Am I getting all the help i can get ?

Jowo_2

Verian_wynn wrote: »

My advice to the OP lower your working hours to 16 per week and ask your local housing authority to reevaluate your housing benefit.

Pretty much the only route out of poverty is through employment.

Other posters have advised against a strategy of assuming that if he deliberately reduces his hours, he will be better off overall.

It's just something he needs to research before he acts, in the same way that he needs to get a thorough handle on how a switch from employment to studying could disadvantage him economically.

I still find it incredible that posters are telling the OP, a teenager, that the solution to his low income is to cut down on his hours of work!

Morgan_Ree

Verian_wynn wrote: »

It's strange how the op asked politely and with no ill intent towards anyone and yet he seemed to be receiving a lot of unsightly replies from other posters, namely Morgan_Ree for one.

One wonders why they would take offense in his original post as it seems to me his plea for help was sincere and was no way giving off the impression that the op was "fishing for benefits" I'm sure he could take the easy way out and impregnate someone and that would solve his problems.

However he is trying to find a better way out of his predicament which i think is admirable. :T




The conclusion I took was that of ignorance, Op don't take to heart the comments from Morgan_Ree and such others. They failed to understand your situation. "People don't read what they see, People see what they want to read"

A question to Morgan_Ree


And Viktory attacking his Grammer/spelling Shame on you. £150 a month is nothing Op would be getting more on JSA which is obviously a massive tax on the op. I swear some people have the social skills of a wooden spoon....

:rotfl::rotfl:

The ignorance in your question astounds me. The answer is simple, Because he need needs them. Op clearly doesn't want to be on benefits as he has stated that.

My advice to the OP lower your working hours to 16 per week and ask your local housing authority to reevaluate your housing benefit.

you will be in the same financial situation as you currently are but that will free up hours for a college course as long as you're doing 12.5 hours per week at college you will be able to to claim ALG and thus your dream to become a paramedic and your financial situation will be solved.

Under no circumstances should you attempt to raise your hours as this would make a college course quite harder to complete.

your ALG will provide you will an extra form of income and it will not impact on any other benefits you could receive

You're absolutely right!
Working 21 hours a week means the OP would never have been able to manage college. What a hectic life!

Working 16 hours a week is suddenly going to make everything fall into place, with plenty of time to sqeeze in a bit of learning.

Not only that but that whopping 5 hour a week reduction in hours is going to make such a HUGE difference to his benefit entitlement that suddenly all his money problems.will be solved!

You can't be that naive surely?

Verian_wynn wrote: »

How can you belittle the OP about wanting to claim benefits when upon looking at your own forum threads (Namely,Childcare allowance for student nurses?, Any single parent students claiming housing benefit?, Reapplying for NHS bursary)

Verian_wynn wrote: »

You seem to have the same agenda? This is very hypocritical of you and is a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Excellent comparison!!
I'm exactly like a 19 year sitting on my backside working minimal hours, desperately hoping benefits would bail me out.

Verian_wynn

Jowo wrote: »

Pretty much the only route out of poverty is through employment.

Wisely put But education would allow him to get a better job and earn more money. He stated that he was on minimum wage That wont improve until he gets a better job.

Lowing his hours is the best idea possible. he was on a 21 hours and has lowered to 16 that would put him on a different band on housing benefit ( which is why WTC is at 16 hours too)

I know this because I was in the same situation only my mother is still alive.

I was working hard no stop for nothing watching the people around me claim JSA and produceing children for IS It is VERY demoralizing.

I then lowered my hours (was doing 26) to 16 and my housing benefit increased to cover the slack so to speak as is required by all housing authority's as a 16 hour a week job on minimum wage is classed as low income and housing benefit it adjusted for that.

Which is why it is better doing 16 hours than being caught between a point when you are struggling to make ends meat (usually a a few hours work extra a week sad I know)

Lowing to 16 hours makes him no better or worse off now than he is currently. It just allows him to pursue an education which he expressed interest in.

Sorry for not making myself clear. I mean in no way to undermine advice giving by others I'm just offering by view in the matter and stating why it's better to lower to 16 hours.

