The new budget, income support and home ed question

[cheerfulvicky]

Hi all,

Sorry if this has already been asked, I had a look and couldn't see anything about this. My DS is still only 2, but I am considering HE him once he reaches school age rather than sending him to the local primary.

Does anyone know how home educators are affected by the new ruling that once a child reaches school age, a parent on income support must switch over to JSA and start looking for work? What on earth are you supposed to do if you want to stay home and teach your child? Is there an awareness of parents who want to do this?
I'm currently employed part time working from home, but have just started doing this, (and also recently become a single parent) and I don't know how it will pan out. It's possible that I could be on Income Support in the future, and this new budget worries me when it comes to home education.
And I was home ed myself since the age of 9 For what it's worth. So I know the pros and cons, and am really quite keen to home ed DS.

Any thoughts?

EHE is not taken into account when considering IS. The Labour government brought in a move from IS to JSA when the youngest child is aged seven. The new budget says:

From October 2011, lone parents whose youngest child is aged 5 or above will be eligible
for jobseekers allowance rather than income support.

If you work at least 16 hours (you can be self-employed and do not have to make a profit) you then become eligible for working tax credit and child tax credit.

If you can work some of the week and someone else can care for your DS, you can still EHE - it can fit around work. When mine were small, I became a childminder and I now work from home, self-employed.

I work from home doing Usborne, but I bet a lot of other work at home jobs would work the same way (I'm not single but I have someone in my team who is and is doing it so she can HE)

The key is to find a children-related job and a sympathetic employer if applicable.

A lot of people (me included!) fought against this at the time, but sadly the govt would not even consider home ed as a reason (personally I don't think anyone with primary aged children, home educating or not, should be forced into work but that's beside the point).

I think your only option is to consider a job you can do from home, unless you can find another way to support yourself. There is plenty out there you can do, it just takes a bit of lateral thought. I teach piano and tutor maths. I know people who childmind, people who clean and take the children with them, and people who take in ironing, to name a few. There's lots of pros to self employment.