I made the decision to find a job...

[zmandaz]

as am really really skint. I thought it would be easy to walk into a retail or admin type job but am finding it really hard. I've applied for loads but most places either want you to work flexible shifts as and when their business needs the extra help or want you to work evenings or night shifts. As soon as I mention that I'm a lone parent and need to work around my childcare you can almost hear the doors slamming! I know it's the wrong time of year to be looking but I honestly didn't think it would be this hard. I'm going to see my LP advisor on Monday so maybe he can offer some advice.
Sorry to moan but it's really getting me down!

There is a new initiative called "Slivers of Time" that my Company is about to sign up to.

It is basically about people who have a few hours here and there being matched with businesses who have the odd hour here or there too.

Ask you LP advisor about it. You will obviously have benefits to consider?

What annoys me is I spoke to our local job centre and asked them to help us find Mums (or any one else!) who wanted 3 or 4 hours a day to help us out (we needed people to run a production line) I thought school hours would be great, 10 - 2 kind of thing. They were crap and tried to tell me no one wanted the hours! Instead we are paying temps who get Peed off at the short hours and don't come back after 2 or 3 days so we have to re train everyone.

I am still trying! So if you live in East Anglia let me know

Retail is really hard, they nearly all do "flexable hours required" and I can assure it ain't flexable for you!

Do keep looking at retail though some companies like M&S, debenhams and the supermarkets do set working patterns.

Admin you are more likely to get set hours too. NHS and council inc education departments are good for set hours monday to friday.

I have hunted high and low for years and theh best offer I got was retail, monday to friday, but it was 1-6 so MIL would have had kids 5 nights a week and I was still only getting 20hrs work at minimum wage.

I am really lucky that I do have a job that is very flexable, if I can't do a shift that is OK even at last minute, but it is nearly all evenings and weekends. But I can pretty much pick and choose the shifts I want. Usually only do a 5 to 10hrs 1 or 2 short shifts) a week but I get a really good hourly rate as I have been doing it for years and have been promoted and done training. There is extra work during certain times of the tear where I can do 50 hrs over the weekend. They are funding a distance learning degree course too which is great. Bad points, exH is my line manager.

Zmandaz ask your LP about 'fresh steps', im not sure if its in your area but its a course over 8 weeks (4 hours per week) where you have your cv looked at a re-modernised and you are allocated someone to act as your recruitment agent to find you the exact job you want, you even get paid £15 for every week you attend and you get your fares paid, well worth doing if you have been out of the workforce for a while

telephone market research interviewing can also be quite flexible - go to a market research office, phone up people with a questionnaire get paid a set amount per hour. I used to do this when I was a student and could work a few hours day or eveings.

callme

have you advertised on netmums board? Sounds like a great set up

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to see my lone parent adviser tomorrow so hopefully he'll be able to help. There is one job I've applied for through an agency and it sounds really good, just two days a week, the only problem being they would want me to work a Thursday and my daughters' nursery can't take her all day Thursday so I'd have to find a childminder for one day but I've applied anyway and will sort it out if I get the job. I do need to check that I'd be better off though as I'm only looking for around 16-20 hours work.

Thanks callme, unfortunately I live in Yorkshire so it'd be a bit far to commute

i was looking for work in north yorks last year and found the local council nycc had loads of part time work - especially admin and school stuff - no use to me but maybe worth a look. youre on a lower tax credeit rate between 16 and 30 hours but still better than benefits of course.

I went to see the LPA today and was told that if I work 16-29 hours a week, during the week I'll only be around £30 better offonce I've paid rent/council tax/childcare. If I'm prepared to work 30 hours plus then I'd be much better off but I can't do that. My only option is to work all weekend, leave DD with my parents/sister (which they're happy to do) so that I don't have to pay childcare at all but I'd still only be £50 a week better off. Mind you, right now, £50 would be very very useful so it looks like I can wave bye bye to weekends for the time being! I'm shocked at the LPA's attitude though, he basically told me not to bother working. AND I can't get a grant from the social fund for furnishing my new council flat, I have to get a loan and pay it back. It's just not been my day today!

I had a sneaky feeling that would be the outcome. They don't call it the benefit trap for nothing. Doing weekends in the Short term would help a bit though and you can always give it up if it gets too much.

Sorry it was not more productive.

Have you thought about any of the self-employed flexible jobs such as Avon, Bettaware etc - perhaps to top up both your hours and your cash?

sounds familiar - i too was told for years there was no point working unless i worked full time. the main thing was theres no help with my mortgage while working with tax credits and was in no rush to loose my interest payments. am loads better off now tho, and as for working weekends - would just take days off thru the week instead.

I got offered a job today working weekends and one day a week. I'm not sure I'll be much better off but somethings better than nothing. I'm actually training to be a driving instructor and once I've qualified I'll be able to choose the hours I work etc but it's really expensive to train so I'm needing something in the meantime. It's crazy though, I'm here, wanting to work and they're telling me not to bother. I really don't understand why on the one hand they're saying they want lone parents to go back to work but on the other hand, they're penalising you for working less than 30 hours. At least I get to keep the full child maintainance payments - if my ex pays them!

hey manda - well done! is good to be offered work even if you dont take it - always good to know youre wanted .
and i guess you may not be a great deal better off if the hours are low, but you can work it out on the inland revenue's tax credit calculator. found mine to be close to what i get so it works sometimes. dont forget tho it gives figures up to the end of the tax year year - from now till april 3 - not 12 months worth. and its not so much as we're penalised for working - tho it seems that way at times. its just that the benefit system here is so good - not joking - we're paid to live, have kids, and given somewhere to live. well thats the idea - when it works. and as for tax credits - even my old lone parent advisor called them income support. i only get £7 an hour and yet get £160 in tax credits - how would i ever pay that much tax? is just IS by another name - it does at least support my rather low income .
anyway, have fun when you become a driving instructor.

Thanks singledadofthree. My LPA told me that working 16 hours a week at £6 an hour would make me around £50 a week better off minus childcare. So, working around 18 hours a week with the majority being at the weekend seems the only option. He also told me that it doesn't make any difference if I work 16 or 29.5 hours, I'd still be about £50 a week better off because I'd just pay more tax. If I work over 30 hours then I get the higher band of working tax credits so I'd be a lot better off but I'm not in a position to do that at the moment. That's what I meant about being penalised. What's most frustrating for me is that when I was with ex-h I was working in a good job with a decent income. When I left him I moved area and ended up with the same debts I had before which I was paying off quite nicely but now can only pay a fraction of the minimum payment, and trying to get by on benefits, which I agree are good compared to other countries but right now I need more money! I'm going to go into the LPA again just to make sure I'm doing the right thing and if he thinks it's worth it I'll give the weekend job a try. Thanks for the comments and sorry to moan but it's good to have a rant sometimes!

oh - that was a rant? youre very polite about it then - wouldnt have guessed, thought it was more an explanatory ramble, is good to think it all thru anyway of course. hope you get some sense at the good old JC - do they talk to you like youre about 7 and just wandered in looking for something but not sure what? mine used to, was always an amusing experience. and they would insist that i claimed my petrol money - all £2 of it - at the end of each chat, could hear them thinking 'dont spend it all at once'. i'd better shut up - hope your job hunting goes well.