Jowo_2

Verian Wynn - Thanks for the context to explain why you favour the OP reducing their hours. It's a shame that the system has perverse incentives in it that mitigate against work ethic but that's the fault of the system, not the claimant, and it is the policitians and their policies that are to blame for this.

It is recognised that the withdrawal of benefits and taxation does deter some households from employment because they are not much better off working but the current government is quite likely to make swingeing changes in the future to ensure a person is better off working. This article is short on details of how this will operate but at least shows the principles, plus the constraints faced by the OP.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1295137/How-Tories-make-working-pay-benefits-earn.html

A lot of college courses are classed as full time even though the mandatory hours of attendance can be quite low (2 to 2.5 days a week) which means that the students on it, who may qualify for some kind of low paying grant, can in fact work pretty much full time hours, or close to full time hours. There are usually many courses that run on a part-time basis, too.

Hopefully the OP can investigate these or see a careers advisor that will tell him the best route to become a paramedic which now seems to require a degree (part time ones are available) but there seems to be ambulance related roles that don't, such as an Ambulance Care Assistant or Ambulance Technician. Obviously there are dozens of medical care related occupations to consider, too, which have broadly similar duties.

http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.aspx?Id=905

Yes, its a great idea for the OP to get a better paying job with either another employer or by gaining a promotion with his current but he's got to impress them, display drive, enthusiasm and maturity, demonstrate skills and experience, which is going to be harder with a background in part time work.

sexki11en

pundless wrote: »

Hello Everyone
Post post here!

Well let me tell you little bit about my situation
* I'm 19 years young
* I live myself
* I work
* I'm Super skink lol



I work at £5.80 an hour and was doing 21 hours a week/ i get payed the last Friday of every month.. so I get about £500 a month

My rent and tax
I have to pay £47.80 rent a week and about £19ish tax a week

How this works out for me

On a long month (5 weeks) I have to pay £250 ish on rent and £80-90ish on tax. On a short month (4 weeks) I pay like £50 less

So I'm left with about £180

after paying ele bill ( £30ish) £ have 150 to last me the month + fix up the place (Still have next to nothing)

and I struggle with this soo much I often have days when I don't have the money to eat.

Myself and my partner work 40 hours a week each. After all bills are paid, we are left with less than £100 per month (for 2 of us). We would never dream of dropping our hours to claim benefits (we do not qualify for any help - we work too hard but that's another story ), we manage with what we have. We manage well on £25 per week food (admittedly, this has taken a while to achieve) and not only do we not go without, we eat very well. It's tough and we don't have many nice things, but like many others on here, we manage.

Stop thinking about what others can do for you and more about what you can do for yourself. Look for a full time job rather than one on nmw at 21 hours per week. Then you'll have more money.

SK x

Jowo_2

Perhaps the OP could consider joining a local Territorial Army group as a Medic or joining the local Field Hospital Unit as a combat medical technician if there's one in the country near him. Or a local RAF or Navy reserves as medical support. That way he gets extra pay, a new social outlet and an enhanced CV where he is able to demonstrate to future employers additional relevant skills and experience.

Failing that, if he's not inclined to join the TA (after all, he could end up in a combat zone), then he could look into voluntary work, such as with the St Johns Ambulance, where he would learn advanced 1st aid skills. Again, that puts him in good stead for any future application to a medical or health related employer.

Verian_wynn

Morgan_Ree wrote: »

You're absolutely right!
Working 21 hours a week means the OP would never have been able to manage college. What a hectic life!

Working 16 hours a week is suddenly going to make everything fall into place, with plenty of time to sqeeze in a bit of learning.

Not only that but that whopping 5 hour a week reduction in hours is going to make such a HUGE difference to his benefit entitlement that suddenly all his money problems.will be solved!

You can't be that naive surely?

5 hours a week extra to pursue other activities, being educational or recreational is something most people would gladly accept.
If it was so insignificant then housing benefit wouldn't reflect the
change in hours but it does.



