How many jobs per week am I expected to apply for on universal credit

[jisak]

My youngest has turned 3 so I am now looking for work. It's my first meeting tomorrow to check im doing my commitments.

I can only work 10 hours per week. I've applied for 15 jobs so far

How many should I be applying for?

It is hard to find many 10 hour jobs in my local area and within school hours. I can also only travel 20 mins agreed with my work coach

I'm so scared I get sanctioned

her tiny child is 3! why is the OPs child special whilst loads of other (much smaller) DC attend childcare??

OP wouldn't be working 24/7 all week. there is still plenty of time to spend time even with working parents.

In my mind it is. Society (and how it’s set up) should allow mums to be with their babies and toddlers for the vast majority of the week.
Awful that it’s currently not.

Maybe she wants to give her child a better chance of developing into a healthy person. If you want to outsource parenting, don't have children.

There is a lot of jealousy on here.

But it’s about more than that. Staying at home, or limiting your job search to 10 hours work is limiting your future earning potential. I would encourage people in this situation to either take advantage of the opportunities to train/re skill or get back into a job (any job to be frank).
Being in work has many positive benefits and will open new doors. We can’t keep thinking working is optional.
If you look at the recent research by many pressure groups funding childcare has a net positive impact when you take into account income tax revenues, spending, pensions etc. It has also been shown to raise families out of poverty.

But you would quite happily pay more for a nursery then for the mother to look after a child

My daughter has to apply for a minimum of 3 a week. Think it's a minimum of 18 hours to get UC- it changed last year

I'm confused about this. Are you saying that if you don't earn a certain amount, or work enough hours a week, you're not entitled to any universal credit?

Yes but who is going to employ her for ten hours per week? Where is the children's dad and why isn't he sharing the childcare dropoffs and pickups? This is how we trap women in poverty, dependent on benefits.

I think there are many things worth looking into regarding child development and the impact it has. I don't think it's as simple as working parents produce better humans.

But that isn't what we are talking about here. People are focused purely on what it's costing the tax payer I was pointing out that those pious little worker bees are costing the tax payer far more.

It’s up to 30 hours OR you have to earn over the threshold (£892) per month.

I was looking at 20 hour school dinner nanny jobs term time only jobs (minimum wage) which works out as just over the threshold £892 limit so technically you don’t need to work the 30 hours.

It also depends on circumstances. My friend is a single mum to a 3 yo and school aged child and has been told she needs to job search 18 hours a week. They will put you forward for job interviews and job fairs aswell which you need to attend.

This. there is nothing wrong with wanting to stay at home with your young children better than the poster sending them to childminders for 12 hours a day

@Tubetrain this is exactly what happened to me. I was at uni doing law and met the kids dad he is extremely abusive and made me leave uni.

I'm terrified he hears from someone I'm working because he will find away to ruin it for me and have me trapped once again with no income.

I'm extremely grateful for the governments benefit system as without it I'd not have been able to feed my kids. But it is only temporary in a few years time with my degree or with my school qualifications (I did really well at school and got the dux) I can have a good job with a good income. I never thought this would happen to me but it has. I never intended on getting into an abusive relationship but it happened.

I have extreme anxiety as a result of this so getting work has been made even harder for myself. I am so worried from friends of friends or since it's a small area he finds out about me working and ruins it for me.

Yes, and resentment too - 'we had to, so why shouldn't OP'.

There is a societal-level issue here, where the high cost of living and wage stagnation has forced more and more families to need both parents working full time, long hours, with commutes and high stress. This is, in most cases, not the best set up for the wellbeing of any of the family members, least of all for the tiny children, who have to spend long hours per week in childcare away from their main caregiver, during a fundamental time for their psychological and emotional development.

It wasn't so long ago that families could afford to buy a modest 3 bed house on one middling wage, and have a reasonable lifestyle, with time for rest and recreation and one parent to be spending time nurturing the children. Not any more. Now both parents are out full time, families are incredibly squeezed. That's a problem.

For OP, we don't know why she needs to only work 10 hours, so jumping down her throat, quick to condemn, is rather premature.

Could you not go for limited capacity to work? Sounds like you might have a case for it.

