Is Betterware a 'proper' job in the eyes of tax credits?

wannabehermit

karenx wrote: »

I think betterware and avon etc are best done as a sideline to another job, not using it as your only job. Can you really see yourself doing it for 16 hours per week? Especially the first few months where you might not get meny orders. You cant honestly think you can deliver catalogues for 16 hours??

The rest of the time would be spent processing orders, taking deliveries, sorting the deliveries and distributing them to the customers. I understand that wouldn't happen every week due to the turn around, hence the option 1 of keeping 1 shift a week at the supermarket and then I would need to do 12 hours per week. Looking at the BW website they state that their distributors would do a minimum of 10hrs per week, so an extra 2 on top of that would not be much. TCs are flexible in their understanding that some jobs have a variation in weekly hours e.g. you may do 12 one week, but 20 the next, averaging 16per week and they do say that is fine as long as it averages out at the hours you declare over several weeks.

HappyMJ

wannabehermit wrote: »

The rest of the time would be spent processing orders, taking deliveries, sorting the deliveries and distributing them to the customers. I understand that wouldn't happen every week due to the turn around, hence the option 1 of keeping 1 shift a week at the supermarket and then I would need to do 12 hours per week. Looking at the BW website they state that their distributors would do a minimum of 10hrs per week, so an extra 2 on top of that would not be much. TCs are flexible in their understanding that some jobs have a variation in weekly hours e.g. you may do 12 one week, but 20 the next, averaging 16per week and they do say that is fine as long as it averages out at the hours you declare over several weeks.

Why the fixation with 16 hours when your husband works full time? You don't get anything extra.

wannabehermit

I think I've confused everyone .

Dunroamin wrote: »

But you'd be at home with your family all day if you switched to doing a couple of evenings waitressing. In addition, surely Betterware/Avon would be evening work as wel, at least in part?

No I wouldn't because the DS's would be at school and DH would be at home. A couple of hours AT HOME with betterware etc I can deal with, 6 hours OUT OF THE HOME I can't.

shedboy94 wrote: »

You say you are working pt in a supermarket and you husband is working ft on a low wage. Presumably you are already claiming tc's so I don't understand your earlier statements about losing £150 and £300 in wages and ccc.....

So as opposed to taking work that would make you money, you would rather not and take benefits instead..........and we wonder why there is a problem..".....

The losing money is through my daughter being ill. Childcare needs to be paid for whether you use it or not. So if I'm using the childcare, fine, but if I'm not then I'm having to pay for a service that I'm not using and not needing. In work you only get paid if you actually work (imagine that!), so if I'm not htere I'm not getting paid, hence losing money through loss of earnings. So on a normal day I would get paid approx £30 and spend £45 on childcare that is needed for the time I'm in work. However when off I'm losing that £30 wages plus having to spend £45 on childcare that is not being used, hence losing money each day that I work. The work that I currently do is not making me money as I am having more time off to look after my daughter than I am actually working. If you were to read my posts you would see that I do want to work, hence the having a job and currently trying to find an alternative that will stop me having to rely on childcare. I could have just not bothered going to work and stayed at home claiming the TCs for DH going to work, but I suppose that would have been wrong too.

HappyMJ wrote: »

Now you have completely lost me. You can choose not to work at all and still get tax credits as your husband works FT. You don't need to do 16 hours you can choose to do 4 hours if you so desire and it makes zero difference to your tax credit claim. If this is for the child care component then pull your child out of childcare and look after her yourself as you say you would rather spend time with her than away from her. The benefits system allows that and you can do a few hours walking the streets delivering Betterware for £2 profit a week if you wish.

I know I don't NEED to work but I WANT to work, that's the point. I don't want to be at home all day, the hours I have at the moment are perfect. I'm in work 3 days a week which makes me feel like a normal human being. I then get to spend 2 days a week with my daughter, and I'm at home in the evenings with DH and we all have Sundays together. It's the perfect mix, but due to her picking up every bug going it's not working whcih is why I want something that will get me out and working but where it can be worked around my children.

HappyMJ

wannabehermit wrote: »

I know I don't NEED to work but I WANT to work, that's the point. I don't want to be at home all day, the hours I have at the moment are perfect. I'm in work 3 days a week which makes me feel like a normal human being. I then get to spend 2 days a week with my daughter, and I'm at home in the evenings with DH and we all have Sundays together. It's the perfect mix, but due to her picking up every bug going it's not working whcih is why I want something that will get me out and working but where it can be worked around my children.

So then this has nothing to do with tax credits/benefits and more to do with finding the right job? Would your employer really sack you for taking time off to look after your child. Large supermarkets are very understanding of parents having to take time off. I wouldn't worry about it and would not quit. You have the right to take time off work to look after your child.

Even if you did quit then tax credits don't care what you do as your husband works full time.

wannabehermit

HappyMJ wrote: »

Why the fixation with 16 hours when your husband works full time? You don't get anything extra.

Because children need looking after whether you work 15 3/4 hours or 16 hours. Our wages don't cover childcare so I need to work 16 hours to be able to afford to go out to work.

