Change in benefits for Lone Parents

[MsPontipine]

I went to my annual LP advisor meeting at the JobCentre today - was rather stunned by the proposed but very likely changes.

It was a bit much to take in but basically by 2010 I think lone parents with youngest child 12 or older will no longer be able to claim Income Support on LP grounds and will be required to sign on and claim Jobseekers Allowance and look for work.

Another couple of years and that age will be reduced to 7.

There are various incentives, grants etc but that appears to be the long and short of it.

I was pretty stunned - mostly I think because this is the first I've heard of this. I am not an avid news watcher but I'm not a complete ostrich.

Food for thought. . . . . .

You can also hire soething called a "summer au pair" who will just come over for the summer which is a good plan too and even if you just have 2 bed rooms the child could move into your room just for the summer which is worth it again if you get a great career out of it.

Xenia you can't pay £80 a week plus English lessons out of £5.55 an hour. I think you are great, I always enjoy reading your posts, but you do talk out of your bottom sometimes!

You don't pay the au pairs' English lessons. You do pay for their food and board. In the UK you pay at least £40 - £50 for the 5 hours a day and often more but a lot of single mothers can get work in the UK at pay over that rate in normal jobs even cleaning jobs and if it enables a mother to drag herself out of poverty even if she's not working for much profit there are other benefits from work.

Anyway that's one solution a lot of people use when children reach school age which is what I was asked.

I think it should be from starting school actually, i think it is ridiculous that when a child/children are out of the house 9 - 3.15pm that there is no reason why that parent can't work, at least part time.

To make the comment of i wish to stay on benefits until my child is at least at secondary school i think is ludicrous, and shoot me down for saying this but lazy too! I know some circumstances are difficult, but FGS, there is no excuse once your child is at school.

I forgot to add, that atm yes i am a SAHM, but we manage on dhs wages, no benefits.

I can say..personally, i am counting down the days when both of my children are at school and i can get off my ass and go back to work. I do enjoy being at home with them, but atm they are only little (4 and 19mth) once they are at school i can work from 9am to 3pm and still be there for them as much as if i was still a SAHM.

Well said pucca.

Cos it is so easy to just get up one day once your youngest starts school, and go right out and get a job.

Get real.

Long time ago, I helped a woman to sell her house. The reason for moving was that her girl was reaching her 16th birthday and as soon as the payments stopped she won't be able to pay the mortgage (she said she would be about £200 short), considering how the prices have risen in the area, she was forced to move to a town 15 miles south of the area. I couldn't believe what an upheaval that was going to be particularly at her age.

So... one thing I learned is, don't wait until you are up to your neck in water to go back to work, the longer that you leave it the most difficult is would be to keep a good enough level of living, and the most likely it would be that you suffer the consequences of that in old age.

So... I tend to think that the age reduction may actually be a good thing.

My ds has autism-I can't leave him with a childminder-he couldn't cope.
I am trying to get a school job that enables me to take and collect my ds from school,I also have a 3yr old dd to think of.
Things will be very hard in september as my ds will be starting junior school-it will be a very hard time for him and am dreading it.
I am applying for all the TA jobs I can see (I was TA before but had to leave when exh refused to collect dd from childminder after work and cm was unable to meet me at ds's school later) but is hard - am not even getting interviews-not great for self-esteem.
I am doing an evening course in Sep-NVQ 2 childcare-which will hopefully help.
As the house is up for sale right now I will probably have to live on the money I'll be left with-what with all the horror stories I've heard on here it won't be easy to find a place to rent as a single parent either.
All i can do right now is keep on applying for work,keep on tidying house for viewings and hope and pray next people to buy house won't pull out like last ones did,hope I can find somewhere that will have me as a tenant,etc etc....
When my dd changes pre-school soon, she will have more sessions there and I can volunteer at the nearby school to gain more primary age experience,am trying to keep positive but is hard sometimes when it feels like everthing's going against you.

oh FGS what's with this 'It's so hard to get a job' whinging??
Of course looking for a job, applying, getting an interview, getting offered the job, sorting out childcare, paying for childcare, getting out and doing the job day in day out while organising the home and everything else is and effort! You don't need to keep preaching it,I've been doing it since dd1 was 3 months. At least when your kids are school age you're not having to bf at 5 am every morning and express milk for day time feeds before doing your day's graft. I have every sympathy with vulnerable people in society, and I honestly don't think anyone on this thread has said otherwise. Really. But as has been pointed out countless times, being in employment is about so much more than earning money, it's about self esteem, making a contribution to society and providing your own children with a positive role model. Children with parents in work are more likely to achieve qualifications and end up in employement themselves, which I think is what we all what for our kids. I've yet to meet anyone who aspires to their own children being unemployed.
I really admire lone parents who take a positive approach, even when faced with crap situations like ex partners who want to totally evade their responsibility. I have several friends who have come through really tough situations, and yes, at times they have needed the safety net of benefits (which is what the system is designed for- a safety net). But they have won through by not taking a negative approach ('Oh it's so hard to get a job') but by having a can do attitude. Real life involves working at things, taking on a challenge, and more than anything else, being prepared to compromise at times for the wider benefit. If I'd sat around waiting for a lovely 9 til 3 job with school holidays off and a decent income then I'd still be sitting here on my backside!

"So basically what is being said is, go out, get a job, have significantly LESS income than you did AND pay for childcare as well (new expense)."

IS is £59 a week, working 16 hours even on the minimum wage is more than IS. With the extra from WTC as well as the usual CTC you would be better off not worse off. Childcare is paid by tax credits for those on low salaries and HB can still be claimed by those on low incomes. There are numerous childcare options not just nannies.

I agree with Pucca, the age should be lowered to when a child starts school. There is no reason not to support yourself once a child starts school, why should the state pay for you to stay home all day?

The less time out of paid employment the easier it is to get back into. Yes, it may not be your ideal job but as long as it feeds and houses your childrenn who cares.

wooga - just realised I've crossed posts with you, and want to emphasise that I'm not having a pop at anyone like you, as you are clearly doing everything in your power to get back into work. It's the whinging whiners who seem to want it all handed on a plate that are doing my head in!

Two of who??!!!

i don't think 7 is too unreasonable. you would only have to work 16 hours and can claim 85% of childcare costs back so it should be easily doable. i think 11/12 is perfectly ok to be left at home for most of the day.

there are loads of places that will allow you to work from 9:30 - 3. cleaning, offices, shops, pubs, restaurants etc.

Working 16 hours a week and 85% of childcare paid for? Jeez, I'd have jumped at that when mine were little

People whose income is very low get 85% of their childcare paid for, alfiesbabe, so if you were in the same situation now and were eligable by a low income you would also get 85% of your childcare paid.

Have your eyes returned to normal colour yet? or are they still bright ?

Xenia that is a good idea bout the au pair or advertising locally. But will it be paid for by tax credits? Does it have to be a registered childminder?

I am not any better off working, but work for the future and an example for kids. But if I had to pay and be worse off than on benefits it would be madness!

I am a lone parent who has been trying to get a job since just before my youngest started school last Sept.

I have applied for countless jobs and have had not one single interview, mainly i think because I cannot be as flexible as either someone without children, or someone with a partner.

It isn't as easy as you think.

You really should know what yo are talking about before you call poeple whingers.