Facing unemployment - just over £1100 in benefits

[BringBackCatsEyes]

I've just put my figures in a calculator and think I will receive just over £1100

UC £ 362.73 per month
(standard + child, then take away JSA )

117.22 per month child benefit

Council Tax Support
£ 71.07 per month

Support for Mortgage Interest loan
£ 152.49 per month

New-style Jobseekers Allowance
£ 414.05 per month

Are people actually living on this or do they end up selling their home to move into rented?

I am trying my hardest to find work. My contract ends at the end of this year.
I am not asking for advice on finding work, I want to hear from those who have experienced moving to UC and how they manage?

Go on a mortgage holiday- that will give you 6 months. DO NOT tell them the reason or they will reject it. It has to be for saving purposes, e.g. saving for a holiday, car, redecorating. They rejected mine when I told them it was due to financial trouble.

After the mortgage holiday you could then apply for the mortgage charter and go interest only for another 6 months if it’s temporary.

I didn't ask for help, I asked for people to share how they managed.
Don't worry, I already believe my employers think very little of me, despite being told many times that it's for financial reasons not performance and having held professional positions for over 30 years.
My feelings of self worth and self esteem are rock bottom. I cry very often.
Thankfully I have good friends and family who understand that my resilience is low. They are checking in on me i.e. bothering.

Do not take out the mortgage interest relief unless you have no choice. It is a loan and a very poor deal.

You have been good advice on this thread and on your other thread but do come across snippy OP.
I’ve been there as I said on your other thread and was out of work for 14 months it destroyed my mental health and finances.
Look at going interest only on your mortgage or sell and move to a cheaper place if you can’t take a lodger.
Benefits don’t help home owners I got next to nothing just JSA for 6 months …I’d lower my expectations and look at taking a lower paid role to tide you over. I know that doesn’t always work but it’s worth a try.

Fair enough.
You say your mental health was destroyed and then point out I’m snippy.

Best I duck out.

It’s not a competition OP. When anyone contradicts you you duck out.
People have made many helpful suggestions.
Market is incredibly tough and ageism is rife it’s bad all round. Hence you need to think out of the box.

I earn 2.300 as a full time carer .. why are you thinking of going on benefits when we are crying out for carers

Hence you need to think out of the box.

Yes, this is the crux of it in my view - from my experience I just think that when you're in a tight corner you need to think of all of the options available (of which there are many). It seems that OP is only considering staying in her field of work or claiming benefits, but (and I get that OP may not be mentally in a place where she is motivated to consider all the options) having that binary view may not be helpful, ultimately.

I think a lot of the magical out of the box suggestions are not really feasible.

Telling the OP to ‘just sell, downsize to a one bed and sleep in the front room’ is not a reasonable option. Ditto getting a lodger when she lives in a 2 bed terraced house with a teenage son. What sort of lodger might she attract who would be happy with such living arrangements, crammed into a 2 bed with the LL in the front room? Apologies if it’s sounds snobbish but it’s just potentially disastrous all round.

‘Just get a job stacking shelves’ when those kinds of jobs are incredibly difficult to get in some areas is not helpful either.

OP I’m sorry you are going through this, it’s really shit. I’m also sorry so many people think that home owners shouldn’t get any help at all. Such an unpleasant attitude. There is a housing crisis at the moment with the rental market under huge stress and OP losing her home and joining the queue of renters looking for accommodation is not going to help.

Do you have any helpful suggestions @Eastie77Returns for OP? Or did you just come onto moan about the many practical suggestions a lot of us have made?

I’m sorry this is happening, such a worry. These sort of posts make me realise people really do struggle as opposed to the boasty posts on MN about earning 100,000 + a year. There was one a couple of days ago. I truly hope you can find another job

I made suggestions earlier in either this thread or the OP’s other one.

OP does not have a lot of money and is unemployed so how is advising her to sell her house (one of the alleged practical suggestions) a good idea when she would have to pay all kinds of costs up front to do that and will struggle to get a rental agreement without a job? People on the thread live on cloud cuckoo land where selling a house and just relocating hundreds of miles to the much touted cheaper North can all happen at the click of your fingers🙄

"Just move" is the new taking in ironing.