I've also posted this on the lone parents board but traffic is slow there.
I'm currently job hunting now my youngest has started school, but despite info meetings with the Jobcentre lone parent advisor, what they advise doesn't match up with online information from government websites, and they said the same too, that you can't get access to all the information you need.
But as I'm flummoxed as to my financial situation when I return to work, I wonder if anyone is willing to post or private message their change in financial circumstances when they went into part time work and like me have two infant school age children and are also a lone parent.
It's a long shot but you need to be in identical circumstances to me.
Part time work only, claiming full time benefits, two kids under 6, no child support from kid's father, and (probably) minimum wage.
I need to know exactly how much Housing Bemefit you continued to receive, or if you get child tax or working tax credit and how that changed when you found PT work, etc. and how you afford childcare amd cover illness/school holidays.
I know that Jobcentre advisers can do back to work calculations and there are websites too, but they don't take into account everything, for example they can't calculate exactly the amount of housing benefit I would receive if I start part time work. My rent is £525 a month.
Effectively, Im supposed to jump straight into part time work without even knowing when and by how much all my other benefits will stop/change once I get my first month's salary. So I'm just supposed to wing it, tell them I have a job now, and they stop benefits but not all of them and they won't tell me how much by, so come payday, I'll have no idea if I can afford to pay the rent and may have not enough to live on for the first month of being back in work!
Please can anyone help?