Poverty trap? What to do

[Duckingfun]

I’m on benefits due to having a disabled child who currently isn’t in school.
I want to work, when he’s at a suitable school I will be looking for work. However my rent has now increased in my council house to just under £1k there is no way I can afford it if I work. The better off website says I will be something like £90 a month better off, I want to work but I don’t want to work 40+ hours a week for £90 and then I’d be worse off after travel/childcare etc
Whats the answer? I can’t move and it just feels so unfair that the council raise the rent to the top limit of what they can.

your council rent is £1k a month? wow... that is absolutely ridiculous! I have no words, i'm sorry you are in that position.

Are you sure you'd only be £90 better off? I have a household income of £58k (one on £33k and one on £25k) with one child who gets high rate DLA. We could qualify for UC. We don't claim because of savings limits, but we could.

You be much better off than £90 a month. The first £379 of earnings is completely disregarded before earnings reduce your Uc and even then it only deducts 55p for each pound you earn. So you could earn £379 or less and keep all the earnings on top of your UC.

I also wonder OP, have you reported your rent increase to UC?

Also admin not sure why my post was deleted as it may have actually been helpful for OP.

The previous posted WAS being rude, telling OP they’d “have a sense of pride” when they may currently be struggling to get by with their disabled child? Maybe you can delete their rude and unhelpful response, unfortunate OP will not benefit from what information I had to share as I don’t have time to write it again, shameful mumsnet.

OP

https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/?utm_source=Search+&utm_medium=RSA&utm_campaign=CC&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqMq8yeTBhAMVnpFQBh2O1wfoEAAYASAAEgK7pvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Just under £1k a month for a council house? That's outrageous.

UC sliding scale, initial amount of income disregarded. Check childcare options for CDB, 2 year old ELC funding options and tax free childcare

You could use some time to study if that was something that Interested you and ultimately get a better job at the end of it. Not sure how it works out in England if you do this but I was able to claim a full loan and burseru plus uc top up while I was doing my degree in Scotland.

Sorry OP read it as child too young for school as yet but rereading it sounds like a different situation, hope there are some childcare options for you x

You may have done this but you could go the the CAB and ask for help with forward planning finance so you have a really clear picture of what could happen.

I'm in an HA place and the rent is £800p/m currently. Can guarantee it will go up in April. Social housing isn't as cheap as people think it is!

Honestly I'd focus on study/training. That is actually what I did. I was in a pretty similar scenario to you and no way did I want to end up in a low paid job where I wasn't much better off than just staying home! It is nice to earn your own money and not be on benefits but I wasn't ashamed of it, so I didn't suddenly gain some huge sense of pride once I was working 🤷‍♀️ might be different for others but I'm not too fussed where my money comes from as long as I have some! If you get stuck in a low paid job though, you'll then never be able to afford to take time out to retrain.

Thanks. I’m not sure what training I could do but I’ll look into it.
For pp it’s not just uc, I’d lose all the carers as well so it does work out as an absolutely tiny amount that I’d be better off but after childcare etc I would actually be worse off.

Can’t you work part time and keep your wages under the carers limit?

• Can you not can’t.

This is exactly what you need to do.

OP I work for DWP and you would be more than £90 a month better off. you can earn £139 a week and still receive caters allowance. The first £379 of your earnings is also disregarded by UC. So you can definitely earn the £379 a month and still keep all of the benefits you receive currently plus claim 85% of childcare costs if needed.

I think you need to look at it long term, initially you may be a bit better off say the 90 you quoted (although happily that doesn’t look to be the case). In 5 years you could be a £500 a month better off another 5 years maybe 1k better off. It’s the long term you should focus on.

You have all my sympathy, it’s a difficult choice, especially when you are a single parent.

She has a disabled child. How exactly is that "abusing the system"?

Op says she'll be able to work when her child is at school. It would be an actual choice not to.

ffs save your outrage for corporations exploiting loopholes to avoid tax, not a mum of a disabled child choosing not to work because it doesn’t make financial sense!

I’d speak to your UC advisor OP, hopefully there’s something they can do. £1000 for rent is nuts.

Personally, with a disabled child I wouldn't burn myself out for such a small amount.
I don't think people who talk about abusing the system, realise how draining it is, physically and emotionally to have a disabled child.
If you do think you could work once they are in school, look for something part time, under the £139 threshold, that you would actually enjoy doing.
If you are thinking long term, then look at getting qualified in a field that will pay better and will also give you some enjoyment.