Is it worth working?

[Coj]

Has anyone packed in work for financial benefit? Recently separated & only work half the week, bills mounting up & I don't seem to be having much help. Who do you talk to about this? Inland Revenue form is taking ages (4 wks)

Part time works well for me as the tax credits and things like council tax benefit are really generous if you're the only earner. Not sure what the benefits of not working at all would be apart from spending more time with the kids. Depends how much you can earn with part time work I suppose.

i gave up work after having ds2 because i would have been worse off working than on benefits. the job centre told me thats quite common but it depends on your circumstances - what you earn, childcare costs etc. if you ring the lone parent adviser at the job centre they should be able to go through it all and work it out

I found it was definitely more beneficial to work a minimum of 16 hours a week to get tax credits... but not more than 20.

Look at the tables carefully... my friend worked more hours than me in the same sort of job but because her salary fell into a different tax credit banding she was awarded lower tax credits and the bottom line figure was that she was worse off financially at the end of the day, far more stressed out and got to see less of her kids.

Get the info from the tax credit people and look into it carefully before making any rash decisions.

Your children need you too and they need an unstressed role model to look up to

Where are the tables rainbow walker? I can never find anything in Black and White!

A question... were you/are you married? If you intend to go to a solicitor to settle up regular maintenance with your ex, it's means-tested as to how much (if anything) you have to pay for legal advice/representation. So be prepared with your monthly outgoings/income figures to make your disposable income look as little as possible after bills (shouldn't be too difficult!) and then you get more legal aid

Can't find the income thresholds table on the tax credit website at the moment, but it has to be there somewhere...

here's something for now anyways till I find it...

www.direct.gov.uk/Bfsl1/BenefitsAndFinancialSupport/BenefitsAndFinancialSupportArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=10018922&chk=CUIJ0b

Sorry, just stopped to watch Supernanny! Didn't know about Lone parent adviser at Job Centre-thanks. would love to see the tables from Inland Rev but where the hell are they? Feel so alone in sorting out my finances.

I am in a similar situation, I work 16 hours a week. The lone parent advisor at the Job Centre was fantastic with me, she put all my details in the computer and it could tell me what I would be entitled to if I gave up work, if I stayed on 16 hours or if I went back full-time. Basically if I went back full-time I would only take home about £100 per month more than I do on 16 hours, and that is before any child-care costs. Hmm, didn't take too long to decide not to bother! Definatly worth making an appointment with them, good luck!

I went to the new deal lone parent adviser too when i was looking for work. i work 20 hours a week, and find im better off than i was as i think i have a bit more flexibility. i have help with nursery fees thanks to working tax credits. i also still get housing benefits and council tax benefits too as well as child tax credit and child benefit.

i suppose it depends really on how many hours you do, and what the wages are.

No.

yes

am about to go back to work part time, job centre lone parent advisor worked it out that i'll be better off cos of tax credits ...(and that's 24 hours a week)

when they are little no

I think really, it depends on how many kids you have and how old they are.

It seems to be worth while for someone with say 1 school age child but not for someone with 3 kids, espcially if some are still at home.

I work part-time and am definitely better off when I take tax-credits into account.
Good luck Coj, the tax-credits will back date to whenever you split with your partner/husband.