Irresponsible to have children on benefits?

[4magpies]

Do you get housing benefit if you own your house?

x

 

[Hayley90]

Thats the thing... when i pay childcare, in a few months... it will be the same as my wage. But if i was to give up my job, i wouldnt be entitled to anything because i would have quit So i will continue working until i can find a job for less hours that pays enough to cover us.

Just to say, the bolded bit isn't true. I have been to the CAB about my situation and they confirmed this. It only applies to unemployment benefits, not HB etc.

But then all i would get is £20 CB surely? My rent etc would still need paying Thats what i mean, some people swan around getting everything paid for, yet regardless of what i do i stil have to pay full whack and get none of the luxury of seeing my son grow up

Depends what your OH earns? Mine is on a lowish salary, so we will be entitled to some (but not full) housing benefit, plus more CTC as our household income will be a lot lower.
The change from my wage after Childcare and commuting to London is practically zero, so we're clearly better off taking the HB and CTC and having me full time at home looking after the children. Even if we weren't having another this would still be the case.
Honestly, I won't be swanning around at all - like now, we will not be in a position to have any luxuries. It's just that we will be able to avoid going into debt once I stop work.

Just over £21k he is set to earn this year in afghanistan... last year was about £16 or £17k, next year is unknown as he will be jobless when he returns unless london fire recruit him like they said he would.

i currently get £22k and commute to london too, so would lose out on a lot of wage tbh as currently my childcare is £0. When my mum qualifies it will be £900+ as i do 12 hour days incl commuting

 

[Hayley90]

Do you get housing benefit if you own your house?

x

only to cover interest, not to pay the mortgage

 

[lesleyann]

Do you get housing benefit if you own your house?

x

there is something my friend had to claim it but i think they both had to be out of work for 12weeks and it would only pay the intrest on the morgage

 

[4magpies]

Ahhh right, thanks I never knew that.

x

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Mine earns 20k Hayley. I don't know how they work it out if the income varies...

 

[Hayley90]

Mine earns 20k Hayley. I don't know how they work it out if the income varies...

me either Its confusing, and because he hasnt got a secured job i couldnt even apply for fear of having absolutely nothing next year. I would hate to give everything up and then it all go horribly wrong.

I have about 2/3 months until my mum qualifies then im screwed effectively

 

[AppleBlossom]

Give me a job any day of the week, I hate being on benefits.

Why don't they just make childcare less expensive? It would make life so much easier, especially for single parents like me where childcare would be a must. It just seems ridiculous that the cheapest nursery round here is £35 a day!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

It's very difficult Hayley, at 21k you'd get something, I would have thought, it depends on how much change you will have from your wage after childcare and travel costs if you have any, as to whether that would make you better off not working. It's also a longterm thing though, as if you're in a good job / career with prospects then you mightbe best off sticking with it. My job has no prospects.

 

[4magpies]

Give me a job any day of the week, I hate being on benefits.

Why don't they just make childcare less expensive? It would make life so much easier, especially for single parents like me where childcare would be a must. It just seems ridiculous that the cheapest nursery round here is £35 a day!

100% agree with you, childcare is very expensive.

I dunno why they don't subsidise it to make it cheaper. Would be helpful to alot of people. Stop wasting money on stuff we don't need, like MP's expenses!

x

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Give me a job any day of the week, I hate being on benefits.

Why don't they just make childcare less expensive? It would make life so much easier, especially for single parents like me where childcare would be a must. It just seems ridiculous that the cheapest nursery round here is £35 a day!

If it was cheap, who would subsidise it? Someone has to pay for it, I know that nursery workers aren't paid much, and most are privately run businesses, they wouldn't offer a service if it wasn't profitable for them, if they had to charge a cheap rate that didn't cover their costs, they'd not be there. It's a rubbish situation.

 

[Hayley90]

It's very difficult Hayley, at 21k you'd get something, I would have thought, it depends on how much change you will have from your wage after childcare and travel costs if you have any, as to whether that would make you better off not working. It's also a longterm thing though, as if you're in a good job / career with prospects then you mightbe best off sticking with it. My job has no prospects.

thats the thing, at the moment it would be stupid of me... whereas in future when most of my salary goes on trains and childcare then i might aswell enquire about it so i dont waste my time.... im not entitled to benefits on this salary, so when childcare DOES take effect, i wont be able to pay my rent. No help = eviction

 

[AppleBlossom]

I dunno lol maybe use the millions paid out in banker's bonuses. So much money is wasted on ridiculous things instead of put to good use in healthcare, education etc. Stupid really

 

[Hayley90]

Give me a job any day of the week, I hate being on benefits.

Why don't they just make childcare less expensive? It would make life so much easier, especially for single parents like me where childcare would be a must. It just seems ridiculous that the cheapest nursery round here is £35 a day!

100% agree with you, childcare is very expensive.

I dunno why they don't subsidise it to make it cheaper. Would be helpful to alot of people. Stop wasting money on stuff we don't need, like MP's expenses!

x

Problem with that is that we would then have no MPs - or their salaries would grow to cover their costs. Private sector workers get expenses paid, MPs should too... as long as they follow the rules

 

[Hayley90]

I dunno lol maybe use the millions paid out in banker's bonuses. So much money is wasted on ridiculous things instead of put to good use in healthcare, education etc. Stupid really

Private sector though... banks are touchy ground as any govt funding into a bank is strongly restricted as to where it can be used and what for... mainly to 'balance' the economy so we dont have another Lehmann brothers incident.... this is waaaay OT

 

[4magpies]

Give me a job any day of the week, I hate being on benefits.

Why don't they just make childcare less expensive? It would make life so much easier, especially for single parents like me where childcare would be a must. It just seems ridiculous that the cheapest nursery round here is £35 a day!

100% agree with you, childcare is very expensive.

I dunno why they don't subsidise it to make it cheaper. Would be helpful to alot of people. Stop wasting money on stuff we don't need, like MP's expenses!

x

Problem with that is that we would then have no MPs - or their salaries would grow to cover their costs. Private sector workers get expenses paid, MPs should too... as long as they follow the rules

You know what I mean...

xx

 

[indy and lara]

That is what I was going to ask Claire. Would it be in lieu of things like ctc? Would this be applicable to eveyone's childcare or just some? Nurseries are businesses so will always be run for profit.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I think the whole problem is that a one size fits all type approach just doesn't work. You canhave an income figure that is fine to live on and pay full childcare on in one part of the country and not another. Or, you could have a decent income but pay loads in train fares, whereas if you left that job for a more local one you'd be on a much lower salary, if you were lucky enough to even get a more local job full stop! The CTC people ignore that and just see a high income.

 

[4magpies]

Full time nursery here would be £600 a month.

That's half my take home wage, we would probably be quite comfortable.

If I worked part time we would probably be better off due to the fact I would get more "help" as we would earn less as a couple and would have to pay for less nursery (maybe even only 1 & a half days!) as my family could look after my LO for 1 day a week.

I don't think we would be better off if I didn't work at all though....

xx

 

[sophxx]

Full time nursery here would be £600 a month.

That's half my take home wage, we would probably be quite comfortable.

If I worked part time we would probably be better off due to the fact I would get more "help" as we would earn less as a couple and would have to pay for less nursery (maybe even only 1 & a half days!) as my family could look after my LO for 1 day a week.

I don't think we would be better off if I didn't work at all though....

xx

i only live 5 minutes down the motoway from you and nursey cost 845 here for fulltime think i need to send lo to nursery nearer your way if he goes lol x