🙈) so for us uc did a months one off payment in advance and he found a job the next month. We then pay back that money and they are very reasonable with how you pay back how much and over what time ect. We have a baby under 2 and I'm working 16 hours self employed. You still have to agree to the commitments and do lots of interviews in person with them. They will want to find you any job under the sun. But if you're confident your partner will find something soon could be an idea if they will do this. Even if you apply for minimum wage 0 contract jobs won't necessarily get them anyway but they will see you're keeping to commitments. Obviously not a long term plan.

Job applications do take a long time to complete but presumably the OP will be home in the evenings and the dc will sleep fairly early in any case. He can work on the applications then, and at weekends etc.

Do recruiters really expect people to be available at the drop of a hat? If that were the case, nobody who was already in a job would ever be able to move to another job, and yet many do. In my experience, most recruiters will typically try to give at least a week's notice for any interviews etc, so there is time to make any necessary arrangements.

Your current household income is £14,000 or just over. That's not enough! Of course the state isn't going to say carry on for a few months and see what happens. You either have to have savings for that, or earn more and with two adults able to work in the household, that's just so little money you have to commit to earning more.

The state isn't interested if you are 'pretty sure' your husband can get a job in a few months time, how would they know that or ensure that?

There's plenty of p/t, almost immediate work, it takes about 2 weeks max to find a shop Sat job, and start, less for cleaning jobs and one of my children does temp work and that's immediate, she was hired for that evening. You don't have to wait around to pick up more money.

Come on, applying for jobs is tiring but not a full-time job, and you could either of you do a bit more temp work around that.

He would probably earn less in salary working in McDonald’s than he paid into the system 🤷‍♀️ you would probably earn less working f/t in a supermarket after paying childcare than you do now 🤷‍♀️ people on here just like to pile in and love to “ put people in their place” you need a bit of help for a short time, your husband has and will again pay in far, far more than you will ever take out! Just because the system is silly doesn’t mean you have to do something equally silly like throw away a hard earned career before you absolutely have too!

I want to know where all these full time jobs are that you can just walk into with no experience in that particular area. Or the part time jobs what you can just pick up that will work around an existing job. Even a 15 hour job you have to be fully flexible and it may require you to work 3 hours per day. How would that work if you already work part time full days. Not sure what planet some people are on

If your dh was fired for asking for flexible working he should be speaking to an employment lawyer about unfair dismissal.

if someone is on 65k, and not securely employed- o/p says his “contract ended” which suggests he isn’t in permanent employment- he should have enough savings to cover time between contracts.

dh works from contract to contract so we have 6 months wages set aside for the between bits.

if you don’t want to up your hours why can’t your dh get a zero hours supermarket job while he looks for a new contract?

Yep seems like it.
DH and I have managed to work for over 40 years without claiming any benefits. That’s not to say we haven’t been out of work; we’ve both been made redundant.
However this is where are savings came in, we have always had enough to tide us over for a few months.
Once your DH gets another job probably a good idea to start a savings plan op.

Anyone who is already in full time work and looking for a different job somehow manages to find new opportunities and schedule interviews. Part time / zero contract / sessional work would not stop your husband doing this. These jobs normally have a very quick start date once the position is offered.

This goverment only care about people working. They don't give a fuck if you are a woman who wants to pick up her kids from school,and you have always worked around that, and that you are an honest and good person who has never scammed the system. You just need support during a difficult time. This new free 15 hours childcare from 9 months old is just another way to force women into going back to work when they might want to look after their babies themselves. It's all about bringing them in tax...

Nobody is saying that anyone should throw away a hard earned career. Merely that they need to be prepared to do whatever work pays the bills while her DH seeks to pick up his career again.

I'm a higher rate taxpayer and I've paid shedloads into the system over the years, but I don't think that gives me a meal ticket for life if I'm still capable of working. When I was made redundant a few years ago, thanks to Brexit, I took a job on half my previous salary in order to carry on paying the bills. It wasn't ideal but I did it for a few months while continuing to look for something more suitable and now earn considerably more than I did in the job that I had prior to redundancy.