Excellent comparison!!
I'm exactly like a 19 year sitting on my backside working minimal hours, desperately hoping benefits would bail me out.

I was not comparing you to him I was comparing that you was asking for help with benefits which is exactly what the OP was asking for yet you shunned him for it. That is what makes you a hypocrite. furthermore it would be clear to anyone to see that the op isn't "sitting on his backside" as you put it because he has a job and wants to educate himself this is actually the exact opposite of "sitting on his backside"

Verian_wynn

Jowo wrote: »

Verian Wynn - Thanks for the context to explain why you favour the OP reducing their hours. It's a shame that the system has perverse incentives in it that mitigate against work ethic but that's the fault of the system, not the claimant, and it is the policitians and their policies that are to blame for this.

It is recognised that the withdrawal of benefits and taxation does deter some households from employment because they are not much better off working but the current government is quite likely to make swingeing changes in the future to ensure a person is better off working. This article is short on details of how this will operate but at least shows the principles, plus the constraints faced by the OP.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1295137/How-Tories-make-working-pay-benefits-earn.html

A lot of college courses are classed as full time even though the mandatory hours of attendance can be quite low (2 to 2.5 days a week) which means that the students on it, who may qualify for some kind of low paying grant, can in fact work pretty much full time hours, or close to full time hours. There are usually many courses that run on a part-time basis, too.

Hopefully the OP can investigate these or see a careers advisor that will tell him the best route to become a paramedic which now seems to require a degree (part time ones are available) but there seems to be ambulance related roles that don't, such as an Ambulance Care Assistant or Ambulance Technician. Obviously there are dozens of medical care related occupations to consider, too, which have broadly similar duties.

http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.aspx?Id=905

Yes, its a great idea for the OP to get a better paying job with either another employer or by gaining a promotion with his current but he's got to impress them, display drive, enthusiasm and maturity, demonstrate skills and experience, which is going to be harder with a background in part time work.

Well put again Jowo :money: I wasn't aware that certain courses were classed as full time even tho they are quite low hours. (still that explains how much everything is messed up)

I Completely agree with everything you've said the system is flawed and is run by people who don't really live on earth. Work ethics now seem to have gone out the window as people can be "entitled" to anything it seems.

Also I was unaware that you could go into the medical field without a degree I will take a look at the link you've sent and it's really interesting.

I didn't mean to come across rude to anyone it just seemed a few people were giving the op a hard time and I felt that was unfair.

Morgan_Ree

Verian_wynn wrote: »

I was not comparing you to him I was comparing that you was asking for help with benefits which is exactly what the OP was asking for yet you shunned him for it. That is what makes you a hypocrite. furthermore it would be clear to anyone to see that the op isn't "sitting on his backside" as you put it because he has a job and wants to educate himself this is actually the exact opposite of "sitting on his backside"

Asking if anyone knew if I could claim HB whilst doing my nursing degree is vastly different to asking for help after voluntarily reducing my hours for the sole intent of claiming more benefits.

Also I would say working a meesley 16 hours a week when you are more than capable of doing more, is similar to 'sitting on your backside'
Not exactly hard work now is it.

clb776

This is why this country is in such a mess. Your wages and outgoings mean you are £4 a week better off than you would be on JSA (if you are entitled to full hb if you werent working!), with none of the 'perks of being on benefits' (ie free prescriptions, cheaper gas/elec/bt line rental/crisis loans etc) unfortunately you arent really entitled to much else as you are young, single and childless.

You also have to worry about getting to work/feeding yourself at work/ clothing yourself for work. Those on JSA have to worry about gettin to the job centre once every 2 weeks, and if god forbid they have to go in on a day they arent meant to they get the money re-imbursed if you had to get a bus or something to get there! Joke!!!!

Unfortunately its not easy to get a job at the moment (I have too been looking for a while!) but keep at it! When I was younger (19) I managed to work around 25 hours a week in the evenings and weekends and I did a full time college course during weekdays so it can be done. Go to your local college see what courses there are, and start doing it, once you do it will open up a whole new world of opportunities for you, good luck