To work or not to work?

[hulahoop09]

I have worked pretty much all my life since leaving school 11 years ago and only claimed about 3 mnths worth of jsa when i moved area. We get cb and we did get 5 mnths of ctc til april last year when the government said we 'earn too much'. Lo may have to go into childcare which we will get about 180 help towards yet if we had 2 in childcare they would pay 750 towards childcare. We planned on having 2 children anyway but #2 is on the way sooner than planned as it will work out better us having 2 in childcare. Strange how the government works. Lol. But I plan on getting all the childcare support I can so I can continue to work. As much as I would love to be a sahm til my children go to fulltime school.

What frustrates me is the amount of people I know having child after child so they dont have to work yet they afford pricey things and plenty of holidays!

Xx

 

[ClaireLouise]

In my honest opinion, if I were in your situation, I would definately stay in work. It is your OH responsibility to provide for the baby you both made. Saving for a house is not a priority, feeding, clothing and caring for our LO is.

You do manage, and I'm sure your OH wouldn't see you and your LO starve or become homeless. He would need to step up and give you some financial help.

I understand where you are coming from with regards to wanting to stay at home to look after your child, but your talking to other mums here who HAVE to work, don't have a choice, and see your situation as taking advantage of the system.

If you choose to stay on benefits because you will be receiving more money then think about the future. If you're lucky to have a job now, please don't treat the benefits system as a lifestyle choice.

Just my honest opinion.

 

[Abz1982]

I am now having this quandry.............

If I go back to work I would earn £739 a month. My child care for 2 would be £225 a week.........which is once calculated on 50 weeks a year but you pay over 12 months £975 a month.

We would get working tax credits of £880 towards child care, and we would then get refunded the free child care which is about £1260 a year - BUT I have to pay this first and it gets refunded 3 times a year.

To get to work costs £200 in petrol.

So this leaves us -£34 a month! That is BEFORE food

OR

I can not work and we would get £252 in tax credits And we can have £292 a month for food etc........LO would go to the local school nursery so would be no costs for that.


So whilst I see the argument for working.................If I work we CANNOT feed our children.

How messed up is that!

And just for reference that is for me earning 12.7k for 24 hours a week and OH getting 24k for 37 hours a week. If i work full time I am on 21.2k..........and child care is £1625 a month! or £375 a week. and £300 is the limit for help. SO it would leave us with £258 a month for food and lunches and anything else.

 

[My_First]

But your up for the year? You make more money being at work with the first option? Unless I am reading it wrong?

 

[omfgski]

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[Pearls18]

Yeah I don't understand either, I earn a little bit more than you and work 24.5 hours a week but I get a lot more than the amount you stated?

I'm not meaning to sound controversial, I don't know your situation so this isn't aimed at you, but in general I think people should be doing the sums BEFORE they get pregnant (unless unplanned) if people can not afford to be SAHMs on their husband's wages requiring money from the state then they should be working if they have a job not complaining about how much money they earn or whatever, surely we all know by now babies and child care are expensive? We have the children, it's not the government's job to make it affordable? It's not like we are in a population crisis needing more babies.

I couldn't have afforded two young children in childcare this is why I am WTT to space out my children so by the time I am pregnant DS gets his 15 hours free and I'll only be paying for two in childcare for a minimum of 10 months, it isn't hard to do the figures beforehand. If I can do this why don't others?!

 

[ClaireLouise]

I am now having this quandry.............

If I go back to work I would earn £739 a month. My child care for 2 would be £225 a week.........which is once calculated on 50 weeks a year but you pay over 12 months £975 a month.

We would get working tax credits of £880 towards child care, and we would then get refunded the free child care which is about £1260 a year - BUT I have to pay this first and it gets refunded 3 times a year.

To get to work costs £200 in petrol.

So this leaves us -£34 a month! That is BEFORE food

OR

I can not work and we would get £252 in tax credits And we can have £292 a month for food etc........LO would go to the local school nursery so would be no costs for that.


So whilst I see the argument for working.................If I work we CANNOT feed our children.

How messed up is that!