Stupid I know that people who want to work are penalised for doing so, but I'm not in charge of HMRC & DWP and don't make up the rules. In an ideal world wages would be at a level that people can afford to live without claiming benefits, but that's not the case. At 15 3/4 hours a week it would cost me more to work than I would earn, so 16 hours is the magic number.

Believe it or not there are some people who claim benefits that don't want to do so, but due to redundancies and wage cuts there is no choice. There are people as well believe it or not who want to work but the only way they can do that is to claim benefits on top of their wages.

It's a no win situation really, if you don't work you're wrong for not getting off your backside, contributing to society, paying taxes, doing something with you life etc, but when you do go out to work, that's wrong because you're screwing the country over by claiming benefits.

wannabehermit

HappyMJ wrote: »

So then this has nothing to do with tax credits/benefits and more to do with finding the right job? Would your employer really sack you for taking time off to look after your child. Large supermarkets are very understanding of parents having to take time off. I wouldn't worry about it and would not quit. You have the right to take time off work to look after your child.

Even if you did quit then tax credits don't care what you do as your husband works full time.

Unfortunately my one isn't. They're renowned for it, I'd heard so many horror stories before I started and they seem to be true. My dept manager is great, it's the rest that are the problem. Plus the main thing is it's not fair on my daughter. She's constantly ill through picking up bugs and it's not fair for her to be ill so much. I feel selfish through wanting to work and shoving her in nursery, but I've been at home long enough, I can't do being a f/t SAHM anymore.

HappyMJ

wannabehermit wrote: »

Because children need looking after whether you work 15 3/4 hours or 16 hours. Our wages don't cover childcare so I need to work 16 hours to be able to afford to go out to work.

Stupid I know that people who want to work are penalised for doing so, but I'm not in charge of HMRC & DWP and don't make up the rules. In an ideal world wages would be at a level that people can afford to live without claiming benefits, but that's not the case. At 15 3/4 hours a week it would cost me more to work than I would earn, so 16 hours is the magic number.

Believe it or not there are some people who claim benefits that don't want to do so, but due to redundancies and wage cuts there is no choice. There are people as well believe it or not who want to work but the only way they can do that is to claim benefits on top of their wages.

It's a no win situation really, if you don't work you're wrong for not getting off your backside, contributing to society, paying taxes, doing something with you life etc, but when you do go out to work, that's wrong because you're screwing the country over by claiming benefits.

Didn't you also say you wouldn't mind dropping a shift? If you work and claim the child care component of benefits that is still claiming benefits and you have a risk that you could lose money. A lot of partners of people working full time are in the same situation where it just isn't worth working. The government wants at least one person in a family unit to be working full time and is changing benefits to accomodate that. You working part time does not save the government money as they pay you child care.

It's a bit like saying I am bad for claiming JSA but it's fine for me to do my self employment job earning nothing and claiming tax credits. It's all the same.

wannabehermit wrote: »

Unfortunately my one isn't. They're renowned for it, I'd heard so many horror stories before I started and they seem to be true. My dept manager is great, it's the rest that are the problem. Plus the main thing is it's not fair on my daughter. She's constantly ill through picking up bugs and it's not fair for her to be ill so much. I feel selfish through wanting to work and shoving her in nursery, but I've been at home long enough, I can't do being a f/t SAHM anymore.

That's fine quit the job and do whatever you want. It makes no difference to tax credits and the cost to the taxpayer whether you work or not.

wannabehermit

I guess I was spoiled in my last job. My hours were flexible. I worked 4 hours a day 4 days a week. If I needed to take a day off for childcare then I'd make it up on my day off. I guess that's what I want but there aren't those kind of jobs anymore.

HappyMJ

wannabehermit wrote: »

I guess I was spoiled in my last job. My hours were flexible. I worked 4 hours a day 4 days a week. If I needed to take a day off for childcare then I'd make it up on my day off. I guess that's what I want but there aren't those kind of jobs anymore.

Now that sounds like my kind of job. Keep a lookout for them and hold onto them like gold dust.

wannabehermit

HappyMJ wrote: »

Didn't you also say you wouldn't mind dropping a shift? If you work and claim the child care component of benefits that is still claiming benefits and you have a risk that you could lose money. A lot of partners of people working full time are in the same situation where it just isn't worth working. The government wants at least one person in a family unit to be working full time and is changing benefits to accomodate that. You working part time does not save the government money as they pay you child care.

It's a bit like saying I am bad for claiming JSA but it's fine for me to do my self employment job earning nothing and claiming tax credits. It's all the same.


That's fine quit the job and do whatever you want. It makes no difference to tax credits and the cost to the taxpayer whether you work or not.

I know it doesn't save the government money as they are paying a proportion of my childcare. I suppose the answer here is sit on your !!!! and do nothing. Don't try to better yourself and don't try to be a good example to your children. Go and get all the anti-depressants the doctors will give you (I wonder how much they cost compared to childcare?) Not working is crap. Some people love it, some people don't. I'm one of the latter ones.