Single mum issues...whats best for benefits?

[emblestrembles]

Hi there,
I am considering leaving my husband. I have 2 children aged 3 and 7months.

I have about £15000 debt! Crikey!
But hopefully the equity on the house should cover that.

At the moment i am self employed as a childminder.

What I really want to know is what will be the most financially beneficial thing for me to do as a single mum.

SHould I quit working as a childminder and just take the benefits - will probably have to do so anyway as will be moving house and either council house or rented will be too small probably.

Should I do part time work - do I end up getting more if I work and put kids in childcare?

Or should I work full time and have kids in childcare with childcare benefit to help out.

I have never done this before so want to find out how I will be best off.

Hope someone out there might be able to answer this question for me.

Em x

Sorry to read all this....I am sure there are loads of people out there who can give you the advice you need so I'll bump this for you. Take care. xxxxx

bump

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Hello emblestrembles.
I am sorry to hear about your situation. I don't have "proper" advice on your question, but I probably wait until you have settle down with your new situation, and wait and see, how your DC settle before deciding what to do.
About not doing CM, as your future property may be too small, my current CM doesn't have a huge house, and the CM that I used for my DD1 didn't either, and they were and are brilliant CMs.
I hope everything works out the best way possible.

Hi there, If you can pop down to your local jobcentre, they can actually calculate and tell you how much benefits you can get based on your circumstances and then you can compare it with what you have now. I don't mean to pry but your children are quite young, any little chance of a reconciliation than put yourself through this?

if you are self employed as a childminder special rules apply for you claiming jobseekers allowance or income support. 2/3 of your income is disregarded for benefit purposes - you would also get a disregard of £20 on top of that as a lone parent...it's all a little complex to go into without knowing everything about your circunstances, but it should give you a pointer.

is there no way that you could stay in your house and continue to child mind from home?? potentially less stressful for you and the children. I would be inclined to write to your debtors explaining teh situation and ask them to freeze the interest and come to an agreement about repayments.

do hope you're ok.