Should I accept this job?

gazfocus

I currently do not work as my fiance (who I live with) claims ESA, DLA, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

However, I recently applied for a job that I thought was £14k a year but it turns out that it's only 4 days a week and the £14k is pro rata so the actual wage is £11304.

The issue is that after tax/national insurance, it'll be £9723 a year whereas the 3 'income related' benefits that my fiance gets add up to £10,582 per year so we would be slightly worse off.

Any advice about what you would do would be greatly appreciated.

Oldernotwiser

If the job is for at least 30 hours per week (or, if not, you could pick up a couple of extra hours somewhere), have you looked at what working tax credits you would get?

Edit: Your web design business would count as extra hours if this job is below 30, even if you're not making a profit yet.

gazfocus

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

If the job is for at least 30 hours per week (or, if not, you could pick up a couple of extra hours somewhere), have you looked at what working tax credits you would get?

Edit: Your web design business would count as extra hours if this job is below 30, even if you're not making a profit yet.

Thanks. How would I declare my web design business as extra hours? The job is only 28 hours a week so would only need a couple more hours.

Jowo_2

What about the intangible benefits from the rewards of working, such as the social contact, skills/experience boost, springboard into better paying positions?

Have you run the scenarios through the Entitled To (turn 2 us) website to calculate specifically any loss of income? If so how much is your household 'down'?

gazfocus

Jowo wrote: »

What about the intangible benefits from the rewards of working, such as the social contact, skills/experience boost, springboard into better paying positions?

Have you run the scenarios through the Entitled To (turn 2 us) website to calculate specifically any loss of income? If so how much is your household 'down'?

If I wasn't interested in the intangible benefits of getting a job, I wouldn't have asked the question

Edit, I have a few scenarios from the Benefits Adviser:

1. If I work 28 hours a week (and ditch my web design company) we would still be entitled to about £70 housing benefit and £20 council tax benefit per week.
2. If I work 30 hours a week we would be entitled to £88 working tax credit, £29 housing benefit and £11 council tax benefit.

Does that sound about right? Seems a bit much considering what I'd be earning.

Jowo_2

gazfocus wrote: »

.. The job is only 28 hours a week so would only need a couple more hours.

Would your employer considering changing the terms in the contract to increase the hours to thirty but keep the salary the same if you explained about the threshold for tax credits and how the acceptance of the job actually makes your household income much worse off. This could be a win-win for both parties? The employer doesn't have to increase your pay and for a couple of extra hours in the office, you'd not have such an extensive withdrawal of benefits.

You'd have to pitch this very diplomatically so as to avoid giving the impression that you are considering rejecting the position because you are better off on benefits or the employer may get the wrong impression that you have an attitude problem or preference for staying on your sofa.

gazfocus

Jowo wrote: »

Would your employer considering changing the terms in the contract to increase the hours to thirty but keep the salary the same if you explained about the threshold for tax credits and how the acceptance of the job actually makes your household income much worse off. This could be a win-win for both parties? The employer doesn't have to increase your pay and for a couple of extra hours in the office, you'd not have such an extensive withdrawal of benefits.

You'd have to pitch this very diplomatically so as to avoid giving the impression that you are considering rejecting the position because you are better off on benefits or the employer may get the wrong impression that you have an attitude problem or preference for staying on your sofa.

Thanks. I would much rather have a job because I'd love to be in the position to be able to buy a house after we get married and get so bored sitting at home all the time.

I will have to think about how to pitch that question. Just thinking about possible future interviews/job applications, would you wait to be offered the job before asking such question?

Jowo_2

gazfocus wrote: »

...

I will have to think about how to pitch that question. Just thinking about possible future interviews/job applications, would you wait to be offered the job before asking such question?

I'm not sure that I can advise you, it's quite a potentially risky question though with the potential to backfire - a candidate can give the impression that they are only going to accept the position if its amenable to the receipt of means tested benefits.

Best find out the actual hours of work before applying or before the interview rather than give the impression that it is only a certain type of contract that you will accept because of its impact on household benefits.

Hopefully some other posters will give you their viewpoint in a constructive way, rather than judgementally.

Remember that the current govt are likely to revamp benefits in the future as they are insistent that work should pay though I'm not aware of any imminent changes that could affect you, other than proposed changes to the way LHA is calculated (switch from 50th percentile of local market rents to 30th percentile).

I've never worked in a recruitment capacity but my sister is a manager of a call centre and she finds the tax threshold annoying because the refusal of her staff working 16 hours per week to take on extra hours to cover staff sickness and holidays. To her, tax credits rob people of their work ethic but she is annoyed with the system, she understands its hard to incentivise people to work extra hours just to earn the same or less.

Some employers are going to be clued up about the tax credit thresholds and the impact on their staff, others are going to be completely oblivious, others will know and won't care.

That's why I think it is a hard call to discuss contracted hours at an interview without making it obvious that its the impact on benefits that is the issue.

Jowo_2

gazfocus wrote: »

1. If I work 28 hours a week (and ditch my web design company) we would still be entitled to about £70 housing benefit and £20 council tax benefit per week.
2. If I work 30 hours a week we would be entitled to £88 working tax credit, £29 housing benefit and £11 council tax benefit.

Does that sound about right? Seems a bit much considering what I'd be earning.

So does this mean that your net household income is actually better in both these scenarios than present and is better than you expected?

Originally you thought you'd lose about £50 a week overall if you accept the job so was this premised on losing all your LHA and CT?

It looks like you get to retain £90 in benefits for the 28 hour contract or £128 per week for a 30 hour contract, plus your net salary and your partner's ESA and DLA.

Does this actually mean you are considerably better off than you anticipated and will be accepting this position?

Indie_Kid

Jowo wrote: »

Originally you thought you'd lose about £50 a week overall if you accept the job so was this premised on losing all your LHA and CT?

Reading the OP's first post, it looks like the ESA is income based, so would lose it. ("I currently do not work as my fiance (who I live with) claims ESA, DLA, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

The issue is that after tax/national insurance, it'll be £9723 a year whereas the 3 'income related benefits that my fiance gets add up to £10,582 per year so we would be slightly worse off.")

McKneff

gazfocus wrote: »

If I wasn't interested in the intangible benefits of getting a job, I wouldn't have asked the question

Edit, I have a few scenarios from the Benefits Adviser:

1. If I work 28 hours a week (and ditch my web design company) we would still be entitled to about £70 housing benefit and £20 council tax benefit per week.
2. If I work 30 hours a week we would be entitled to £88 working tax credit, £29 housing benefit and £11 council tax benefit.

Does that sound about right? Seems a bit much considering what I'd be earning.

You seem to be able to 'work the benefits system' fine without asking for help with it on here. to be quite honest I think youre a tad cheeky.

Talk about maximising your benefits.................