income support help

jamesb1239

sunnyone wrote: »

The NHS pays bursarys for people training in needed roles

Actually this year is the last year that Nursing courses are being bursary funded, they are also changing from a diploma to a degree.

Former_MSE_Dan

Hi,

We have had to trawl through this thread and delete almost 40 argumentative posts - this is not a use if resource we are willing to keep up.

The most important rule of this forum is very simple - PLEASE BE NICE TO OTHER MONEYSAVERS!!!!

There are no exceptions to this: if you think people are rude themselves, or need to work on their grammar, or you don't believe them please simply do not reply! We are working to make this forum a place people want to come to, not somewhere that criticizes and makes unhelpful snipes, rather than useful comments.

We have taken the post deleting action here in order to keep the discussion live and hopefully help the OP. However, in future people who break this very simple rule will have further action taken against them by the forum team.

Thanks

Dan

dktreesea

How about just working a couple of days or so a week (16+ hours, either working for someone else or self employed), then claim WTC instead of fussing around with JSA. WTC is heaps better, imho. HMRC are really nice, always professional. If you work, you work. It doesn't matter to them how little or much you earn - if you're entitled to WTC, you're entitled.

If you get WTC, then you also get council tax and housing benefit, so no difference there between the JSA and WTC, though the amounts you get might be slightly different.

These days, there doesn't seem to be many jobs around. Even our local supermarkets aren't hiring just now. But there still seem to be a lot of options for self employment. Just the ones I know of in our street do the following:

Designs and sells her own jewellery, at craft fairs (used to be a teacher - left due to stress)
Book dealer (he used to work for the Helath department, doing IT work. Left due to boredom)
Market trader/ 2nd hand dealer
Proof reader/poet (he says he gets inspiration from the local cemeteries, but not the crematoriums. Good luck to him - rather him than me!)
Mystery shopper (now there's a job I fancy. She's been doing it for years. Loves it)
Makes cards and sells them at craft fairs. The jewellery lady and her sometimes goes together, and she seems to be doing quite well
Self employed hairdresser
Relocation "specialist" (There's jobs out there I didn't know existed! She and her business partner pack up houses for a fee. That's it. They don't arrange removalists or anything. Just the boxes and the packing. That would drive me mad - what if there was a spider's nest, or even worse, mice, lurking in the corners. She says it's a great way to earn a living. They only work three days a week)
Child minder. Just has two children during the day, three days a week.
Maths tutor (for something that only happens after 3.30pm each day, this one seems to be forever working! Kids who go for a maths lesson at 7pm at night must have ambitious parents...:-)
Antiques dealer (he doesn;t actually sell himself - he rents a space out at an antiques centre somewhere and spends the rest of his time sourcing stock.

What I found interesting about a lot of these people is that they don't seem to make much money, not even the minimum wage in some cases. Sure, some of them own their own homes, and most have done other things prior to this lifestyle change, but they all seem quite happy. I assume the ones earning below poverty line amounts claim WTC and all the attendant benefits, like HB, council tax and CTC/child benefit.