It's been a while since I was most recently enrolled at Hogwarts School for Jobseeking Wizards (2011) but I've always found that if you approach it positively and engage with the advisors, they're pretty sound. They have to deal with, as you can imagine, the full gamut of Joe Public, so you being sound to them makes their job easier and frankly nicer.

i dont think anyone said working parents produce better humans. However, being raised in poverty is one of the biggest factors in outcomes.

We will also have to agree to disagree. When you take into account the long term net positive financial impact childcare funds itself.

just to add - those working parents that you despise so much? Thank god for them otherwise you would pay for all of the public services/benefits that you undoubtedly use.

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Exactly.

I don't despise the working parents.
I will repeat myself however that it costs the government far more in tax payers money to pay for someone else to look after the child.

You had your DH looking after your children while you worked nightshifts. Had you separated from your DH and been a single parent like OP that wouldn’t have been an option for you

Get off your high horse. Before you come at me, I worked alternative work patterns with my XH when ds was a baby, including night shifts.

I worked, until recently (made redundant on the belief that employment support can be done via an App, so welcome to the world of AI and no jobs) as Employment Support Officer, for a very large housing association, with a high number of properties in areas of some of the worst social deprivation, in the UK. My role was to supporting residents back into work and we were very successful with those that wanted (and could) work, but I've also seen those that do want to work, need to upskill having been sadly let down by our educational system and those that have made a religion of avoiding work, so we should not be thinking that we know all those who are seeking work, as they are as different in their circumstances as us! Also there but for the Grace of God go some of us, as I've also seen how life can turn on a sixpence!

Issues are huge in finding work as a single parent and here's just a few -

• Lack of nursery places and any that are accessible via public transport due to their geographical location
• Fragmentation of nursery offer, so the offer is irregular days, odd hours, that don't fit with work
• Reduction in the length of school days and schools no longer necessarily being close to housing (worse in new build, rural areas, where many don't have cars, as they never learnt to drive or can afford one)!
• Homes built on green field sites miles from infrastruction and with little, if any, employment, other than a one stop shop, where they offer 4 hour contracts to a huge number of people to ensure they always have cover, but nobody has sufficient hours / regular hours to earn a living
• Check out Turn2us website and see if wages really do pay more that benefits, as they don't for all. When you earn you start to incur costs that actually put you into a negative situation, such as council tax, prescriptions.... travel up to 90 minutes each way depending on your UC requirements!
• Employers want employees when they are busy and the hours are often when schools are not in operation, evenings, weekends.

The Government know the issues and all of the above and so many more, have been fed back to the Department of Education, Department of Work and Pensions for years but no one is willing to take real action. Add into this conversation UC and you have another issue, as it doesn't work well with zero hours, or irregular hours.

Job Centres are now being told to get tough with job seekers, so be prepared for what comes next, as money is really going to be tight and I predict very much tighter. We also have some areas that cover full council tax for those on benefits and they've decided they are about to start charging them small amounts, so things are going to get very messy indeed!

Wage stagnation and raising of the minimum wage is not helping either and I've seen roles asking for experience / degree level education locally, in Hampshire, offering £28K!

When work really pays for all, is logistically possible, then it pays to work!

On paper that’s all true. But it’s not about black and white facts is it, of course being employed has more personal benefits, that’s why men have more power in this world than women regardless of if they have children or not. They rarely have to be concerned about anyone but themselves when navigating the workplace or training. They don’t have to factor in the extra costs that higher nursery hours bring, and if you’ve been out of work for a while then shift work is more likely than 9-5 jobs. That means extra pressure looking for childcare in unsociable hours. That’s hoping you have a child who thrives in a constant childcare environment, isn’t prone to illness every other week, doesn’t have additional needs.

No work shouldn’t be seen as ‘optional’, but perhaps we should focus more on why childcare is only on the mother to both arrange/pay for/work around and be both financially and socially sanctioned when she finds herself between a rock and hard place doing so. Your post is an answer to a symptom not the cause.

Exactly. I got over 1k a month for PT childcare alone for a few years. Approx 40k I'd guess. I will never even pay a tiddly fraction of that back in tax.
It would have been cheaper to the all mighty tax payers if I stayed at home, looked after my kids and did OU to increase my future earnings. My bills (Inc mortgage) were much cheaper than 1k.

And how's she going to pay for it before she has a job?