Forum home Babies Baby

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

Replies

  • don't know any of the answers myself honey, but if you go to www.entitledto.co.uk you can find out most things except tax credits. They're worked out based on household income so it depends how much your oh earns x
  • the answer to housing benefit.probably not...unless you sit on your arse all day you dont get anything, shocking really that those of us on a low income but who work bloody hard get nothing...

    Tax credits would prob go up if you worked over 16 hrs per week. Good luck x
  • Mousenose - we 'sit on our arse all day' because I'm a full time mummy, and my OH got made redundant jut before christmas and has been applying for every job under the sun, and had interviews to. So dont assume because 'we sit on our arses' its through choice. You make it sound like were spongers and we're not. I worked until I was pregnant and my OH worked for 12 years solidly until getting made redundant.

  • mousenose i really do wish i got to "sit on my arse all day" but instead im a full time mummy and pregnant and also go to college part time while my oh works 9-5 5days a week training to be an accountant, so i would hardly say we sponge off benefits as we really dont want to claim benefits but without doing so we couldnt afford to live or eat.
    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
  • sorry for the rant mousenose, i know what you mean, about how they work tax credits etc but not everyone claims it because they are too lazy to work, some people have to so they can afford to live, especially the way things are at the moment x
  • Sorry just to lighten the post.. I just did the calculator and not entitled to anything..... except a funeral grant!! What are they trying to tell me!! LOL!!

    ( P.S I am just deciding whether to go back to work as my maternity leave is up soon )

    Sam
  • can i ask you full time mummies how you cope financially? is it a struggle or not as bad as you thought? i just don't want to be at work more days than im with charlie but really worried as i dont think we'll be able to afford our rent,etc...
    p.s - didn't mean to cause any probs with this post - was just after some advise.xx
  • Does you local council have a calculator on line that you can work out if you are entiltled to housing benefit and concil tax help? I know ours do, just log onto their web site or give them a ring and ask them. At least that way you would have a pretty good idea. xxxx
  • I don't think mousenose meant too much offense, I just think she could have phased it differently.

    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
  • IM GUILTY OF "SITTING ON MY ARSE ALL DAY"
    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
  • Oh no i have just logged on...I really didnt mean us mummies!!!Im sorry if i offended anyone! I am a full time mum aswell and i know it isnt easy and is a full time job. I was talking about people who intentionally do nothing so they can claim benefits. For people who have been made redundant, or a single full time mums that is what it is there for! You guys have paid your taxes and are entitled to all you can claim!

    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
  • You may be best calling hmrc and explaining the situation. They will often go through different scenarios so you can work out what is best.

    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.
  • When i go back to work my OH is giving up his main job and our combined income will be ??14,900...we'll be managing just fine on that (thats with a mortgage too) and haven't even taken into account what benefits we may be entitled to yet! x
  • well shoot me if u like but ......im debating going back to work because oh only earns 12k ayear so if i stay at home tax credits will give us nearly ??800 a month however if i go back part time which is what i was before id earn 4k a year so we would not be entitled to working tax credits ,my nursery fees would be ??900 a month and id earn ??400 and tax credits would only give us ??400 ish so in effect id be -??100 a month and still have all my bills to pay !! so actually we would be better of staying at home raising my own children as opposed to going to work for a crappy company who tell me to work even when my kids are ill and make me feel like a child ....the only thing id miss would be lunch breaks and not all conversations i have being based on children :lol: ..oh and also having people turn their noses up at me for claiming "benefits" ...if anyone can give me a reason to go back to work based on them income figures feel free to post me image xxxxxxx
  • chuffedbaby2, don't worry not gonna shoot you, lol. We are in the same position! If I went back to work part time which I was planning on doing we would be paying out ??78 a week for two days childcare and I would be earning ??105 a week. We would get about ??74 in ctc and ??20 in cb. However I have just been made redundant and according to the online calculator on our counicil web site we would be entilted to almost ??400 a month in rent and concil tax help and ??60 a week job seekers allowance!!!!! Its no wonder that some people choose not to work - talking about the lazy people that have never had a job! Personally I am really pleased that I am going to be able to look after Ashton myself, however before anyone shoots me down the reason that I am happy to go on benefits rather than find another job is because I am 4 pregnant and no one will want to employ me knowing that I will be leaving again in a few months time. xxx
  • thanks tamarabell image ....u dont have to give a reason for not wanting to find another job either ill give it to u all straight ..the reason i DONT WANT to work until sophia is in full time school is simply because i want to look after them both myself ,i know some people are not able to due to finacial issues but this isnt going to be a problem for us at the moment thanks to our goverment ..for once in my life im thanking them image ...i have worked since i was 16 and paid tax and ni till my mat leave finishes in august ...i will then re train as something i want to do so when sophia goes to school i can go straight into a good job ..hopefully image ....i personally think the best thing our goverment could do would be to pay for ALL mums to stay home until all our babies were at school ... xxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Totally agree CB2 xxx
  • sorry if this has been mentioned before but my sis get something called Local Housing Allowance - to help with the rent.

    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


  • I think its 18 JoJo.

    xx
  • Hey hun,

    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
Sign In or Register to comment.

Featured Discussions