What is a singles mother?

[jagosma]

I'm about to split up with my partner.
I envisage a split with custody 50/50
What sort of effect does that have on me claiming benefit?
I currently work a well pay but part time job what will I get? Am I better of. Getting a low paid job?
Do I have to my LO more that 50% of the time to be a 'single mum'?
If we share childcare will I even be classed as a single parent?
I don't want to be worse off when this split happens.
Confused!!!

Your coparent will pay half cost of child's food, clothes etc.
Heating etc may be less if child not in house. Think you will be fine. Coparenting nay be more of a problem.

You are always better off working on the current system. My advice would be to apply for another company to get a full time job that will give you 50k+.

Sorry op but you are taking the piss!

I work 50 hours a week and earn £17k .....

I can't believe you earn 25K and you actually thought you'd qualify for benefits or benefits would be more generous. PMSL! I really am. Bullshit you'll be in any way better off. Far from it.

Are you a Daily Mail journalist?

A friend of mine's husband earns 80k and she's a SAHM. She was livid that when she applied for universal credit, they weren't entitled to anything 😭😂

25k PART time get a grip !

I hope you don’t work with numbers. If you’re earning £25k part time, you’re earning well above the average.

Get another job. Your ex will have your child half the week so use your spare time to earn more money if you need it.

Guys don't be so bitter that I work part time and earn 25k I was never complaining about my situation and I never implied no one wasn't worse off than me. Jeez it's not a competition. So much for ladies sticking together and all that. I was literally finding out how the system works I have no idea. At the end of the day, it's all relative you have no idea about my situation, just because I earn 25k part time does not mean I don't have debt, I live in a mansion in a major city and have plenty of support. Quite the contrary, so before you judge me on my 25k part time job you should stop and think that it is all relative and there is more to a story that this thread. I live in a rural area where there aren't many jobs, in one of the poorest areas of the country in a sector that is pretty niche. You have no idea about my life or my partner however the fact I earn 25k is something of a sticking point to the majority of you. You should all be ashamed you are judging someone about to make a huge decision to break up her family to go alone and looking for support 🙃

Have you name changed?

Ah. Ladies sticking together. Why? Because we all have vaginas?

You live in a rural area with limited jobs however have managed to find one above the UK average and won’t have lots of costs that people have in the inner city. You will have to budget and watch every pound, it’s what you have to do.

If you live in a poor area then rent will be cheaper than average so as the cost of living ?

No one is judging you for earning £25k part time. It's the fact that you want to get benefits on top of that and were asking whether you could get more money by earning less that people have an issue with.

Under universal credit you will be expected to seek ft work so in the long term you would be better to earn the maximum you can in order to avoid being in the uc system.

That’s inaccurate.

Claimants are only required to earn the equivalent of FT NMW. She’s already hitting that.

My job is stressful and full on so if I'm going to be better off by having a income that is lower and offers me a better quality of life and being entitled to more support from gov then so be it! Im just thinking purely on making ends meet

Bad plan. The welfare system is being chipped away. Stick with your current job and think about your next move up the career ladder.

So these are the facts: If you are in an universal credit area, you will be expected to work at least 25 hours a week as you are now, to be able to claim from the time your child is 5 to the age of 12 whilst single. You will be considered a single mum if you are the one claiming child benefit, so you'll need to discuss this with your ex.

On your income, you won't get much benefits unless you pay childcare.

As for sympathy, none whatsoever. I worked FT in a very demanding job when I separated from my ex, I had full residency and they saw their dad for only a few hours on saturdays and my kids were only 2 and 5. My childcare bill (nursery/afterschool care) was huge and after paying for it and my mortgage, my disposal income was minimal. I never once considered reducing my hours or ditching them to claim benefit. Thankfully, my attitude meant that I raised responsible and hard working children. Your attitude of dependency and entitlement won't be setting a good example to your daughter.

Oldrosie, your writing style is entirely different to the original responses from the OP. Are you one and the same person or are you someone else playing devil's advocate?

It's unlikely you will get benefit on £25k a year but you might get help with childcare. The benefits are very generous these days for a lot of people but not everyone.

Some responses on this thread!

It must be daunting becoming a single parent. The prospect of running the house alone on considerably less than half of the current household income.

We don't know how much your mortgage is so it is impossible to tell if it will be easy or difficult to budget on 25K.

You should try the money section of this forum for budgeting tips.

Can you arrange for your ex to have his time with your DC on your working days so there will be no childcare costs?