Better-off calculation?!!

LNG

Hi, this is my 1st post, any comments/info would be much appreciated! My lone-parent advisor found me a few suitable jobs and used one of them to do a 'better-off calculation'. According to the results, based on an 18-hr/week job @ £8 something an hour, including Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit, also including new outgoings such as a portion of my rent (out of £900), Council Tax and childcare, I would be £32 a week better off. According to another advisor, if I earned any more from work, more would be taken off my housing benefit. I applied to my local council for social housing and got a reply saying I couldn't even go on the waiting list as I wasn't a 'housing priority'. Ok, no probs, but does this really mean that I'll be stuck in my expensive flat and not able to earn any decent money because I won't be able to afford the rent?! There must be some way out of this benefit trap, I'm studying for a degree in social science and believe I am of reasonable intelligence- I honestly see myself as high-flying in 10yrs time but in this situation I just dont know how it will be possible.. Please help! Thank you

ShaShaSha

Gosh how much rent!! :eek: hope your not stuck in minimum lease? You can apply for housing regardless of your priority. If you start working and 'can no longer afford' your rent, then u are affectivly due to become homeless and therefor an immediate priority...but you will have to accept first house they offer u - which may not be so great! Go on all the local housing association lists too, not just local authority.

If u go to entitledto.co.uk, u could enter in what u expect your income etc to be in the future, and maybe that can give u a better idea.

Remember extra costs like travelling, lunches etc associated with working and also taxes etc.

£32 does not seem alot when you would have to travel etc, but there is a lot of help available for people wanting to return to work....whether there are jobs avail is another issue

Hope this helps!

ShaShaSha

actually....re-reading i may have got it wrong...u arnt paying 900 rent are u? lol I was wondering what sort of SUPER flat ur living in!

Paparika

ShaShaSha wrote: »

Gosh how much rent!! :eek: hope your not stuck in minimum lease? You can apply for housing regardless of your priority. If you start working and 'can no longer afford' your rent, then u are affectivly due to become homeless and therefor an immediate priority...but you will have to accept first house they offer u - which may not be so great! Go on all the local housing association lists too, not just local authority.

If u go to entitledto.co.uk, u could enter in what u expect your income etc to be in the future, and maybe that can give u a better idea.

Remember extra costs like travelling, lunches etc associated with working and also taxes etc.

£32 does not seem alot when you would have to travel etc, but there is a lot of help available for people wanting to return to work....whether there are jobs avail is another issue

Hope this helps!

more like bedsit/hostel at the beginning

cunningfox_2

You may not be a priority but if you are not on list then you will never be any where further up it.

To put it bluntly you are waiting for someone to move out (unlikely), new builds (unlikely) or people to die (eventually) then properties become aviliable.

Your portion of the rent is basically 65% of your excess income and it is going to be a massive struggle - but people do it.

Good luck to you!

LizzieS_2

Perhaps you should look at the better off calculation as a long-term achievement - sometimes you have to take less now to get more later.

Qualifications help, but so does actual work experience.

Good luck.

Oldernotwiser

I think that to be £32 better off for working only 18 hours is not bad. £32, when you're on benefits, is a pretty substantial sum.

You don't mention how old your child/children are, but don't forget that it won't be that long before you have to switch to JSA from IS anyway, with all that involves. If you're already working, you won't have that transition to make.

Coming off benefits should be seen as a worthwhile aim in itself; you could always move to a cheaper flat when you actually have to pay for it yourself!

LNG

Thanks everyone, went to Entitledto.co.uk, thanks for that. calculations looked v similar to 'better-off' results. Also, rang around housing associations and they all told me they only take referrals from the local authority so i'd have to be on housing list (grrr... catch 22). I think biggest hurdle is the rent, 90% of my friends live in social housing and some of those couples are only paying 100/week on combined income of 30k+, whereas my income will literally be static until I can somehow afford the 1080/month rent and council tax. I suppose £32 is better than nothing but it is the long term I'm worried about; i will never be able to afford a car or even save for a mortgage.

ShaShaSha

LNG wrote: »

Thanks everyone, went to Entitledto.co.uk, thanks for that. calculations looked v similar to 'better-off' results. Also, rang around housing associations and they all told me they only take referrals from the local authority so i'd have to be on housing list (grrr... catch 22). I think biggest hurdle is the rent, 90% of my friends live in social housing and some of those couples are only paying 100/week on combined income of 30k+, whereas my income will literally be static until I can somehow afford the 1080/month rent and council tax. I suppose £32 is better than nothing but it is the long term I'm worried about; i will never be able to afford a car or even save for a mortgage.

Id go back and make sure the career advisor is taking into account additional costs of employment before you take on a job, as you dont want to be worse off. Will you be eligible for child care costs? how much will it cost for you to travel to work? will you be allowed a grant for work clothes? Have they taken into account extra costs of lunchs etc eating out? and are they taking into account your income AFTER tax?

It may be, that you can take on extra work and balance it out with housing benefit, but obviously you want to make sure u can instead of ending up worse off. You could also ask CAB for advice, as there is normally a lot of help for lone parents wanting to go back to work

Good luck to you

debrag

LNG wrote: »

Thanks everyone, went to Entitledto.co.uk, thanks for that. calculations looked v similar to 'better-off' results. Also, rang around housing associations and they all told me they only take referrals from the local authority so i'd have to be on housing list (grrr... catch 22). I think biggest hurdle is the rent, 90% of my friends live in social housing and some of those couples are only paying 100/week on combined income of 30k+, whereas my income will literally be static until I can somehow afford the 1080/month rent and council tax. I suppose £32 is better than nothing but it is the long term I'm worried about; i will never be able to afford a car or even save for a mortgage.

That is what I see as wrong with the way things are now. Loads of people are waiting to get a LA house when loads of people with one make a decent wage (okay so £30K isn't amazing) and could easily afford to rent privately.

Put if the Torries (I think it is) get in and change this I see loads more people claiming JSA just to keep a house.

Mrs_Kat

Am in a similar situation with three children(all under 10, youngest just 2) . I started working again about three months ago, the better off calculation showed about £60 a week better off (I was so happy with that!!!), but now all is sorted with tax credits, housing etc, it turns out I'm actually £50 a week worse off :eek:

I'm seeing my jobcentre advisor this week because the housing benefit in the calculation was the biggest mistake and am going through the housing appeal system etc. but obviously I was much better off on benefits. And there is something really wrong about that.