Work single mum no support

[Crazyblondie]

Hey its coming close to when I will need to start thinking about work. I am a single mum and had to take a council house quite far away from all my family and friends and have no support with my children, there father has decided to live over an hour away also.i am on uc and receive the housing element aswell. What does everyone do for work as a solo parent with no support ? Ive also now realised that I can only earn around £400 else it would effect my housing element.my rent is over £700 a month on social housing.
I was advised before to look for a role and train to work with children in a school because of the holidays and school hours .ive also been advised to train and look at the future ,make the most of free training.ive also been advised to do somthing easy like stacking shelfs,less stress with being a single mum. I just feel lost with work,and what's best to do in my situation.any advice would be truly appreciated.

Many thanks

Don't restrict your career to protect your benefits - that's not good for you, your child or the tax payer.

Fellow single mum with no family support here - what age are your kids and what are you qualified to do right now? You know your situation and your family's needs best, but happy to share what I did:

For the first year, I took a full-time in-office job that just covered rent, bills and wrap-around childcare. Absolutely hated it and was skint, stressed and knackered as all hell, but the payoff was that once that year was up I had the skills and experience to leverage the move into a better-paid job with really flexi hours.

Mindful that this kind of setup is not realistic in all lines of work so my choices might be totally irrelevant, but ultimately whatever you decide I'd advise playing the long game: where do you want to get to in terms of your and the kids' lifestyle, in the next 10 years? What do you want to be able to do for them and yourself in the next 20 years? How much money would you need to earn to do that, and which steps could you take right now to set yourself on that path? It's often not a linear route, but don't feel you have to accept that your only option is low-paid school-hours work if that's not what is right and best for you and your family.

Thankyou joymarie.

Lots to think about and lots of advice from loads of different people.
I am a qualified massage & beauty therapist,I had my own business before having my children and have thought how I could have a little set up from home but I do have a dog and no spare room...but could loose my room.. no bother. Worry with being self employed is the school holidays and not turning clients away,so I can see why job centre pushed working in a school.looking at the hours its best to work with my housing allowance etc and around the boys its not alot of hours at all !so short term may be the better way..not sure i want to go back into massage though I ended up falling out of love with it. I did think about animal care course and look after people's Pets and walk there dogs but again when my boys are off school and no help im worried this would be hard and loose business.

I dont have any support locally but my mum could step up over the holidays but over an hour away ! Really stuck with it all and what's best. Many thanks.

Sorry you are also a single mum with no support its so hard isn't it.