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!

Tesco don’t pay min wage.
I can’t speak for other supermarkets.

They pay a shade above it. Nowhere near a living wage level.

It must be awful being so consumed with how other people live their lives to be sitting on the internet ranting about it and actually getting angry.

100% agree battleax

Well put Battleaxe.

If your DH earns over 50k, then child benefit may be paid out, but clawed back via his pay.

I would have thought any benefits would now be based on a residency period- isn't that the case with UC?

There is an enormous difference between £28k and £80k- what is the reason for your husband applying for such disparate rates of pay? Does he actually understand the skills and knowledge requirements for the jobs he's looking at? (Or are they perhaps very vague or ambiguous with what they're asking for/offering?)
How fluent is his English?

Hi PhilODox
He is applying for any positions in his field that he has the relevant knowledge and expertise. Some jobs offer more since thy are higher positions ( manager position and director positions) while other positions are IT administration.
He has experience in both sectors as a manager and as an IT Administration, and as a project manager.
So at this point we are aiming for anything.
Preferably a manager position, but if not other positions are still an option as a starting point, because we need to start somewhere.

His English is fluent and has an excellent accent. So that will not be an issue.
He has also worked in international companies such as Ernst & Young, and Grand Thornton, an additionally did work in the government sector ( that position was low during then economic crisis that hit Europe)

So he is qualified, and has the expertise.
He is already applying, but agencies are telling that it is less likely to be offered a position while we are still abroad so that is why we are aiming to come as soon as possible.

I meant that position was lost during the crisis that hit Europe.

East Scotland. IT Manager DH earns £35k with 10% non contributory pension. Top whack for IT manager in manufacturing company up here. Even for Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen. 200k house in village location costs 1200 a month to run. Had a 65k deposit to buy that. Run two old cars. 2DCs under 2. I am self employed so I can mostly SAHM, so I earn about 600pm. No childcare costs. Child benefit 80pm for first child, half that for second. Not eligible for any other benefits. DH salary covers everything and we have very little debt. I do good shopping and deal with the DCs on what I earn. We usually manage a foreign holiday every year. Sometimes two, but not fancy. We don't have fancy phones/sky TV/gym memberships. We have a good standard of living and don't worry about being able to pay the mortgage, but we're not wealthy and struggle to save much. I can't see how I'll have a pension.

Hope that's useful to you.

Thanks for clarifying.
IME, the only people I know in IT that manage on one salary have one or no children. (All my family, and almost all our friends work in IT) I know two families that are managing on one salary with more than one child, but one has family wealth/income, the other is living wildly beyond their means and are only one payday away from disaster, tbh. They never holiday, they have one cheap-to-run elderly car, shop at the cheapest markets possible etc, but housing and utility costs are just so high.

The main difficulty is the cost of living where the jobs are. So, IT salaries look pretty good to people outside the industry, but the obverse of that is the frankly ridiculous hours, and/or commutes, housing costs, lack of stability (contracting) etc.

I am wondering whether it might work better if he comes over alone, to meet with agencies, get work, and then the rest of you come over? Once he knows where he needs to get to every day, and has ideas of commuting times, then you could come over and scout out longer term rentals.
How long have you been living abroad? I'm afraid that in many areas distance on a map bears no correlation to length of time needed for travel this is often a great surprise to people that move into our area, for example. (But London, Cambridge etc are the same!)

Is him coming alone a possibility? Do you have support with the twins if he wasn't around for a month or two?

We have had IT p eople on the women who earn £1000 a day thread a while back who were in IT though so it very much depends on what you do and where they work (and presumably some men can earn as much as that too - if they are a good as the women!)

My dh works in IT and earns about 36k. It is so variable. We certainly couldn't manage on one income we have both always worked.

A lot depends on if you're private renting or not. The reality in the South East of England would be the guts of 2000 for a family home. There's a huge difference between bringing up 4 kids and only paying 400 pcm on a mortgage and trying to do the same paying astronomical rent.

Hi there, I live in Gloucestershire. Choose the location you move to wisely as rents etc vary depending on whereabouts you live in Gloucestershire. If you choose to live in Cheltenham or the Cotswolds the rents/house prices etc are higher than living in other areas of Gloucestershire. Places like the Forest of Dean are cheaper and some areas there are lovely and there are some lovely villages in rural settings. He would have a 40 minute drive to Gloucester - little bit more to Cheltenham. There is a railway station in Lydney the Forest of Dean also. Chepstow in Wales borders the Forest of Dean and is quite close to the M4 motorway for Bristol or London. IT wise he could look at jobs in Bristol or Gloucestershire - probably more variety of jobs in Bristol etc. I'd say you could do it on one wage - I know plenty that do but choose the area wisely.

Firstly go into the 'entitledto' website. If will tell you On their what would be entitled to in regards of child tax, working tax, housing allowance. Child benefit is £20 a week for the first child and then £13 a week for the second. Most families get it asking as you don't earn over a certain threshold. We live in Devon as a family of four (2 adults, 4year old and a 1 year old our average bills a month are:)
Rent £700 (three bedroom property)
Gas and electric £107 for both
Council tax £133
Water £60 (but my partner has two baths a day)
Petrol £100
Car and insurance £300
Childcare £184
Contents insurance: 10
Life insurance £13
Food £200 (this includes nappies)
Tv licence £13
Sky internet and tv £50
Phone contracts x2 £100
Child maintenance to ex £176

We can afford all this with a combined salary of £21000 and we get tax credits of £145 a week, child benefit at £137 a month and some housing allowance.

It purely depends on what he will earn and what you want really. I have w car on finance hence why it's £300 a month but if you didn't and had a old car that would be cheaper as you would only pay insurance and road tax each month. I think you would be absolutely fine on one wage if he earned around £21000 a year xx

I think you need considerably more than £21k op. Right move would be a good place to start to look at housing costs. Look at Trainline too for commuting times and fares (which can be astronomical).

PhilODox
We are kind of hoping that they might call him for an interview. :) If they do, he would fly in immediately, the thing is because he is overseas agencies don’t accept or take into account his application for that reason.

Sadly for him to come over for 1 or 2 months wouldn’t be an option, since he has a job here and can’t leave, and also I have no help with the twins.

Luckily we have some money aside that we can use for two, three months when we come over until he finds a job.

Thank you all so much for giving me your piece of advice, it does sound doable :)