Is this possible?

melorablack

Can a single, 20 year old female live on her own on only £400 a month take home wages?

hazyjo

What area?

How come the wage is so low?!

Jx

Sublime_2

What about rent, food, bills?

CLAPTON

just possible if you have a very low rent (shared house) in a cheap area, low council tax, walk or cycle to work and have inexpensive tastes

Sublime_2

I don't see how it is. Could you clarify OP, as to what this should cover.

melorablack

She only works 19 hours a week because that's all her employers are offering at the moment, she is looking for extra hours and different jobs all the time but it's hardly easy to come by. Currently lives with her mother but ends up giving her mum almost all her wages each month for various reasons, which is why she wants and needs to move out but neither of us have any idea where to start as her wages are so low. It would be in the North West (don't want to be any more specific incase she's outed sorry)

CloudCuckooLand

Try spare-room.co.uk, put in postcode.

Rooms for £150pcm in Lancashire.

"Live" off £250? Just about, I suppose. Depends on detail of utilities relating to the room.

FTBFun

She might be eligible for single room LHA with that I reckon (min wage). Might help.

Jowo_2

She should identify the maximum LHA (shared property rate) on the LHA direct website and model her benefit entitlements (reduction because of income) on the Turn2us online benefit calculator.

She won't be eligible for tax credits as she works less than 30 hours.

She won't necessarily be much better off moving away from home but there are lots of factors to consider - travel expenses to work, contribution to bills at the new place (gas, electricity, water, council tax) unless she finds lodgings that include these, plus the rent she has to pay after her contribution from LHA.

Many landlords are reluctant to rent their properties to benefit claimants.

quintwins

i moved out at 17 and was earning £150 after tax a fortnight and it was very tight, my rent on my wee flat was £50 (same flat is £90 now tho) and my elec was around £10 a week, i never had any heat it was oil and i couldn't afford the lump sum at once, and regularly didn't eat for days unless i got food in work however i think this is down to bad money management

i have to say i don't think it could be done now with rising rent and food prices, i never claimed anything i didn't know i could (i didn't have a phoneline or internet) personally i'd stay at home ok her mum might take a huge whack but she has a roof over her head, heat and food, if it wasn't for my stepdad being the man he was i wouldn't have moved out

BitterAndTwisted

For a young person who has never lived away from home I'd say that it was between "a massive challenge" and "impossible". Your young friend needs to pay an appropriate fixed amount to her family towards her keep and salt away as much in savings as humanly possible before she takes the plunge. Less than £100 a week for rent, bills, travel expenses and food doesn't sound at all realistic to me, and that's not factoring in any new clothes or a night out once in a blue moon, never mind a visit to the dentist or another one of those unforeseen circumstances which can trip any one of us up when we're not expecting it.

Are there any family friends who she could lodge with who she could pay a modest amount a week to?