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benefits - how do they work?
Hi girls! Well im dreading the thought of going back to work and am looking into getting a part time job but if i did we definately would not be able to pay the rent, etc... Do you know if we would be entitled to any kind of housing benefit? I currently work full time and have never claimed any benefits so really havn't got a clue how any of it works. Also would i get an increase in my child tax credits if i was working less hours? thanks.xx
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Tax credits would prob go up if you worked over 16 hrs per week. Good luck x
funkymonkey, my oh works full time and we are entitled to working tax & child tax credits although its not much, along with child benefit and housing benefit xx
( P.S I am just deciding whether to go back to work as my maternity leave is up soon )
Sam
p.s - didn't mean to cause any probs with this post - was just after some advise.xx
It's just when you look at going back to work and go through the financial options it sometimes looks to be more financially viable to stay at home. This is especially true if you have a low paid job. You would think that it would benefit the government to encourage women to keep up their skills in part-time work.
I have a few friends who took a lot of time off (7-10 years) to look after children and they found it difficult to re-enter the work place. They were hard-working, good mothers who wanted to have more to do once their children went to school and found it difficult to get the jobs they deserved because of the lack of skills. If the government increased the benefits for people working then more women would feel that working part-time was beneficial for them and their families.
We started a thread about nursersies in the "Born in Dec" forum and I was astonished to find out that some people can get free nursery places because they don't work but I have to pay ??50 a day because I do. I would appreciate a little more support from the government especially as I am a key-worker (science teacher).
If women chose to stay at home with their children then that is an excellent choice but I believe that if a woman choses to go back 1-2 days a week then she should not be financially penalised for doing so.
I hope I haven't annoyed anyone with this post. I am going back to work because I love my job. Abby means more to me than anything but I don't think I'm full-time-mum material (even if we had loads of money). She will split her time between me, my OH, my mum and a nursery. I am lucky because my OH and my mum can look after her on certain days. I don't think I could justify putting her into nursery every day I work on ??50 per day.
TrulyOutrageous - thanks for the website tip, I will check that out.
H xx
and guess what we get Bugger all in benefits we are entitled to nothing! well child benefit. hubby isnt even entitled to working tax credits so mousenose dont assume we get everything coz we dont. we would actually be better off and get more benefits if i went out to work but i dont want too. i chose to be a full time mum and sit on my arse all day as u so kindly phrased it. so i get by on what i have and just get on with it. i know plenty of working mums who get more that i do of the government.. i think u may have offended quite a few people. an apology might be nice
I have a friend who left her partner whilst preg so then got housing benefit etc which is fine in my opinion because she couldnt work, but they then got back together after he was born and her OH walked out of his job on purpose so they could claim benefits which i think is wrong in the current climate when hard working people are losing their jobs.
i am so sorry if me blurting something out offended people.
Just annoys me that although me and OH earn really rubbish wages we cant claim anything because we live together and people who claim cos they intentionally sont work have more disposable income than us. Once again I am so sorry...
Lauren
I think a lot of it depends on your wage, on how much you will bring home after childcare. For us childcare is about a third of my wage which would be a lot to lose and we would get no extra tax credits etc cos hubby earns quite a bit. It also depends on what you are willing to live on. If I gave up work our disp income would be about ??150 which is just not enough for us as we want a new car, bigger house, holidays etc. Im going back full time when Frankie is 7 months and it does not bother me anymore. Im doing what i need to so that my little girl has the best life I can give her.
Its to help paying rent to a private landlord. She and her hubby both work and are still entitled to it so its worth a try.
try www.directgov.uk for more info
xx
I am not sure about housing benefit, you will be best to contact your local council.
We get child benefit which is about ??70 a month and child tax credits and working credits (which will be backdated three months because we only found out about them last month grrrrr)
My hubbys is in the army and he is very well paid so I am not returning to work, my mat pay ends next month but we like QB have just saved it. We have 2 cars and a mortgage and also pay rent for our army house and we manage fine. We are very lucky, I love being a stay at home mummy and I so fortunate that I can be. None of us sit on our arses all day we are all mummys - the chance would be a fine thing lol xxxx