single mum..work!?!.how is it possible??

smirnnie

I am unsure where you are in the UK, but in Northern Ireland there is the opportunity for single mothers to return to education. Taking an open university degree, would allow you to be at home for your children and educate yourself for future employment at a higher rate of pay.

In your circumstances and only if you don't have a degree already, your course should be fully funded and you would qualify for full student grants. As a muture student, you don't have to have 'A' levels etc and in most cases would be accepted straight away on any degree course. As a full time student, you are no longer available for work.

It will still be a difficult and meagre exsistence, but then you should be used to money pinching, already being on benefits. And you get to stay home with your children.

Perhaps another option to look into.

chris1973

Why not become a teaching assistant, cleaner, catering / kitchen operative in a school?. This way you'd be working normal school hours and would have all of the school holidays off.

Have you spoken to other mothers of children in the same year at your childs school to see what childcare arrangements they have in place for their children?. I'm sure that you will find that some will be single parents like yourself.

Does your child have friends at school? do they play outside with the neighbours kids?, maybe you can get to know their parents and eventually both share babysitting / childcare routines. For example, they may be glad for you to look after their child(ren) if ever they want to go out and in return, will look after your child on inset days.

As a Kid, with two working parents, I used to spend a lot of my time at friends and neighbours houses and vice versa during school holidays as a kid going through Primary School, working parents seemed to arrange this sort of thing between themselves and even had to 'manage' without childcare facilities, simply because they didn't exist then, at least not in the form and accessibility they do now.

Oldernotwiser

smirnnie wrote: »

I am unsure where you are in the UK, but in Northern Ireland there is the opportunity for single mothers to return to education. Taking an open university degree, would allow you to be at home for your children and educate yourself for future employment at a higher rate of pay.

In your circumstances and only if you don't have a degree already, your course should be fully funded and you would qualify for full student grants. As a muture student, you don't have to have 'A' levels etc and in most cases would be accepted straight away on any degree course. As a full time student, you are no longer available for work.

It will still be a difficult and meagre exsistence, but then you should be used to money pinching, already being on benefits. And you get to stay home with your children.

Perhaps another option to look into.

that is definitely true and I would certainly encourage it but it doesn't alter the fact that the OP will be claiming JSA and will have to be actively seeking work as well as studying.

Eliza_2

I suppose part of it is having to accept that circumstances change and the life path that we always thought would be there turns out completely different. I left work happily when my first child was on the way, and then along came no 2 and I thought it would always be me at home, being a good wife and mother, looking after a nice house, doing bits of voluntary work, PTA, helping at school,coffee mornings with other mums, growing veg and flowers etc etc and for a while this is how it was. My husband earned enough. Then circumstances changed drastically and like you I had pretty much sole charge of the children, no family nearby and so on. As soon as the youngest was at school I went back to college (and yes, there is financial help for this, and you can be home when the children are) and got a degree and have since worked, at first part time, then full time as the children grew. It's really not at all easy, with lots of juggling as others have said, and definitely hardly a moment to yourself but a big part for me was this acceptance that life wouldn't be as I'd originally planned and that I had to let go of the house and lots of the other bits of that old life, move to a rented house, sell the car etc etc. Friends were great, and we shared childcare whenever needed so worth cultivating! The kids haven't suffered, in fact are grown into mature responsible young people.

Lots of advice on this thread, I really hope you manage to get something sorted out. It's a new life plan for you my girl, leave the old one behind!!!

Liz

concerned43

jdturk wrote: »

hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Opps sorry Jdturk

AnxiousMum

Hey OP....it CAN be done......I don't think anybody has said it was easy, but it can

I was a single mum when my eldest two boys were ages 4 and 6. I worked 'on call' shift work as an emergency services dispatcher for the local police department. It meant that I could work night shift, get the kids off to school in the morning, sleep while they were at school, get up to pick them up, have dinner with them, and go to work again. Of course, there was the problem of overnight childcare, which I found a wonderful neighbourhood nan who provided childcare for me. It wasn't cheap, but it enabled me to earn a good living, while still being able to tend to my children's needs - spend important time with them in the mornings and after school. In that position you are able to say when you are available, so you can say you're not available for things like Christmas, Easter, birthdays etc., so as to ensure you are around at the important times for your kids. Here in the UK local police departments, ambulance and fire halls have their own dispatch centres centralised.......I continued doing this for about ten years - and was able to earn a good living, be there for the kids, and contribute to a great pension fund.

