Confused, how to maximise income

marisa

I type too much beware. The short version is:

JSA + Housing benefit is about £30 a week short of what I actually need to pay my rent and bills, how can I earn more money ontop of benefit. Id also need to work at least 35hours to pay everything if I got 0 benefit.

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How is JSA and Housing benefit effected by working <16hours a week?

Also what happens if you work more than 16 but not enough to pay bills.

Is there any way I can get a steady 35/hour week job that doesn't involve rotting mon-fri 9-5 in an office? I like nights/weekends/flexible hours to work 9-10hour days for 4days and get one off!
I can't drive, and retail jobs all seem part-time.
My only special skill is my software development degree which taught me nothing useful!

Long version:

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I share a house with one othe rperson and the bills got split in the way that I pay gas/electric/internet/phone and the other person pays council tax/water

Whilst we were both in fulltime job it worked out for both of us at around £85/month this way and was close enough to even. If we get a big gas/electric bill it was decided we would split it when that happens.

However I lost my job and am having a real hard time finding anything else, so i went on benefits. Part of the benefit is council tax no sure how much because I don't get to see those bills, but this just goes off the direct debit so the other housemate pays less.

I feel this is my money and they should be giving me it back (even if just some of it, because I am getting that benefit for being unemployed right?)
They say that it is money off the council bill and it is not mine to have back and wont even have the discussion, as the deal was set up and doesn't change.

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Question 2.

what is the deal with working less than 16hours a week and benefit, and what happens if you work just over say 20 hours?

I have heard 3 different stories, one that for every £1 I earn they take £1 off JSA and if it goes over a certain amount I get 0 housing benefit.

Another I get to keep *everything* I earn from a part time job under 16 (this would be the best but I bet not true, the people who told me it are not very good with money, and live because they get handouts from others in either money or free rent/bills)

and the third that I can have up to £20 earnings ontop of JSA then they take the rest of what i earnt out of my benefits.

All of these mean that the only way I can get even a tiny bit better off is to work <16 hours and in effect get a maximum of £20 for it, which is hardly worth it!

Other than that I have to work a full 40hour week at the sort of wages I can get at the moment with my experience and skills, and that stops me doing the Thursday morning volunteering I love, and studying for private exam I am taking in languages and also working on my web dev skills to actually get a better job! (I got a degree in developing but from looking at job specs I got taught way too simple stuff to get any kind of job, but I am closest to junior web dev!)

As it is I can't stay on just benefit because I am about £20/week short of what I need to live on from bills+rent alone and eating into my savings!

:(:(:(:(:(:(

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and Finally

Also, what jobs are out there other than mon-fri 9-5 slave in an office, that can guarantee me at least 35hours a week so I can afford to live!

I'd love to do weekends/nights anything to give me just one day during the week to do other stuff and I hate office jobs I rot in them and no-one ever likes me and I put my big gob in it and I am so much more suited to shop work or similar but they are all 20hour contracts!

hermum

Could you see if you could get 2 shop jobs for 20 hours each to make up to full time work?

seven-day-weekend

Or one shop job and one bar or cleaning job? Thias way you might be able to keep you Thursday morning free.

HappyMJ

Retail jobs tend to part time for business reasons. Very annoying but if you have a large workforce all doing part time shifts and most are occasionally willing to do a bit of overtime it's easier to ask part timers to put in extra shifts much harder to ask a full timer to do that as they are already there. You're under 25 and I couldn't imagine living on the JSA that you get. You might want to pop over to the Debt free wannabee board and post up an SOA. You may not be in any debt but there will be many people there to advise you on how to make a balanced budget.

Daily clicks on the internet can make a little bit of extra tax-free non declarable income. You could use your software skills to make websites for local companies but you need to really good at marketing yourself which seems to conflict with your last statement.

As for being £20 short a week well that's life it isn't meant to be lived on. It's set to encourage you to go out and earn a bit more otherwise if everyone had just enough to live on there would be no point in working. So if it means depleting savings then that's what you'll have to do.

maxmycardagain

tax credits are available to anyone in work of over 16hrs per week......

