Am I getting what I'm entitled to?

[JensenAckles]

I have been a single parent for 4 years and I'm finding everything such a struggle.

I have 3 dc, all in ft education. I currently receive child/working tax credits. Child benefits, my wages and a bit of maintenance.

I'm in the red every month and I can't go on like this.

I receive:
Wages £1000
Child/working £588
Child benefits £192
Maintenance £210

I pay my rent and all bills myself.

What are your outgoings OP?

£2000 after tax isn’t bad at all OP, that’s like earning £39k a year!
However as the previous poster said it all depends on your outgoings, if they are more than your income then there is your problem.
Write all yours standing orders and DD down, see how much you have left. Then divide that by the weeks in the month and that’s your food spends and everything else.
Look at where you can cut costs, Netflix - prime - now tv, not a necessity if your struggling. Look at changing your elec and gas provider to see if you’ve the best deal.
Are you claiming single person council tax?

£2000 a month with no childcare... is your rent very expensive?

Thank you for replying. My outgoings are:
Rent £600
Council tax £130
Utilities £200
I pay for my kids school travel and meals which is roughly £200
Then the obvious bills and food.

It sounds like I'm getting a lot doesn't it, it just doesn't feel like I am.

I'm currently paying off a £24k debt my ex left me with also, all bills were in my name (dumb I know) and he didn't pay anything for 6-8 months before he left. I also took out a £12k loan for him to buy a car.
He emptied our house of white goods, settees etc..

I feel so trapped, I haven't had a haircut in 2 years and my work shoes are letting water in. I feel guilty buying £5 shoes from primark for work

@maternityleave234 I don't have sky, Netflix or anything. I do have internet for my children's schooling because all homework's are done online. My mum pays my mobile phone bill.

I shop at Aldi and heron foods, I just can't make any cuts

£2000 after tax is not equal to £39k

That amount we could get by however it all depends on where you live.

What hours do you work? If they are 30 or over I don't think you can get anything else unfortunatly. Universal credit tops up your wage to full 30 hours if you are working under 16. After that what they pay you is calculated and deducted from the hours/wages you earn. Usually a month in liu. So for example May 19 you work 15 hours a week, you will get those wages plus top up from them for 30 hours. Then in June you work 20 hours a week. In June you will receive the full top up for May, but in July you wont receive quite as much IYSWIM.

However if your hours are 30 plus you dont get anything. Working tax credits and child tax credits are being phased out in place of universal credit.

The only other option would be to speak to CAB. We found them helpful when were were just starting out and bith lost our jobs.

We are in the same boat with me being a SAHP and DH working full time and we barely get by. Unfortunatly our wonderful government's policies dont make it worth while for people to work full time, only part. Which is why many families are struggling.

Is there anything you could cut out of your routine, such as making coffees on the way to work instead of buying them, make your own lunch to take in? Ect

How much do you pay for debt repayment? On paper you should be managing fine so it sounds like it's the outgoings causing the problem.

You need to do a full breakdown of what you've got going out. Have a look at the Debt free board on MSE, the posters there can help.

(Not that people won't help here, but they've got a template you can fill in and help people with this all day long.)

@Whiskeylover45 I work in a coffee shop so my coffee is free 😂

I get £8.66 an hour, my hours vary each week but so some weeks I'll work 30 hours, the next it could be different. I earned £14000 last year due to doing a little extra.

When I had 2 wages coming into the household life was so much easier. I hate having to rely on tax credits to pay my rent.

Maintenance has only just really started this year, before then he didn't pay and actually had £7k written off by the csa

Do you get the council tax single person discount? That seems awfully high

I'm sure it's less than 16k and your entitled to free school meals and travel to secondary school if it's their nearest suitable one if it's more than a certain distance away. Check with your lcc.

How much is your debt repayment each month?

I'm pretty sure you should be entitled to pupil premium which would pay for lunches (and possibly travel) for the kids. That would be a big saving if you can get it

That's an awful lot of debt on your income. Have you have any professional advice about it? It could be that a formal solution, even bankruptcy would be appropriate, otherwise you could be struggling on for years, with interest taking up a lot of the money you pay towards your debts.

Why are you apparently paying for an expensive car for your ex?

You should look at seeing Stepchange, Citizens advice or Christians Against Poverty or posting a detailed breakdown of your incomings and outgoings on the moneysavingexpert debt forum for individual advice.

It also sounds like you are approaching things the wrong way, which a lot of people do, in that you are paying all your debts, but then leaving yourself short for essentials.

What you should be doing is setting a workable budget so you can pay all your essentials including irregular and annual things and some money for things like Christmas, white goods replacement, insurance etc, even pocket money and activities for your DC and then whatever money left over goes towards your debts, and if there isn't enough left, that's the trigger for you needing specialist help.

You could potentially be a lot better off on universal credit depending what your local housing allowance for your area is and if all your kids were born before April 2017. maybe go to CAB and get them to do you a better off calculation. There is lots of negativity around Uc but some people are significantly better off and a rough calculation suggests you could be.

Google entitled to and do a calculation. If you're entitled to tax credits you may be entitled to housing benefit which you don't say you're getting. You won't be able to do a new claim now as it would need to be UC but if your hours vary this might be a better option for you anyway (no chance of having to pay a huge chunk back at the end of the tax year!). Entitled to will also tell you the amount of UC you're eligible for. It won't be exact but I've always found it close enough.

Don't panic about the delay, you can get an immediate advance to tide you over if needed and you pay that back over 12 months (quicker if you want/can) interest free.

Once you're sure you're getting everything you're entitled to go to StepChange and consolidate every debt that you can. You can fill in the income/expenditure form online and it includes an amount for haircuts, school uniform, pocket money etc. Put the maximum amount it recommends for all of these categories.

You can then pay StepChange one monthly payment and they'll divide it between everyone you owe money to (all of it, they don't take a fee).

I was just coming to say the same as babyroobs. You might well be better off on universal credit as you’d get something towards your rental costs. Whiskey lover isn’t quite right with how it all works. Maybe contact cab or similar and get some advice?

Also, definitely get debt advice.

Head over the the debt free wannabe part of the money saving expert forums, they’re really great at advising on situations like this.

Have you applied for housing benefit?

@jensenackles you lucky so and so 😂 it may be universal credit is better for you then, as at least that way you can (she says) budget for the month ahead with them. However it is a flawed system that takes up to 8 weeks to process, however you can apply for an advancement on it. I wont lie, although it now works for us it took us best part of a year to get to this stage so I can understand why you may not want to change anything. I would however speak to citizens advice as they are in a position to know the ins and outs of the benefits system. Wish you all the best of luck though. Re. Maintaince, all I can say is sorry you had to go through that. Some men are total shits. Sending sorry I cant advise anymore

BED - op cannot make a new claim for housing benefit, trying to do that would result in her needing to claim Universal credit instead.

You should be getting housing benefit too.

Op cannot make a new claim for housing benefit.

I think as a single mum of 3 you would be better off on UC if you are renting as they give you so
Much towards it. Council tax apply for low income discount, water rates low income discount and winter discount with your energy provider. If you don't ask you don't get.
Free school meals and travel toy don't get if you get WTC. Do you have any childcare bills?