Can a family of 4 live on one salary in U.K.?

[OdyandSue]

Me my husband and our twins are moving to the U.K., since it has been really hard financially the past few years and especially now with the twins here in our country.
I am British, and we are moving in the next few months. My husband is an IT and he will be looking for a fu time job there.
I will be home with the twins, and possibly doing some work from home on the side.
But our main income will be hubbys.
I REALLY NEED YOUR INSIGHT.. is it possible?
How
Much would be the minimum a family of 4 to earn in U.K. in order to live pleasantly?

We are planning to live in a village or small city out of a bigger city ( so rents are lower) and hubby will be driving in town for work.

Also I understand we get some benefits also?

Please ladies I would really appreciate your input because this is a huge step for us!

Thanks!

We do it. DP earns around 50k per year.

We live in one of the cheapest places to live in the UK in terms of house prices so have a pretty small mortgage.

We run two vehicles, DS is at nursery two mornings a week which we pay for, we have two UK holidays or one abroad each year, I plan our meals each week to try to cut down what we spend on a supermarket shop - works out about £110 per week. We don’t have any debt either (other than the mortgage) so we do have disposable income each month and we are all happy with our set up.

If they can't well we've been dead for 25 years then

One old car, small mortgage (went for low rather than high), no holidays, frugal, no luxuries.
Top up Tax credits help tremendously if you are low income.

Art3mis
Do you have particularly high bills/outgoings? After your mortgage you're left with around £1850 I would think so it seems odd (to me!) that you would feel consider yourself to be struggling. I'm not being goady by the way, just curious, as your mortgage is very low.

We managed fine. DP earns just under 30k, we live in the north west so it's cheap - rent £575 a month, bills around £170 including council tax. We shop at LIDL so food is £40 a week. Also saved £250 a
month. We get a weekly takeaway. Buy a lot of clothes from Primark or charity shops. But we're very happy. Couldn't afford a holiday or any real 'luxuries' but definitely getting by fine. We have a 10mo DD.

I have started working 2 days a week now though and the extra £8k a year means we can afford to buy a house and go on holiday.

We also have one (old) car which is reasonably cheap to run.

Will you have family support in Gloucestershire? I wouldn't underestimate the value of that, especially with young twins. It's all a bit more complicated if it really is just you and then 5 days a week.

We did it living in a big city on DP’s salary of £32k (and two little ones in nappies etc). We didn’t have anything left over to save or spend on luxuries. I stopped getting my hair cut and didn’t have anything new for me (clothes, shoes, treats) for about four years. And round Christmas we went vegerarian to help save up for the big day. But we were very happy. Life is easier now he has a bigger salary and I’m back at work (and the kids are less expensive on a day to day level) but I wouldn’t say that having less money made us worse for the experience. It depends a lot on where you want to live and what your rent or mortgage payments are like I suspect.

We manage ok. DP earns 38k and I am a student but all of my student loan goes on childcare costs (which we top up with DP's wage also). Quite high rent for the north - £800pcm. We run a car, eat well, go on days out etc.

We plan on living off 2 part time salaries totaling £33k...2 adults, 1 DD & 1 dog, (currently living off less as I am on Statutory Maternity pay).

This is totally doable where we live in Snowdonia (assuming modest house choice), but finding an IT job round here is unlikely! DH commutes 70 miles each way (stays away at ILs 2 nights a week) for a rare graphic designer job.

Hmm, I'm currently on maternity leave and earn £32k, DH earns £39k - there's no way we could afford for me not to return to work and live of his salary alone, it's going to be an adjustment enough for me to go down to 3 or 4 days.

We live in the North so have a smallish mortgage but I suppose we must have a lot of other bills that bump our monthly outgoings up compared to others!

It really does depend and I don't think you'll know until you get here. Also, can you find out what the average wage is for your husband's job role is? The difference between 28k & 80k is quite a big one! I'd also look at the difference in salaries between areas of the UK and compare that with rent/mortgage costs in the same area.

Don't assume that living on the outskirts of a larger town is going to be cheaper, it tends to be the other way around. It only gets 'cheap' when you move where transport is difficult or becomes more expensive for commuting, so that often, what you make up in lower rent, you pay in commute. Finding the right balance can be quite an exercise and will defer depending on the larger town you are looking at.

You can start doing your research and look at average rent for what you are looking for around the places he's applied for jobs. Then calculate estimated costs of commuting (I would add a 10% contingency on this at least).

Consider what minimum lifestyle you would want and do a budget based on this. I know there is a website where you can put the name of the city/town and it compares cost of living. It's not completely accurate but gives an indication. You should find it by googling.

You should also do research on what you would be entitled to moving to the UK. The fact that you're British won't make a difference, you will be considered a new comer and you/your OH will most likely not be entitled to any benefits for some months. It would be much better if he could get a job before. Could you otherwise maybe stay with family for some time? Do you have any savings currently?

Whatever you do, good luck to you and your OH. An £80K job will definitely be good wherever you decide to go.

It's possible but depends on the wage I'm a single mum of three and with tax credit top up on my wage we live on 19000ish per annum but it's pretty crap because rent and running my car takes most of the money so most days out are for walks or visiting relatives.

Yes it is, assuming you have low housing costs, a moderate salary (27/28 absolute minimum) and only run one car, don’t have expensive holidays. We have several short holidays a year in the U.K. and every few years will go abroad. I also take the kids to mostly cheap toddler stay and plays with only one “class”. I don’t feel deprived. We also spend what some on mumsnet might consider obsene amounts on food because I hate cheap food! So you can set other priorities.

