More money working part time than full time? Am I going mad?

Morglin

Oh right, well, son and DIL get health insurance as part of their salary package, but the cost of buying it themselves would be prohibitive without it!

I know the Americans have basic healthcare with Medicaid and now Obamacare, although I think that it is not working out too well(?).

Our NHS and welfare state may be crap, at times, but I am glad we have got it.

Lin

FBaby

Morglin wrote: »

Nothing is foolproof, and certain things aren't predictable

But now you are making a generalisation out of the exception. Most people are able to claim on their insurance policy. When they usually fail is when information has been withdrawn too often because the application was rushed and not done with the help of a professional. Again not fully the fault of the claimant but still their responsibility.

I totally agree that even with all the foolproof you are never 100% safe and I did acknowledge that in my previous posts. I am not so smug as I have been accused of to think that I could never find myself in a bad position one day but I will at least know I have done just about all I could to avoid it and I would accept that it is my responsibility to do everything I can to make it better.

OP's partner has not been laid off he is just going through a time when there is less work and therefore their income has temporarily decreased to the point of being better off on benefits. However business might pick up in the next few months making them better off in work yet they are still considering giving up work to live off benefits. That's a decision that I personally find difficult to respect. A situation totally different to someone who has worked hard all their lives, are suddenly made redundant, no choice but to claim benefits whilst doing everything they can to get another full time position.

vinster549

FBaby wrote: »

OP's partner has not been laid off he is just going through a time when there is less work and therefore their income has temporarily decreased to the point of being better off on benefits. However business might pick up in the next few months making them better off in work yet they are still considering giving up work to live off benefits. That's a decision that I personally find difficult to respect. A situation totally different to someone who has worked hard all their lives, are suddenly made redundant, no choice but to claim benefits whilst doing everything they can to get another full time position.

Unfortunately you are wrong. He isn't going through a time of less work, the work is regular but the wages have always been that bad.

dktreesea

FBaby wrote: »

In the end, people lost their houses because they took too big mortgages without considering what would happen with interest going up and/or if they lost their jobs. It was the typical attitude of assuming that they could live the dream as it was sold to them and no worry about what would happened if they lost their job.

Was it fully their fault? Definitely not. Were they completely blameless, no. Everyone is at risk of losing their main/only income and struggle to get another job, whether during recession time or not. That's what you get insurance for rather than relying on the availability of benefits.

So how is that different to here? In the first 6 months of 2013, over 15,000 homes in the UK were repossessed. The latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed 157,000 mortgages were in arrears. Sure, this isn't even 1.5% of all mortgages currently on issue, but things could still get worse here, a lot worse if mortgage interest rates rise.

If people in debt who are able to buy out of work insurance don't buy it, then, yes, maybe they could be in part to blame if they find themselves in financial difficulties due to losing their job. I wonder how reliable it is in the UK when it comes to paying out on the policy though. Plus they only seem to pay out for a limited time.

dktreesea

FBaby wrote: »

OP's partner has not been laid off he is just going through a time when there is less work and therefore their income has temporarily decreased to the point of being better off on benefits. However business might pick up in the next few months making them better off in work yet they are still considering giving up work to live off benefits. That's a decision that I personally find difficult to respect. A situation totally different to someone who has worked hard all their lives, are suddenly made redundant, no choice but to claim benefits whilst doing everything they can to get another full time position.

If the government don't want people to arrange their lives in such a way as to maximise their entitlements/benefits/scrounging off other taxpayers, then they know what to do. They can change the law. The new deeming rules, once UC comes in, for the self employed are a good start.

Working yourself into the ground 7 days a week as the OP's partner does, for a low income, when there are other alternatives, like working part time and claiming higher benefits, may be taking the moral high ground, but it is hardly a recipe for a decent lifestyle.

FBaby

£23k is not a very low income though and a lot of money to give up. More importantly you say that he has little prospect of earning more so it will be up to you to make a success of your business to earn above this. Are you prepared to work all hours to bring in that level of income and be the one who hardly see your kids?

Dktreesea is not me who brought on a comparison between the US and UK situations. All I am saying is you can't always blame the government solely when things go wrong and you've done nothing to protect yourself against it. Recessions happen periodically and we knew one was due for quite some time but many people ignored the warnings and instead lived the dreams. understandably but not removing the element of responsibility.

maggieann2luke

23k is not a paticularly low income, it's more than my husband gets working 39 hours. I can't work due to chronic health issues. I'm on low rate dla and my cont. based esa ended mid jan. We can't get any income related benefits because our income is too high. I had various insurances but they refused to pay out as it "was inevitable my health problems would stop me working eventually". They won't pay out for pre-existing conditions leading to loss of income. I am currently fighting with ppi claims as it was not the original condition which stopped me working, it was a minor accident which added to the condition.
Obviously this is different to the OP, only they can choose what to do. As it is they have a higher income than other households have, we have to struggle on paying bills and buying food. We don't have holidays, a new car, etc. we pay the bills first and live off what's left - just.
Before anybody jumps in, I can't re-apply for cont. esa for another 12 months and I don't meet all the necessary criteria to get into the support group. I am trying to work out what I can do next as anything manual is out of the equation.

vinster549

£23k was last years income but every other year has been a lot less and this years will be, probably about £15500 AFTER deductions. So not a great wage. And don't forget that's a yearly income and as I have stated before sometimes he may only bring home £180 in a week.

SnooksNJ

Morglin wrote: »

Oh right, well, son and DIL get health insurance as part of their salary package, but the cost of buying it themselves would be prohibitive without it!

I know the Americans have basic healthcare with Medicaid and now Obamacare, although I think that it is not working out too well(?).

Our NHS and welfare state may be crap, at times, but I am glad we have got it.

Lin

I feel badly for the people who were cut to part time because their policy company plan wasn't Obamacare approved and instead of adding the extra coverage they dropped them to part time so they wouldn't have to pay at all.
As for the Medicaid. I know someone who had IVF and her meds paid for so it's not that basic.

maggieann2luke

vinster549 wrote: »

£23k was last years income but every other year has been a lot less and this years will be, probably about £15500 AFTER deductions. So not a great wage. And don't forget that's a yearly income and as I have stated before sometimes he may only bring home £180 in a week.

I was also stating after deductions and fully understood you meant yearly income. Our daughter is in the same position as yourselves and has young children under school age. With child benefits their income is slghtly more than ours.
You are able to make decisions to suit your household income as in you can work evenings if you so choose. We haven't got that choice as I am unable to work and my hubby can't work overtime. We have to get by on what we've got and so do a lot of others.