Why is there no extra help?

thorsoak

You are young, I am assuming that you are fit and healthy, computer-literate (and, importantly - you can spell and not just use txt spk). You obviously have enough nous to be able to find yourself a small flat - albeit at a large rent. But you have a job (for 16 hours), you will receive £40 per week towards your rent - so take these all as the positives.

Might I suggest that you look at another p/t job - it might not be doing work that you would like to do - but if it brings in some money it will help you balance your books - and will also look good on a CV.

Buggles

*ignore this*

Buggles

thorsoak wrote: »

You are young, I am assuming that you are fit and healthy, computer-literate (and, importantly - you can spell and not just use txt spk). You obviously have enough nous to be able to find yourself a small flat - albeit at a large rent. But you have a job (for 16 hours), you will receive £40 per week towards your rent - so take these all as the positives.

Might I suggest that you look at another p/t job - it might not be doing work that you would like to do - but if it brings in some money it will help you balance your books - and will also look good on a CV.

Thank you. I am looking for another job (be it full time or a second part time job, though a second job would be difficult to work around with my current job, as they seem to want us available pretty much 24/7!).

thorsoak

Deleted - as Buggles deleted his/per post this is superfluous!

steamwin

have you sought any help from social service's buggles?just an idea.

Errata

Get yourself over to Weezl's thread, recipes and meal planners there which enable people to eat well on £30 a month.

oldmotherreilly

As you are looking for alternative employment, maybe renting a flat in an area with better employment prospects would be an idea to consider? Somewhere in between where you are now and a bigger town?
I think the fact that you say that there is no help when you will, in fact, be in receipt of a benefit (Housing Benefit is paid by the local council on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions and is therefore a state benefit) may be provoking people into making comments about the tone of your post. What help are you looking for as this board is not here to question the rights and wrongs of the benefit system but to make sure you are claiming all that you are entitled to. Are you looking for help with your jobsearch (might be better placed on the Employment board) or are you asking if there are any benefits that you are unaware of that you might be entitled to?

dmg24

Buggles wrote: »

For Christs Sake. I HAVE NO CHOICE!! Where do you want to me live? In a cardboard box??

Plenty of young people live in shared houses, and make friends at the same time?

Jowo_2

Buggles wrote: »

...

I'm entitled to around £40 a week housing. With this and my wages, I will have no more than £30 a month to spend on food once I have paid my other bills.

...
Surely there must be some help, somewhere??

We see a number of posts on this forum where there is a mistaken belief that reducing hours of employment will actually make the OP better off, that by working less, they will actually become more affluent. There's not always the magic bullet of extra top ups available to all potential claimants.

Might be worth double checking your entitlements on the Entitled to (turn2us) website.

If you can't increase your income through employment and aren't entitled to extra benefits, then your only option is to reduce your expenses.

Download the budget planner spreadsheet on the tools section of this website. This will help you systematically work through your expenses using information on MSE to see if you can reduce your outgoings. This will be anything from reducing energy consumption, finding cheaper suppliers, cutting transport costs, cooking cheap meals using fresh food, tips such as getting goods from Freecycle/Freegle/Gumtree freebies, other ways to earn income, and so on.

In addition to your local housing allowance, have you applied for the single person council tax discount of 25%?

In context, the UK currently pays out more in benefits, allowances and tax credits than employees pay in through income tax which is a very, very unhealthy imbalance.If everyone under the age of 25 were eligible for the benefits that have age restrictions to them, the UK budget deficit would more worse.

Buggles

oldmotherreilly wrote: »

As you are looking for alternative employment, maybe renting a flat in an area with better employment prospects would be an idea to consider? Somewhere in between where you are now and a bigger town?
I think the fact that you say that there is no help when you will, in fact, be in receipt of a benefit (Housing Benefit is paid by the local council on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions and is therefore a state benefit) may be provoking people into making comments about the tone of your post. What help are you looking for as this board is not here to question the rights and wrongs of the benefit system but to make sure you are claiming all that you are entitled to. Are you looking for help with your jobsearch (might be better placed on the Employment board) or are you asking if there are any benefits that you are unaware of that you might be entitled to?

oldmotherreilly, I should have worded my original post better, thank you for pointing that out

I'm looking for extra help with income. I just find it so unfair that if you work less than 16 hours, you get more help, and if you work 30+ hours, you get more help (from what I have read)