not enough money to live on

[Marney]

On the news today a man spending i think they said a quarter of his income on gas electric water rates tv licence whats the fuss i and a lot of other people have to lose a bigger percentage of our income than that every week.The amount a single person is believed to need per week is only 67 pounds per week .My daughter started at university september i work more than 16 hours a week earn more than 100 pounds but my rent is 80 pounds so unless i can guarantee 30 hours a week im not entitled to working tax credit you have to have 30 hours to get working tax credit .So im allowed 67 pounds and 50 pence per week and the rest has to go on my rent

OP, you should work more hours - eg try care work where you get flexible hours & many homes / hospitals / agencies offer NVQs which may increase wages.
Also weekend & night care work can pay more.
Cleaning & factory work also pay more than eg shops & clerical work OTW. Many people i know work 2 or 3 jobs or get overtime (esp immigrants).
I used to work up to 60 hrs a week at times; sadly can only manage 30 hrs currently as i've been very ill.
I have BPD & epilepsy but i haven't yet looked at benefits - i don't like to admit i have disabilities.
Unless you are a single mum with pre-school DC, are disabled or made redundant or retired then IMO benefits are just a potential bonus but your main income should be through work.

There are very few jobs around here for 30 hours I have worked full time in the past and would love to be able to earn enough to not have to claim anything any more if it was that easy id do it i would like to have enough coming in to be be able to go on holidays and have a good life same as anyone

Your DD is an adult; she should get a part time job like many students, do her own washing at uni & buy her own food.

What could you do to improve your skills set to improve your earning power?
I completely agree that people don't all have the same abilities, but I don't think that should be seen as an insurmountable barrier. I know a number of people who haven't got many formal qualifications but who've carved out decent work lives for themselves. There's a lot more to being a valued employee than paper qualifications. But you do need to make yourself stand out by going the extra mile in some way

Oh and totally agree about part time working for 'the dd .its the reality for most uni students these days.

How old are you, OP?

Of course you can't manage if you're working part-time - nobody would expect to manage on part-time money. The question is why, if your daughter is now at university, you've only been working part-time? Most people work full time once their children are at senior school, at the very least. Why haven't you been working full time for the last seven or eight years?

I agree with callmemrs - you're looking at this in terms of what you're entitled to, rather than what you can do for yourself. You could be working full-time and going to nightclasses so that eventually you could get more than minimum wage. You could have been doing that for many, many years.

To work full time hours you could work 2 part time jobs / agency work - wherever you live there will always be a need for certain services eg: care work, hotel work, cleaning, shop assistants, paper deliveries etc.

In your position, with your dd away at uni, you might also want to consider moving to a different area with more job opportunities. Many people move around for work; I have done it myself several times. I know moving is an expense, but you need to think of things as long term investments. As imperial says, why have you not been working a regular 40 hour week for the last few years? You wouldn't even have needed childcare for quite a while as your dd is clearly at least 18. Why have you not gone to evening classes or back to college to improve your skills? People on low incomes or not working get all sorts of subsidies for study. It does sound as though you've resigned yourself to living somewhere with few job opportunities and to working very part time hours on very low wages. The reality is that most of us couldn't pay all the bills if we did that

I think the story on the news OP was talking about was stating the Fuel Direct Scheme the DWP use for people on Benefits' need to be looked at again. The scheme means that they can take/increase ridiculous amounts direct from benefits,sometimes leaving families with children as little as £30 to buy food,clothes,etc.
I don't think it was saying these people are being compared with people with jobs,so to speak,more that the scheme isn't really working.

Given your DD is away at uni and should support herself as shes an adult, you could easily pick up an extra part time job. 16-30 hours on a low wage will mean less holidays etc but you have no reason not to work more hours so cant blame the lack of money on anybody else.

Sorry OP, have you said why you can't work more hours? Have you tried, I mean?

crazynanna fuel direct is not a perfect system and mistakes can be made, but it is basically what that person is using for either gas/elec and sometimes a small amount to cover arrears. usually £3 pw.

if a person is using £20 a week for elec plus £3 for a debt (to be fair usually pushing £1000's in most cases i have seen) then that is what gets taken.

how else are they to pay for it? or should they get free elec/gas? (not getting into what suppliers charge and the rights and wrongs of that)

op I hope you can mange to either find a better job with more hours or a second job sometime soon. have you tried for some of the christmas temp jobs going atm. I've seen loads of shops advertising in my local town centre

mumatron I am not saying they get "it for free"...I was just repeating the news report.
I think we really do need to"get into" the pricing of fuel. It is this,and precisly this,that is causing the widespread fuel poverty that is demonising peoples' pockets.. Until that is looked at/controlled....this subject will go around and around in the news/on forums/in peoples' lives.
I agree Fuel Direct isn't perfect...isn't that what I said in my OP?

I agree it's something that should be discussed but not on this thread. Not really fair to the op. Fuel direct is something that is supposed to help a person budget and remain out of debt. Unfortunately some benefits are not set at a realistic amount and with ridiculous fuel prices, some people are never going to be able to afford to have both utilities and food etc.

altinkum Adults on JSA (£67.50 a week) have to pay their water rates. They will get full housing benefit and full council tax benefit, but they do have to pay water rates.

Several things leap out about the OP.

• You are not disabled or caring for someone who genuinely needs you, but still feel your living costs (when not enough) should be topped up by the taxpayer

• You seem to think that you should be subsidising your adult DD's living costs, but a) that's what loans and part time jobs are for, b) you're not the one working to subsidise her, other taxpayers would be

• You seem to think that working part time on minimum wages makes you hard done by: try working 60 odd hours at minimum wage to pay your way like the rest of us

• Working is not a choice, and I'm surprised you've kept so out of the labour market for so long based on your DD's age

More constructive advice:

• Find another part time job to top up your income. Fulltime positions may be rare, but there are always vacancies for cleaners, babysitters, care staff in homes, reception work, warehouse work, bar or waiting staff work, with an honest work ethic and pride in meeting their own bills

• Think longer term and source out local help in planning for the future - are there night classes you could use to skill up? Are there any niche schemes in your area that help women get back into fulltime positions? Any local charities where you could even volunteer to get something extra going on your CV?

All I see from the OP is her insistance that she cannot live on what she's earning.

The simple fact is that if this is true is irrelevant. Because anyone facing that situation has the same answer - work more, earn more, think long term about where you want to be.

Don't expect the rest of society to pick up and financially support you when you choose not to work when there are masses of more unfortunate folk e.g. with genuine care needs and disabilities, struggling.

I've just had to go FT (I have 2 prescoolers) to make ends meet. Breaks my heart. DH is minimum wage but works 50 hours a week.

It's the way it goes. Sums don't add up? Work more. Can't/Won't work more? Live more cheaply.

Sums don't add up? Work more. Can't/Won't work more? Live more cheaply.

That's the solution, in a nutshell.

You've not said why you're not claiming housing and council tax benefit OP, people have asked you twice. You shouldn't be funding your daughter at Uni, she's an adult and should be doing this herself. You need to put in a claim for housing benefit and work more hours.