Am I missing something?

alfiemama

Charityworker wrote: »

No your not missing anything. I work full time and my husband works part time and we are £1 a week worse off than if we didn't work. I know £1 isnt a lot but we should be better off not worse. On top of that we are both really tired all the time and have no time for a decent life. Universal Credit is only going to make things worse.

Charityworker, that's awful. Will your situation change and your just holding out, if you know what I mean?

alfiemama

princessdon wrote: »

For most FE colleges (can depend on the course) if you are in receipt of HB it will be free.

They will also have a budget for childcare - Ie free. How much is left at this stage in the year and how they allocate it is down to them.

Ring them and ask - also ask for a guidance interview if you don't know what you want to do.

Brilliant, thanks for the advice.:j

Nicki

If you looked for school hours working, say 10 - 2.30 daily to give you time to do the school run, and one full day at the weekend that would give you around 30 hours per week. Surely that salary would more than compensate for the carers allowance you currently claim, which is only £58.45 a week? I don't really understand the logic in restricting yourself to 16 hours and a salary of less than £100 per week just to keep this money if it makes you worse off in the long run and forces you into a kind of work you don't want to do.

alfiemama

I agree and something I have thought of. However, for me I just feel that at 22 months my daughter is too young for full time nursery. Selfish as it sounds I think I would miss her too much.

Charityworker

alfiemama wrote: »

Charityworker, that's awful. Will your situation change and your just holding out, if you know what I mean?

Yes my husband is being made redundant at the end of October. Then we will be about £30 a week better off than we are now.

kanboo

I have 2 young children at primary school, and work part time. I was recently made redundant after 14 years and thought I would really struggle to find a new job as I had lost a lot of confidence, had no cv and not been interviewed in the last 14 years.
However I thought really hard about what I would like to do, applied for a job in that field and just really sold myself on enthusiasm, and wanting to learn something new and the transferrable skills I had, and I got the job.
Even though I really like it, it's also confidence boosting to know that I got this job so I can get another one if I need to, and actually I'm not as rubbish at interviews as I thought.
Try the NHS website, they have loads of part time jobs, and might have something to suit the hours you can work http://www.jobs.nhs.uk
Also even if the moneys not great it might help to think of it as paid work experience, ie that you're doing this now so you have something to put on a cv, and someone to use as a reference so you can get a job you really want in the future.
Good luck

SandC

Call me old fashioned, but I always thought that a SAHM by choice didn't claim any benefits for doing so but lived off the income of the working partner. So getting a job should be a bonus, financially, not otherwise.

Charityworker

SandC wrote: »

Call me old fashioned, but I always thought that a SAHM by choice didn't claim any benefits for doing so but lived off the income of the working partner. So getting a job should be a bonus, financially, not otherwise.

Well you are living in the past a bit. If the sahm goes to work what she gets given in one hand more gets taken away from another hand. If mental stimulation is what's wanted she would be better off financially by doing a voluntary job.

alfiemama

SandC wrote: »

Call me old fashioned, but I always thought that a SAHM by choice didn't claim any benefits for doing so but lived off the income of the working partner. So getting a job should be a bonus, financially, not otherwise.

I do work. I am my son's carer so in the eyes of the government, I am not a SAHM. And yes I do think you are living in the past. I'm not asking for benefits to stay at home. I'm asking for help to get back to work (out in the workplace). I want to work so as to meet new people, gain confidence and find me again.
Life is not always perfect and rosy tinted glasses. I would not change my child for the world, as he is the person, I love and adore, but I didn't choose for him to have autism or more appropriately autism to have him.
I do not have the luxury of having any help or family to help, so I am doing the best that I can.

Sorry rant over.

SandC

I'm all for the gov giving free child care to workers and scrap giving cash out. Seems to work in other countries.