Work part time vs not working?

Twentydollarsinmypocket

Hi. I wonder if anybody here can help me. I have tried the CAB and turn2us but neither party could really help without me having specific details.

Basically, I have just left my job to be a stay at home mum as it just wasn't worth the stress of working 6 days a week & barely seeing my daughter for the sake of an extra £200 a month after paying my little girl's childcare.

However, the thought of being a permanent STAHM is a tough one to swallow and ideally I would like to work part time. However this would probably be purely for the fun of it as any wages earned would be wiped out by childcare costs.

How would this affect our benefits entitlement compared to me not working? Someone told me I might even be financially better off working part time with regards to benefits but couldn't explain why.

I just seem to be going round in circles and nobody seems to be able to tell me if it would be financially idiotic to work a few hours a week. And also, how many? Is it less than 16 or more than 16?

I'm so confused.

tomtontom

Have you entered your household circumstances into a benefit calculator?

giddypenguin

As Tom suggests the best thing to do is put a range of circumstances through a benefit calculator such as entitled to or turn to us - this way you'll be able to see what changes in your hours are likely to do to your entitlement. How many hours you 'have to' work for tax credits depends on what hours your partner (if applicable) works.

I can sympathise regarding working - my husband and I went through our finances last night (just had a second child and working out what, if any, changes we'd like to consider) and realised we could live off his salary (albeit after trimming some luxuries) after initially enjoying this, I soon realised this would likely drive me insane!

Charityworker

If it's just for fun why not do voluntary work?

Spendless

Charityworker wrote: »

If it's just for fun why not do voluntary work?

Because she'll still have to pay for childcare whilst not being paid?

OP- What are your circs? Do you live with a partner? What hours do they work?

When I had my eldest, my employer only employed f-time workers. The childcare bill was equivalent of my net take home pay. After 6 months being a sahm we needed an additional income. I was able to find a job working part-time evenings/weekends around my husband's job. Is this something you could do?