HappyMJ

maxmycardagain wrote: »

tax credits are available to anyone in work of over 16hrs per week......

With a child....

Most single people need to be over 25 and work for 30 hours a week.

viktory

marisa wrote: »

Part of the benefit is council tax no sure how much because I don't get to see those bills, but this just goes off the direct debit so the other housemate pays less.

I feel this is my money and they should be giving me it back (even if just some of it, because I am getting that benefit for being unemployed right?)

They say that it is money off the council bill and it is not mine to have back and wont even have the discussion, as the deal was set up and doesn't change.

Of course it is not your money. It is your share of the council tax - if you lived alone you wouldn't receive the council tax money, receiving council tax benefit simply means you don't have to pay council tax. Why on earth would the council tax benefit be given to you? If it was given to you, how would your share of the council tax bill be paid?

fluffymovie

Just to say, when we allocate Council Tax Benefit, it is based on the liability so if you share the property with 1 other person, then 50% of the bill is paid by the benefit. If this happened at the start of the year, it would make sense that the direct debit should therefore be met by the other person living in the property, however this is not law.
As you are both jointly and severally liable for the Ctax, the council will ask for money from both and were it to end up at Summons, the court may well direct you to pay.

As regards LHA, there is no magic number for how much you can earn without affecting HB. It all depends on your personal circumstances and so depends on your other income. If you are on JSA Income Based, you would get full HB but then if you start work and earn more than JSA say you can (£65.45 I think for someone over 25), your JSA would stop and HB would use your earnings to assess your award. We apply disregards to earnings £5 per week for a single claimant (£25 for lone parents) and an additional £17.10 if you work over 30 hours (16 for lone parents)

Mojisola

marisa wrote: »

I share a house with one other person and the bills got split in the way that I pay gas/electric/internet/phone and the other person pays council tax/water

Whilst we were both in fulltime job it worked out for both of us at around £85/month this way and was close enough to even. If we get a big gas/electric bill it was decided we would split it when that happens.

However I lost my job and am having a real hard time finding anything else, so i went on benefits. Part of the benefit is council tax no sure how much because I don't get to see those bills, but this just goes off the direct debit so the other housemate pays less.

I feel this is my money and they should be giving me it back (even if just some of it, because I am getting that benefit for being unemployed right?)

They say that it is money off the council bill and it is not mine to have back and wont even have the discussion, as the deal was set up and doesn't change.

I think you've got to put your foot down and say the deal is going to change. The basis of the arrangement was that you were both paying about the same. That isn't the case now.

You now have less money but pay the same amount. Your housemate is earning the same but pays less because of your benefit. Would s/he really think that was fair if it was the other way round?

Perhaps you to sit down with the bills each month and add up what you each pay. The one who has paid less gives the other half the difference.

Jowo_2

What is your share of the rent and how much LHA do you receive towards it?

marisa wrote: »

JSA + Housing benefit is about £30 a week short of what I actually need to pay my rent and bills, how can I earn more money ontop of benefit.

Another thing to consider is to reduce your outgoings, including considering moving somewhere cheaper. Download the budget planner from the free tools section and work through the site to identify where to make savings in your expenses.

marisa wrote: »

... Id also need to work at least 35hours to pay everything if I got 0 benefit.

Are there any health issues or personal commitments that prevent you from working full time? Not sure I understand your point

marisa wrote: »

Also what happens if you work more than 16 but not enough to pay bills.

Use the Turn2us online benefit calculator to model your entitlements according to various scenarios.

marisa wrote: »

My only special skill is my software development degree which taught me nothing useful!

It taught you software engineering which can lead into many different types of jobs. Why did you study something you didn't enjoy or find useful? go to the Employment, Jobseeking and Training board with your career problems. This board is for benefit entitlement. Can you change your volunteering date to an evening or weekend if it conflicts with job roles?

marisa wrote: »

They say that it is money off the council bill and it is not mine to have back and wont even have the discussion, as the deal was set up and doesn't change.

Grow a pair. Change your direct debit to reduce your payment of the council tax and if challenged, show them your council tax discount form which shows that the discount is personally yours. Move out if the relationship is breaking down.