Losing a job is tough and it's fantastic that we live in a society which has a safety net to help when things go wrong, but it's a safety net for people who really need it, rather than an entitlement because we've paid into the system. It's perfectly reasonable for the state to expect adults who are capable of work to look for work. From what the OP has said, it's likely to be a very temporary situation anyway.

Looked at a Tesco job. You must be fully flexible between 6am-10pm. But difficult that!

It's like they don't see looking after kids as work. No, no, we have to bung them in nursery all the hours and get out of the house. Ridiculous. Short sighted. Placing a woman's role raising her children as so far down the ladder....of course rishi didn't have worry about nursery pick up, cleaning the house, getting the food shop and the ironing done - he is a billionaire.

To those saying recruiters can't expect you to be constantly available... of course they can expect it but those that are are more likely to be considered.
One the the agencies just called and want him to interview for a permanent role at 11:30 tomorrow morning in London!
So he's been able to agree- not to say they wouldn't have rearranged but sometimes being immediately available gets you opportunities.

To those saying we should have saved more- I explained that we are just coming out of the baby/toddler years with crazy childcare costs. I worked for probably 2/3 years with my whole salary going to nursery in order to preserve my career and keep my hard earned benefits/annual leave/pension which is what mothers are so often advised to do. We will be able to save more in future I hope but with that plus a £300 a month mortgage rise it's been hard. Thanks for those who provided constructive feedback.

Sorry
*of course recruiters CANT expect immediate availability but those who are might get opportunities that those that aren't.

OP I think you should approach your employers and ask if they have any temp hours in any department to take you up to full time, that work around your existing hours with them.

It’s because of how temporary it is that I agree with her that getting a f/t job” any full time job” as people have suggested is silly as she will lose out big time. I agree that it’s a safety net and people should do what they can but I do think we could cut them a bit of slack and understand where they are coming from, a couple of months claiming is hardly a lot of money and they as a family will pay in far, far more than they ever took 🤷‍♀️

Also, your dh could take a temp supermarket job. Asap. And still have time to apply for jobs.

Bloody hell there are some extreme knee jerk reactions here.

The system is SO black and white and never allows for circumstances. So they want you to either find a second part time job or leave and find a completely new job, find and pay for a childcare place for DC (when there are normally long wait lists) while the main earner looks for a job?

There should be temporary assistance granted outside of the normal parameters that give a deadline for your circumstances to go back as they were.

YANBU Op. I would accept but then say why whatever is offered is not suitable. Don’t upheave everything for the sake of a few months. You don’t need to preface your post saying you’ve never claimed benefits etc- it’s there for everyone as a safety net. No judgement from me. Sounds like you are being sensible and things are in hand. Best of luck xo

just need help for a couple of months to get back on our feet and in my mind that is exactly what benefits were designed for. I would say we would be on this for a max of 4 months potentially out of our whole working lives.
I've worked for 18years 12 of which were full time and Dh has worked for 20years entirely full time.

No, that's what savings are for. And after 18 and 20 years of working in good jobs you must have some. Or do you just not want to use them?

Why didn't you? Benefits are for redundancy situations.

but the DH isn't working so OP has free reign to either get more hours where she works, get a PT job elsewhere for the duration of DHs unemployment or look for a completely new FT job for herself.

Just like millions of other families do.

OP, I’m so with you. You’re not trying to scam the system. The “get a job in Tesco” crowd are ridiculous.

I did wonder if it’s because you need to work 16 hours, not 15? If so, very easy to find an extra one hour a week babysitting, tutoring, whatever. It’s a box to tick I guess.

If there was a post that said 'Am I being Unreasonable to quit my Tesco job with no notice after 3 weeks' you would receive an absolute fucking pile-on.

And its NOT easy to just go pick up temp work. I have 20 years corporate experience. I was declined an interview at Burger Fucking King because they KNOW I am not going to stay.