To think we aren’t going to make ends meet

[Mamaincognito]

I’ve just started Mat leave with our second child (38weeks) and my husband has just been let go from his job because they’ve removed the job role.
I went part time for childcare reasons for the first few years of the dc’s lives but was told I couldn’t extend this and would have to either go back full time when baby is 6 months or stay part time. Chose to stay part time because my husbands salary was making up the difference.

he is now pretty much unable to find work in his field and has resulted to daily paid work. We are looking at less than half our income (approx £1500) which will not cover our bills and rent. Our rent and bills come to £2000 ish, and we live very frugally buying ingredients and making foods from scratch.
At the moment our only options seem to be:

• move house into a cheaper place, but we don’t have a deposit to put down
• take DD out of nursery (2 days a week,) but then when I go back to work she will need to go back in and the waiting lists are insane. We would lose our spot at the best nursery for us
• universal credit? I’m not sure we would qualify without moving house (this is what they said last time we applied, because we are in a 3 bed as a family of three)

we’ve cancelled the swimming lessons and the few subscriptions we have for the security camera memory space and my Christmas present. We could buy less variety of fruit and veg - which would really suck as we value nutrition so highly and this is the bulk of our food shop. We use tinned mackerel and frozen meat to save money and add variety already, and bulk buy pasta, rice and bread flour to make bread for our carbs. We buy literally everything from charity shops to be sustainable.

I can’t see anywhere else to save. I can’t see much of a quick solution, unless I literally quit my job and take my daughter out of childcare and get maximum UC and benefits. Have I missed something I could consider to reduce costs here? AIBU to think we can’t do this?

I certainly would not recommend quitting your job to go on full UC ! When you have kids on your Uc claim you benefit significantly by working due to the work allowance and taper rates.

Can't you take DD out of nursery, have DH as a SAHD and go back to work full-time after your mat leave?

Now you’ve got 2 kids you won’t have to move from
a 3 to a 2 bed? Also you get nursery paid for? I would definitely apply for UC and local housing allowance/housing benefit if it applies.

honestly it’s shit

I would definitely recommend seeing citizens advice. They can be brilliant at making sure you are getting the right support, if you have any debts, try calling Step Change and setting up a budget with them.

It would be a great option, but I would have to find a new job (teacher) which I wouldn’t be able to start until after Mat leave as my work have said I couldnt come back full time unless I do so this August, when baby would be 6 months, so I said no and signed a new contract to stay part time with the notion I’d have to leave after a few years to a full time position elsewhere. My full 0.6 salary is only £1700-1800 pm so still won’t cover us when I go back and it’s a 13 week resignation period i have to work before moving on.

They said that kids of any gender can share a bedroom until they are 10 on the gov guidelines for universal credit! So a 2 bed is what they would offer to up it for.

can you expand on ‘you get nursery paid for?’ Please? We have gov funding which is incredible but it’s still £180ish a month for two days a week (compared to the £600 is it without the funding!).

I’ll definitely look into the housing benefits. I have it in my head that we aren’t earning low enough to receive help.

What is it your DH does op? And what other areas has he got experience in/qualifications in?

Cost of living wise, could you think outside the box - could you sell a car, SORN one (take if off the road), could you do some exam invigilating while on mat leave?

Go onto the turn2us website and run your circumstances through the benefit calculator to check your benefit entitlement. UC will not depend on you moving house. You have been misinformed. All your under occupancy would do would be to put a ceiling on the housing element to the level of rent for a two bed property. If this leaves a shortfall you can sometimes be entitled to a discretionary housing payment to top it up. So, definitely check.

Why can't you go back to work full-time in August? I appreciate it's not ideal but needs must when you have children, unfortunately.

