Will benefits make up the difference if I take a lower paid job?

[katykuns]

I currently work full time for a care agency, earning approx 17k. As the main service user I work with gets to the end of his life, I am left with the intense fear the agency will not be able to give me enough hours to pay my bills. I am receiving housing benefit and child tax credits to boost my income at the moment.
I am looking at other care work, with set hours and a proper contract, but the pay is at least 2k less a year. I can do 60hrs pw with my agency when the shifts are available, but hours look much stricter with care home jobs.

Basically, what I need to know is, will my housing benefit and tax credits fill the amount I am losing out on taking a lower paid job? so I would basically be earning the same amount I am now?

Thanks in advance,
Kate

The answer is yes, it will fill some of the gap. It is unlikely to fill all of the gap, but it may come close.

Yes. There is a website called entitled to that should be able to help you.

The <a class="break-all" href="http://www.turn2us.entitledto.co.uk/entitlementcalculator.aspx?ref=www.turn2us.org.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Turn2Us Benefit Checker will be able to help you work out tax credits with your new income. Housing Benefit is individual to your local authority so you should ask there.

Your main fear, however, seems to be that your agency doesn't have a new appointment for you. Would it help to talk to them about their plans for you? Push for the next job? Make your presence felt?

It should help katy. I was on 14k as a part time worker which was topped up with tax credits. Currently due to DS' needs I am not working...and I am worse off but crucially I can still pay my bills.

Thanks all for the help.

Cognito, back when a previous service user passed away, my agency only found me 2 shifts for a whole month. It made life difficult, but we managed because my partner was working as well. Now he looks after our daughter while I work. We just can't risk that happening again, as I just don't have any money to fall back on.

I am looking into these jobs, but also contemplating keeping 1 shift with the agency to boost my hours. Not sure if I would be worse off after tax though?

I've been a single mum since my daughter was a baby and although there were times when I may have been financially better off not working or working less hours I have always felt it was really important to work, for me and to set a good example to my daughter. Consequently my daughter has a strong work ethic and I have been able to progress my career over the years. I can't say it wasn't a struggle financially when she was younger, and still is at times, but I am proud not to have relied on benefits. I chose to just spend a little less - go to the park for free rather than an 'activity centre' for example.

Percy the OP isn't lo

...Looking at living on benefits, she is looking at working full time however the wage isn't enough for her family to live on so she wants to know if the government will top up her wage - that's what working tax credits are for as minimum wage isn't enough to raise a family on and the government recognise this!

I would definitely take the job with a real contract and set hours over agency work any day.

HI ALL I LOST MY PARTNER IN A TRAGIC ACCIDENT IN 2007 AND MY LOVELY HOME . THIS HAS BEEN UNBARABLE . COULD SOMEONE HELP ME HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY CREDIT AND APPLY FOR A MORTGAGE PLS HELP ME X

Hello ceren230. I'm sorry you lost you partner and your home. If you have financial problems you could try asking an agency such as CAB to go through it all with you and answer your questions. If you have a poor credit rating the usual answer is to keep your finances as simple and well-managed as possible until your rating improves but there are occasionally ways to speed that up by negotiating with the organisations that have given you a bad score. If you've got overhanging debts and are struggling to keep in the black, there are ways to manage that. If you're looking for a mortgage there are still some organisations that will look at customers with poor credit, but they tend to charge quite high interest for the privilege.

Good luck