Single mum - how to provide?

Vicky_Jones

Hi, I'm a single mum of a 1 year old boy who's caught in the sticky trap of can I afford to go back to work, how will I pay the rent and childcare etc etc.

I'm currently living with my mum as I couldn't find anywhere to rent privately and the local council have practically zero housing stock (I live in Surrey which has to be the worst place in the UK to be a single mum). When I think about the future when we get our own place again, I'd love to just go out and get a job but I know that I will really struggle to find a job that will pay for full time childcare and living costs let alone rent on top of that. I don't really want to wait until my boy starts school as I'm really keen to get back to work.

How do other single parents do it? I mean if I got a job paying around £1600 pm after tax (25K)I would pay 30% of of full time childcare £375, rent would be £850, then the dreaded council tax and bills. I know about the tax credits but the problem is working out how much you would get hypothetically if you don't actually have a job at the present time.

Anyone have any advice or ideas?!

BitterAndTwisted

Allegedly the JobCentre have people who can advise you about how much better or worse off you might be in work. I have a feeling that a choice may not be available to you ere long. What about financial or child-care help from the father?

rachbc

Yep the Lone parent Adviser at your local Job centre Plus will be able to do a 'back to work' calculation to tell you how much the difference will be.

Not to mention the non financial benefits of working of course

Dainty1976

I too am a Single Mum and have been for nearly 6 years now. Went back to work when my oldest was only 5 months old so I can tell you that you would get Housing Benefit (or LHA) as it is now called! You would also get Council Tax Benefit. You would not necessarily have to pay so much on the childcare front as you would also be entitled to Working Tax AND Child Tax Credits (mine was and always has been paid in full, leaving me with alittle extra each week to spare, plus your child benefit on top of all that. Also, most workplaces nowadays do a childcare voucher scheme which will save you a bit extra on the childcare costs. Dont forget your Healthy Start vouchers too! Go to www.entitledto.co.uk and you can see for yourself exactly what assistance you would get on different salaries and rent costs etc.

Often with Tax Credits, the first year you go back to work is the best financially and then it drops a little in the second, but not by too much and by the sound of things, your childcare costs will be less by then too as they reduce as the child gets older.


Hope that helps

FBaby

I too with CTC and WTC was able to pay the full childcare costs, so it might not look as bad as it seems. One important point to remember. If you don't work until your child start school because you think you will not be better off financially until then, you will start with the same experience you have acquired until now (actually probably lost a bit through lack of practice) and at the salary you can expect now. However, if you start working now, it is likely that in 4 years time, you will have accumulated experience that will justify a higher salary, either with the same job or by applying to another one. I think many single parent consider the short term benefits only, but it is really the long term one that makes all the difference.

Spendless

As a single parent you would only need to work 16 hours or more to qualify for WTC. Would this be a possible solution? If 30% of childcare costs would still be too high, could your mum or the baby's father have your son whilst you work? When my eldest was a baby I used to work a couple of evenings plus 1 sunday morning per week at a small grocery store.

Dainty1976

Spendless wrote: »

As a single parent you would only need to work 16 hours or more to qualify for WTC. Would this be a possible solution? .

On that note - when I worked 48 hours a week I was killing myself and not getting the best out of my son as he would be at nursery for 9 hours a day and fall asleep until the next day! Felt horrible!
I was not much worse off financially when I scaled down to 32 hours - then 24 hours and eventually 16 hours! I also made up for lost time with him and we had a great time together at parent and toddler groups and such! I budgeted but never really suffered! Childcare/Rent was always covered, he was always well dressed and always had a full tummy! Happy child = happy Mummy!

cazziebo

FBaby wrote: »

I too with CTC and WTC was able to pay the full childcare costs, so it might not look as bad as it seems. One important point to remember. If you don't work until your child start school because you think you will not be better off financially until then, you will start with the same experience you have acquired until now (actually probably lost a bit through lack of practice) and at the salary you can expect now. However, if you start working now, it is likely that in 4 years time, you will have accumulated experience that will justify a higher salary, either with the same job or by applying to another one. I think many single parent consider the short term benefits only, but it is really the long term one that makes all the difference.

This is such a good point. When I first went back to work (single parent too) people would ask why I bothered - once I'd paid childcare and bills I had pennies left. The confidence boost was tremendous, and within a few years had a significantly higher salary and could afford holidays etc. Probably worth mentioning that it was much easier for me to find childcare for pre school age children than it would have been to sort something out around school (as it worked out my fabulous childminder just continued)

Friends who waited for years before going back to work found that they had to go several rungs down the career ladder, despite having had fairly good jobs prior to having children.

clearingout

There is a need to be careful as a single mum (or indeed, single parent) in the number of hours worked/good salary vs. what you might receive in benefits if you work part-time. I know I have done figures for a job at the £22k mark (I have three children) and I am only marginally better off than if I earnt less than £16k on a part-time week. When you add into that the fact that your children are in care 5 days a week from 8am - 6pm, the full-time job vs. the part-time job for about £80 more a month (which it was in this case), just isn't worth it.

However, that depends on whether you're career minded as there are some good points made about just going for it with a view to you being better off in the long run.

Are you on the list for social housing? regardless of whether or not you think you'll ever get to the top of the list, it is worth getting on it so that you can make that decision if something is offered to you. There are landlords out there who will take tenants on housing benefit (my ex husband and I had a buy to let property and we always took tenants on housing benefit - we were guarenteed the rent and they always stayed for a good length of time) so don't write that off as a possiblity.

Good luck with it. I am trying to find a job over the 16 hours mark at the moment and it's very hard (I only have 14 hours at the moment so it's difficult to juggle things) but am confident sooner or later I'll get there!