And just for reference that is for me earning 12.7k for 24 hours a week and OH getting 24k for 37 hours a week. If i work full time I am on 21.2k..........and child care is £1625 a month! or £375 a week. and £300 is the limit for help. SO it would leave us with £258 a month for food and lunches and anything else.

If you quit your job and was a SAHM until LO was at school, could your OH not afford to keep you both on £24k? Im not sure on the the income threshhold for sole earners to receive benefits if one parent isnt working through choice though....

This is a good website for calculating wage amounts before and after tax.
https://listentotaxman.com/

 

[omfgski]

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[omfgski]

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[Pearls18]

Things change though MarineWAG. For some people, they will have planned everything like you but life will throw a curveball. The husband might lose his job and find lower paid work and suddenly his wage plus the wife's wage mean one of them is working at a loss to cover childcare and they would have more money with one leaving work, accepting help and not paying childcare than they would both working. If that's the decision they have to make, they will pick money and feeding their children every time even if that means leaving a job.

Saying that though, unless you have more than two children or live in high rent places like London, you'll always be better off working money wise. Even on NMW and with childcare costs, if I was well enough to work a full time job, I'd be £500 better off a month than I am now and from the OPs figures, she is better off working too. I can't wait til I can get that extra £500 a month!

Oh I know and I appreciate that, I had an unplanned pregnancy so I can't talk and it's part of the reason I am being so careful this time around, but I have seen a few people in RL and on the forum (and I don't mean this thread) who seem somewhat shocked with childcare prices or when they bring back so little from work, I have pretty much had a child most of my working life so I have a good understanding I imagine it must be difficult for people used to bringing home £1000+ to suddenly only have £100-£200 left a month after childcare, but this is all visible you can research it beforehand, I just think people need to take everything into consideration beforehand. And then if things do go wrong, like it has done for me before, we can use the system which is exactly what it is there for. Which brings me back to my point earlier, the system is there for people who need it, not a lifestyle choice as someone earlier pointed out, so when planning a baby people should think beyond just buying the cot and the pram. That was a bit preachery.....!

 

[omfgski]

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[Abz1982]

I am now having this quandry.............

If I go back to work I would earn £739 a month. My child care for 2 would be £225 a week.........which is once calculated on 50 weeks a year but you pay over 12 months £975 a month.

We would get working tax credits of £880 towards child care, and we would then get refunded the free child care which is about £1260 a year - BUT I have to pay this first and it gets refunded 3 times a year.

To get to work costs £200 in petrol.

So this leaves us -£34 a month! That is BEFORE food

OR

I can not work and we would get £252 in tax credits And we can have £292 a month for food etc........LO would go to the local school nursery so would be no costs for that.


So whilst I see the argument for working.................If I work we CANNOT feed our children.

How messed up is that!

And just for reference that is for me earning 12.7k for 24 hours a week and OH getting 24k for 37 hours a week. If i work full time I am on 21.2k..........and child care is £1625 a month! or £375 a week. and £300 is the limit for help. SO it would leave us with £258 a month for food and lunches and anything else.

Just for the sake of working it out using your figures:

Part time:

Your wages: £739
Oh wages: £1500
Tax credits: £880
= £3119 a month

Take off childcare and petrol
-975
-200
= £1175

So £1900ish (my brain just died lol)
For housing, car, bills etc if you worked part time while OH was full time.

If you stay at home:

You: £0
OH: £1500
Tax credits: £252
= £1752

No childcare and petrol

So: £1752 a month for your housing and bills etc if you are a SAHM.

Full time:

You: £1300 (approx)
Oh: £1500
Tax credits: £1200 (based on the £300 a week limit)
= £4000

Take off childcare and petrol
- 1625
- 400 (doubled it for full time just in case)

So £1975 for housing, bills and food.

Both times you are better off working. How do you have -£34 for food when working part time when you are £150 better off a month than when you are SAHM?

Apologies if any mistakes there but this is why I don't understand the working vs not working arguments.

Yeah I have completely confused myself as I have gone back into my spreadsheet and its showing a massive difference to what it did earlier..............away to redo it all and see what it spews out.

** OK I did it again for full time, and doing it as if this coming year was the year passed..........if I go back full time we only get £148 a week in tax credits.

