should i work 4 hours or 16hours

sweetangel63

just applied for a job which is flexiable. I should know monday if i got the job. Is it worth me working 4hours so i get the extra £20 a week, or 16hours. I not sure if i will lose all my housing and council tax benifts. I be earning £5.48 an hour. then after 3 months goes up to £6 an hour. Be days i work. half 9 till 3. so fits in with school days. One of my children is full time in school, other is in nursery for free entitlements. so will have to sort childcare during school hols. What do you think is best. My rent is £80 a week. £14 week for council tax..£800ish a year. I will be at college 8 hours a week in sept.also when csa caught up with ex will get £42 a week. they have to go and get money via his employer. What you think?

Angela x

ryouga

4 hours is better as i was working 16 and was worse off as I had to pay bus fares, snacks and I lost HB minus £9

Then again im single with no kids.

Scarlett1

sweetangel if you go to your lone parent advisor they will do you a better off calculation and will show you how much you will lose and also what else you can claim

sweetangel63

thanks. made an appointment to see advisor for thursday. find out if i got the job tomorrow (monday) be nice if i do....

bandraoi

Personally I would throw in a future calculation too.

If you work 16 hours now, will that put you in a better position to get a better paying job next year, or the year after?

aaroncaz

are you a lone parent? if so, you get an extra £40 a week for the first year.

mummytofour

I would do the 4 hrs and spend the rest of the time on home work for your college course. IMHO an education will pay its way in the end.

sweetangel63

i am a lone parent. Have been a stay at home mum for 7 years. this job is to help with my carear path. will do NVQs along side it.

Elle00

aaroncaz wrote: »

are you a lone parent? if so, you get an extra £40 a week for the first year.

What Aaroncaz has posted is what I found the situation to be during the last tax year. Note that in doing 4hrs you are allowed to keep £20 and the rest of your wage is taken off your IS.

Working 16hrs means you are left with £40 a week more than if you stayed on IS. Bear in mind you'd take on responsibility for paying a chunk of your own rent out of your wages and it really is so easy to lose track of what money is supposed to be coming and going when. Also you would have the hassle of closing down your current housing benefit claim after the run-on followed by making a new one. Housing legislation states they must action a claim within 4wks but this doesn't usually happen in reality unless you're claiming IS.

With regards to maintenance, never, ever rely on it as a regular income and don't hold your breath for the DEO to be actioned when they say it will. They might well surprise you but don't rely on it. If you stay on IS you get to keep £5 or £10 of it per week and if you work 16hrs you get to keep £15 of it and the rest is deducted from your Housing Benefit.

They make it sound like working pays but then in the following tax year, when your new TC's are calculated depending on your previous year's earnings, you lose a sizeable chunk of your TC's so that your income is supplimented to keep you just above the poverty - the same as those on IS are. So come next tax year you won't be anywhere near as better off for working as you would be in the first year you return.

So some things to consider: Why do you want to work 16hrs over 4hrs? Will it be really helpful in your future career and something you will enjoy doing? Or are you considering it mostly for financial reasons? At what point in the future do you hope your earnings can increase to get you a few grand over the tax credits threshold? This is important because of the way in which your TC's change in the second and subsequent years of claiming.

Although on IS you can only earn a regular income of £20 a week before deductions are made, you can earn or receive up to £300 from irregular incomes without it effecting your claim. I write product reviews for a website, scan my weekly food shop and do some surveys and I get about £150 - £200 a year for all this at irregular intervals. I also sell off my son's old clothes on ebay or at carboot when he outgrows them which is another £50 odd a year.

I personally don't think doing a 16hr week is worth it unless you're expecting things to change drastically in the next tax year. I'd say do the 4hrs and then go straight into full-time work when your studies are complete. That's my personal opinion, you have to do what is right for you though. There's nothing to stop you doing say an 8hr week and still keeping just the £20 extra on IS. Okay you're working "for free" but do remember there are other reasons for working like building on a career for the future and having something to do with yourself. That's what I keep telling myself anyway!!! One last thing to make sure of is that you are able to do this NVQ only working 4hrs a week before you make any decisions as government funded NVQs through employers require a 16hr working week minimum unlike paid for college courses.

Good luck x.

mummymania

I'm a single mum to 3 girls. Went back to work 2 yrs ago and work 18 hrs (3 days a week and fits in with school run). I am MUCH better off! My wage is £600 pm and I get working tax credit of £300 pm and child tax credit (which includes childcare for the holidays) of £150 pw. I have to pay full rent and council tax. I work in the NHS and my employer paid for me to do a level 3 NVQ last year and hence I got a pay rise and now earn £8+ per hour.

hth
Una