I went onto have three more children with my now partner. I chose to stay at home with them, as felt guilty that as a full time working mum when my older two were young, but that I was able to be there for them when they needed me......that by working full time I would somehow steal that away from my little ones. Living on one wage was not easy with five kids.....but we did it. About a year before my youngest started school, I found the perfect job though - it's term time, school hours, and working from home hooking up to an office network at head office. Again, a job that even as a single mum, I could cope on quite well, in fact it would be perfect. Again I'm able to be there to take kids to school, pick them up, attend things like assemblies during the school day, and make up some of the admin work once they go to bed if I have to.

Being a working mum with a partner is no easy task, many, many parents are away from their kids 12 hours a day, and have no choice but to have their 12 yr old come home unattended, or go to a sitter. It's all a part of the choices that we make. You are choosing to have a house - you have equity in the house, if you need to release that equity in order to provide for your kids, so be it. If you need to rent so that you can receive assistance with your housing costs - then it is there for you to do so. It is your choice to be a home owner and retain the equity in your home.

It's not all doom and gloom - sometimes it's just that all we can see is problems in the way, rather than what the benefits are of progressing our lives on, and getting on with it to a new future.

You should also be receiving child support from your ex - make sure that he is doing his part in providing for the children financially as well, its not just your responsibility.

Or, if you were not working while you were with him, and that was a mutual decision - have you looked at ancillary relief in the divorce proceedings?

There are lots of jobs out there that will let you work around your children, I've done nothing but that for the past 21 years and while I'm proud that I have never had to claim the likes of Income support or JSA, I'm glad that it is there should I require it - but also glad that it's not an option I would 'choose' over working.

liney

If there are problems finding child care for 11 plus in your area, why don't you look in to providing it yourself? You can work from home and help others with the same problem at the same time.

smirnnie

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

that is definitely true and I would certainly encourage it but it doesn't alter the fact that the OP will be claiming JSA and will have to be actively seeking work as well as studying.

As far as I am aware, and can only base this on Northern Ireland of course, she wouldn't be able to claim JSA, her money would be claimed through the student grants agency and if needed would be topped up to the amount the law says you need to live on, by seperate benefits. As a full time student you are no longer classed as available for work, when you are a single mother.

Grants etc. are described on the student finance website, I can't give you the link, because I am a new user and can't post links, but a google search for student finance will get you there.

liney

smirnnie wrote: »

As far as I am aware, and can only base this on Northern Ireland of course, she wouldn't be able to claim JSA, her money would be claimed through the student grants agency and if needed would be topped up to the amount the law says you need to live on, by seperate benefits. As a full time student you are no longer classed as available for work, when you are a single mother.

Grants etc. are described on the student finance website, I can't give you the link, because I am a new user and can't post links, but a google search for student finance will get you there.

If the OP is going to actually go to university, then they will still need childcare which is the actual problem. If they go down the OU route, then i'm sure it's part time study regardless of how many points per year you study and you are still a Job Seeker.

Education is a wonderful thing if it's going to be used properly, ie as the lady above has done, in order to train to go to work. To use it, and it's funding, to avoid working is as bad as Job Seeking, and not actually intending to get a job IMO.

Oldernotwiser

smirnnie wrote: »

As far as I am aware, and can only base this on Northern Ireland of course, she wouldn't be able to claim JSA, her money would be claimed through the student grants agency and if needed would be topped up to the amount the law says you need to live on, by seperate benefits. As a full time student you are no longer classed as available for work, when you are a single mother.

Grants etc. are described on the student finance website, I can't give you the link, because I am a new user and can't post links, but a google search for student finance will get you there.

That would be true of full time study but you can only study part time with the OU, however many courses you take.