£600 work bonus - What do I do ?

[EL-ENG]

If I work lots of extra hours (I'm salaried so no extra pay) I could reach a target which would give me a one off £600 bonus

This is a one off, possibly never repeated offer.

But I get WTC (based on this years lower salary of £15400 pa - last year £16500, married, 2 children ) as well as £3 per week council tax benefit and £28 per week housing benefit

OK, so take home would be up £408 up after tax and NI

WTC this year (and next year) would be down £246 (41% of gross)

I would lose the full (approx £120) housing benefit for the month

I would lose the full (approx £13) council tax benefit

I would need to reapply for Housing benefit and council tax benefit in February as it would automatically be stopped (is this correct????)

So Net pay for approx 60 hours work needed would be 408-246-120-13 = £29

Am I missing something ????

Would CTB / HB be based on an average when reapplying or just on February's wage ? ( as an average including the January bonus would wipe out more than the £29 net )

So, any ideas how this could work for me as I am not keen to put in so much effort for 50p an hour, but I do not want to let my employer down

Thank you in advance for any ideas

[FBaby]

It sounds like either you don't work the extra hours and feel good that it doesn't matter because you can get the difference claiming benefits, or you work the hours and feel good that doing so means you are supporting your family with less reliance on benefits and hopefully might mean a promotion in the near future that will mean you will then be trully better off?

I don't think there are other alternatives.

[bestpud]

You need to think long term.

[ffacoffipawb]

Originally Posted by bestpud

You need to think long term.

e.g. pay £480 net into a personal pension.

Then the OP will still benefit from this money, after retirement.

[paddedjohn]

Your net pay for the 60hrs won't be £29 it will be £408, the difference is that you will have earned the higher amount without relying totally on benefits.

[SkyeKnight]

Originally Posted by EL-ENG

....
WTC this year (and next year) would be down £246 (41% of gross)

...

So Net pay for approx 60 hours work needed would be 408-246-120-13 = £29

If WTC are down this year and next year then you need to take off two lots of £246, so the net pay should be -£217! Marvellous! It won't be quite that bad if you get a pay rise or a bonus next year though.