You shouldn't rely on immediate access to things like the NHS either. There will be a waiting period even though you are British. Its to prevent NHS tourism.

Xenia, 1. You do not know why I would work or not, you do not know my background, my health, or anything.
So you have absolutely no right to judge why my family chooses for me not to get a full time job out of the house.

1. Read correctly, I said I would work from home.

1. I asked a question " I understand we get some benefits also?"

Question mark means, I don’t really know, but asking to find out. So no, I do not expect you to fund me. This is why we are looking for a job.

Take your issues elsewhere and stop bashing someone who just asked a question.

We lived in the south east with 3 kids on a single salary of £28k. It’s doable!

Xenia

The OP family obviously come before a ft job, maybe it's best for them that she doesn't work.
and Yes, the money you give in Tax does fund others, but it's no longer your money when the gov take it.
So it's not your money funding anything.
You can stop paying your tax if you want to make a stand, but you may go to prison.

You were very lucky your family fit around your career, and you could pay others to care for them, some people don't find a job to fit around their family. Sometimes the childcare costs leave the couple one whole salary down. If people are daft enough to work for no pay, then that's their choice.

We did it for three years with three dc when youngest was a baby til preschool age when other parent got a part time jobs then full time once youngest at school.

This was five years ago until two years ago and god it was hard but totally do able.

No holidays or savings and no contingency account if things went wrong (think big electrical things )luckily we have good supportive parents but three christamses where the dc has gifts and we went without.

Only could afford to run 1 car which was tricky at times as we live in the sticks abit.

Took a bloody lot of juggling and counting every penny but it was totally worth it as it meant a parent was at home while all three dc were very dependent.

We looked into childcare and two earners but the small amount left after childcare fees just wasn't worth not only the stress but also for someone else to have the dc all the time.

We are aware we were v lucky that we could do it and I would do it again if I had to but life was hard financially

Look on rightmove.co.uk or Zoopla for prices to rent or buy property. I would estimate the minimum wage one person would need to be earning would be 28-30k. I lived in a village, it was more expensive than the nearest town. You also need to take into account commuting costs to work. When I applied for my current job, I had to provide loads of identification like passport, bills, confirmation of address which my be difficult if you haven't moved to UK before starting job.

If people are daft enough to work for no pay, then that's their choice.
I just have to comment on this. This sort is attitude. me, me, me, now, now, now is the reason why this country is getting down the pot and why those who support self-centered seeking immediate gratification are having enough and living.

Not commenting on OP's situation because at this point, whether her family will or won't claim benefit is totally unknown and it would seem her OH is looking for a FT job, so not coming just to make the most of the system.

However, stating that people who work for nothing is daft when instead, they can claim benefits that they are only able to do because other people are daft enough to work is just really offensive to read. Working is not just about bringing the bacon in, it's about an investment too. I indeed chose to work FT when my kids were little and became a single mum and yes, especially at the time, I actually would have been no worse off relying fully on the benefit system which I was entitled to.

However, I certainly would be in a very different position now. My eldest is leaving college and I probably would be like many in this situation, crying how i would make due with the massive cut in tax credit, realising that it is most likely too late to get on the housing market and therefore will need to rent for the rest of my life, and be at the hand of the system that would now expect me to work FT anyway but at a much lower income than what I'm on now, when I can now contemplate reducing my hours and have an easier life.

I respect people's choice, but to say that it is daft to work for no money is very short sighted and indeed, is a mistake that many families whose children are now leaving education are starting to realise and have to live with.

Indeed. It used to be a matter of profound shame in the UK to take a state benefit even if you were entitled to it. We have utterly lost that mindset except amongst a few 80 year olds +. Secondly we did work without pay in the first year of our first child as the childcare was more than 50% of our net salaries - we both earned the same amount but it was an investment in the future to work full time even though I was often breastfeeding the twins every 2 hours all night and then up for work and expressing milk when away with them.

Anyway it sounds like stage 1 is work out immigration status and rights of husband both pre and post Brexit. 2 decide having looked at that if it pays for mother to work full time whilst father minds the twins - the more women who do that the better to achieve more equality here - we have sadly had a lot of people coming here from cultures where women serve and men earn which in some respects is taking us backwards so is a huge current battleground for the UK.

It used to be a matter of profound shame in the UK to take a state benefit even if you were entitled to it. We have utterly lost that mindset except amongst a few 80 year olds +.

That was a deliberate policy choice of the Blair/Brown government. They could have incrementally increased NMW until all FT work brought a modest but liveable income. Instead they chose to introduce tax credits (a subsidy to low wage employers) and pour a lot marketing money into establishing that is WASN'T a welfare benefit.

Now that tax credits have successfully been marketed as a tax system entitlement and not a “benefit” the conservative government has played switcheroo and we’re all supposed to lynch the low paid for daring to believe what they were told. Suddenly poorly paid “hard working families” are “scroungers”. But NMW is woefully inadequate and Tesco and co still expect to pay it and have their employees topped up by government. It’s not the low paid who should be feeling shame.

Tesco don’t pay min wage.
I can’t speak for other supermarkets.
You’ll need a min of 30k anywhere in my experience.
Costs are astronomical nowadays...
I used to find the UK good value for food etc... it is now pretty much the same as the US ( lived there for a long time too) :)

*they pay more - l should have said.