SO £3719.45 coming in
£3695 going out (all costs)
We have mortgage, bills and a maxed out credit card, overdraft and credit accounts to pay off . They take up about £388 of our costs going out.

BUT PT seems to give me £500 odd left!

So I have completely confused myself and cant even figure out what the hell I was on about earlier - I was major crabbit when I worked that all out.

 

[Pearls18]

You should re look at the tax credits calculator also Abz, our household income is similar to yours but by my calculations we still get a good amount for child care tax credits when we have 2, plus your income will be lower while on maternity resulting in higher tax credits for the year after.

 

[LPF]

Instead of thinking about quitting your job, why not consider looking for a job that pays more or subsiding your income through extra work etc. I just can't get my head round quitting a job to claim off the state. Is not what it's there for. You might be able to take advantage of the system for now (although now for long I'm sure) but its morally wrong. If you can work, you should, that's how the world goes round.

 

[Abz1982]

Instead of thinking about quitting your job, why not consider looking for a job that pays more or subsiding your income through extra work etc. I just can't get my head round quitting a job to claim off the state. Is not what it's there for. You might be able to take advantage of the system for now (although now for long I'm sure) but its morally wrong. If you can work, you should, that's how the world goes round.

That is easier said than done for some folk. Up here I have a number of friends, 1 with a Phd Who cannot find employment that will pay enough for them to pay mortgages. I have a colleague who recently got a pt job after work at a supermarket - which is actually against company policy - and now has to keep this secret and she is constantly knackered as she works 40 hours at work then another 3 after at the second job, plus the hours drive to work adn the hours drive from job 1 to job 2.

I personally, will be looking for a better paying job, but in my field that means it HAS tobe FT and its likely to be the other side of the city, which means I will have to drop LO off at 6:30am somewhere - and Ive yet to find a child minder or nursery who will take her before 7:30am. I would do a second job, but OH can be sent offshore with this job, and its not regular so when he is gone I wouldn't be able to do the second job as no one to watch LO.

If I didn't like having free will so much, then I would consider child minding, but would have to pay over 23k a year.

 

[zombiedaisy]

I didnt read through all of the posts, but I wanted to say DH and I are in a similar situation. I do enjoy being a SAHM, but honestly wouldnt mind being able to work a few days a week. The reason I dont all adds up to not being able to afford to. It sounds silly to say "i cant afford to work" but even if i waited until my daughter was in school this next year, our youngest would have to go to daycare, and the cost of daycare is so high, I would be working just to pay for his daycare, and thats it.... so really, we would be PAYING for me to go to work after you consider the expense of gas. Its just not worth it. Its frustrating at times.

 

[emalou90]

turns out the council hadnt been helping towards my rent like they said they would, hence why i was so stuck for money and it wasnt working out.
im glad its finally been ironed out 4 months later.

 

[LeoTheLion]

It's a hard situation to be in. I lost my job last week (part time in small cafe) due to taking days off with DS being sick then having to take the next day off because they can't go childminders until 48hrs then catching bug myself and being off .. I'm pretty much a single parent as oh is in army & have no one else to rely on when DS is ill or childminders is closed which results in me taking a day off .. I earned £110 a week & child are was costing me £75 a week.
DS is 22 months and will be starting mornings in school next year so I have decided to not go back to work and be a SAHM. It won't be forever & if a good job cones up in the mean time I will take it but I do not feel bad for getting Benefit help. I have worked full time from the age of 16 and paid more than enough in tax to be entitled to something back .. There is a difference between people who want to work but struggle I do so & people who want everything for nothing.
Benefits are only a small percentage of what our government pay out in tax the majority goes to prisons ect so if they are entitled then I most defo am not going to worry

 

[babycrazy1706]

If you were single I would say leave work and stay at home, but it seems strange that you get your full rent paid when you are in a relationship. If you are claiming as in a relationship then both incomes would be calculated into a joint income? Ultimately I think you need to decide as noone else is in your place, only you know. Good luck. Xx

 

[babycrazy1706]

turns out the council hadnt been helping towards my rent like they said they would, hence why i was so stuck for money and it wasnt working out.
im glad its finally been ironed out 4 months later.

Good news!