Benefits over summer? Job for September.

[scuttlebeeb]

I am currently at university and finish in four weeks time. I have a job starting in September (teacher).

I am worried about finances over the summer period. I am a single mum, youngest is 5. Does anyone know if I’d be able to claim UC to help me until I start work in sept?

thank you.

Define "worth it" - if OP can afford to pay rent and feed her family for the summer without help then of course she can choose to have the summer off. If she can't afford that luxury then the State Support on offer is that she must be making every effort to do what she can and the state then helps with the difference. If OP chooses not to bother because it's not worth it she will be treated just the same as any other out-of-work person who decides not to bother to try to find work. It's great that she has a job offer to start in 3 months time but that does not and should not qualify her to do nothing for a quarter of the year until that starts.

UC would likely pay her the same amount, if not more to work for minimum wage with expensive childcare costs in the part time job she may not even find. She’s a single parent so probably eligible for some UC regardless of whether she works or not once she’s finished being a student. Her job starts 2 months after she finishes being a student, not 3.

Do you know the date you will be paid? I was starting a job and the pay date was end of the month and the job centre provided a bus pass to last until that first wage