Very lucky we don’t have any immediate debt, just student loans which I need to pause actually thank you for reminding me. The lack of debt is mainly because I don’t qualify for an overdraft because I don’t earn enough! My husband does dip into his but we really try to be as frugal as possible which is why I’m so scared of this situation

Your understanding of UC is wrong. They will give you average rent for a 2 bed house instead of a 3 bed house - that means that you dont have to move it means if you can rent a 2 bed house for 600 pcm and a 3 bef for 700 pcm you'll get up to 600 pcm only.
Apply again with your current figures and see where it leaves you. Also your oldest should be getting some funding for nursery and will enter the grace period for a fairly significant length of time so shouldn't need to leave.

Make sure you're using the married couples tax allowance, i.e. transfer it back to you if he was usingi it, every penny helps.

Turn2us is a good starting point but citizens advice can sometimes find more options in addition to turn2us

You can also search for hardship grants by sector- so teachers/education etc

You would be eligible for a foodbank voucher, use it, it's for times of hardship, you can restock your tins and pulses, and if you want, when your income is more stable, you can donate back (I know its hard to accept support if you are used to being the one giving it normally)

Also think about selling anything you don't absolutely need. Use your mat leave to vinted anything no longer needed.

Also just throwing it out there- don't let your council tax or energy get in a pickle, you can call them prior to a cash flow emergency and ask for support and they are usually very understanding (had a horrible time major illness etc and dc2 birth) so I had to suddenly make a lot of calls because no one was gonna get paid that month (zero hours contract)

Check with your LA. Usually, it counts as continuous service, if you move to a different school within the same LA. They are your employer, so you wouldn't need to pay the money back. See whether there's anywhere else in terms of schools where they'd be happy to have you full time.

Because I’ve already had the contract changed- essentially I was contracted to 2 years flexible working and was to return to my full time position August 2026. I was told by the previous head I could extend this to 4 years flexible working if I had another child, and my position would still be available full time 2028. Now there is a new head didn’t want me to come back full time at all despite me saying I’d have to leave the school if he didn’t extend it, so because finances were were good i signed the part time contract.

I would ask if they can reconsider.

Any possibility you could do tutoring from home or online. Just a thought.

Definitely try applying for UC again. If it’s a no then your DH should be able to apply for New Style JSA as long as he’s been working for the prior 2 years. It’s not a huge amount (around £350 a month) but every bit helps.

review all your bills to see if there’s a cheaper supplier you can switch to. Cancel subscriptions, change supermarket to Lidl/Aldi. Sit down and do a budget once you know if you’ll be entitled to any benefits. If at that point it’s still looking like you’ll be in the red each month then you’ll need to make some more drastic decisions like
moving house or you finishing maternity early and going back to work full time.

Please get some proper advice. Try applying for UC again. uc contributes to childcare costs but you can’t claim uc for this as well as tax free childcare. As others have said they will only pay the 2 bedroom rate of the housing element. There is no ability to claim housing benefit anymore. Also get your husband to claim new style jsa your earning are not taken into account for this. Finally after all this there is the potential of a discretionary housing payment talk to citizens advice or your local council. Also check whether you are entitled to any council tax reduction contact your local council. Good luck

Housing benefit is part of universal credit ( called the rent element )

Op won't get childcare costs without them both working?

Can he do evening work as well as day work?
pubs, supermarket stacking, supermarket delivery, care homes, warehouses all offer evening shifts

can you tutor ?

Good point @Penelope23145 as always the devil is in the detail. Thanks for pointing that out

Your paying £180 pounds for two days nursery with gov funding? Is dc in full time childcare ? Shouldn’t you qualify for 30 hours free? Surly DH can do any job! Supermarket? Do you rent? You should qualify for IC, you may not get the full housing costs as they would say you’d only be eligible for a 2 bed but they’ll just give you the local housing allowance for a 2 bed & you’ll have to make the rest up. If you are mortgaged they won’t pay housing cost but you’ll still get personal allowance. Can you do some tutoring ?

What would your finances look like if you supplemented your part-time teaching with supply teaching?

Depending on the size of the school, they might have resignations, maternity leaves or new flexible working requests before you are due to go back that might give you other options.

When is he supposed to relax?