Need URGENT benefit advice after a relationship breakdown

SuzieSue

What would you do if you lived in a country that did not have state benefits? Would your gf still have to move out in 4 weeks and if so, where would she live?

As has been said, the benefits system only really helps disabled people and people with children and even then the times are long gone when even they could get a council property if they are homeless. Most people have to go into a b&b.

lincroft1710

1. It will take months to sell the house, even if it is currently on the market.

2. There are personal trainers in gyms in their 30s and 40s but usually these people have been in the business since their 20s. It is a highly competitive market and I would imagine your ex, once qualified, would be on a zero hours contract or self employed, neither of which guarantee an income.

Proxima_Centauri

barbarawright wrote: »

There is absolutely no possibility she will get a full-time job as a counsellor after two months. You're looking at a degree and loads of voluntary work before anyone will pay you for counselling

Counselling is not a registered profession, and as such it is possible to work perfectly legally as a counsellor with no qualifications or just a short course at night school.

(For this reason it is essential that people research their counsellor carefully before attending for sessions!)

LilElvis

lincroft1710 wrote: »

1. It will take months to sell the house, even if it is currently on the market.

Not necessarily. Next door neighbour's house went on the market last month. For sale on Thursday, 3 viewings on Sunday and sold at full asking price Monday morning. Completion takes it to 2 months though. I somehow doubt that the OP will be that fortunate.

Person_one

So the 'business' she ran finding work for you was not really a viable, genuine business?

LilElvis

Person_one wrote: »

So the 'business' she ran finding work for you was not really a viable, genuine business?

But it was a genuine business expense for him - saving him 20% of every pound he paid her in tax and on which she paid 0% in tax in turn

Person_one

LilElvis wrote: »

But it was a genuine business expense for him - saving him 20% of every pound he paid her in tax and on which she paid 0% in tax in turn

I know less than nothing about tax matters for businesses, but I suspected there might be something like this behind it.

annandale

There are Personal trainers of all ages. Not just in their 20s. However your partner would be better trying to get a salaried job as a gym instructor than one as a self employed Pt. One of the best and most successful pts I know is in his 4Os and has been a pt for five years or so but for a long time he worked in a gym as well. It's very tough getting qualified and building up a successful clientele particularly as it's so easy to get qualified.

Personally I wouldn't recommend fast track courses. Do the level two gym, get some experience in a gym setting and then progress to level three. Just my opinion though.

The Ymca are probably the best in the field but their courses aren't cheap.

For every Pt making good money you'll get many others struggling..If she does her level two gym qualification and gets a gym job she can always do her pt qualification at a later date

And yes, very few salaried pt jobs out there. Mostly self employed and no guarantee of income.

Andypandyboy

Goodness OP, I think the timescale is tight, and not the best time of year either practically or emotionally. I know that once a decision to split has been made, it is tempting to move quickly, rip the plaster off and get on with your lives. I also think that if the split is amicable or if there is guilt on one side, you want to bend over backwards to give the other what they want or what they say they want. So, although you say that you are both agreed on this timescale, it could be that your gf is being accomodating rather than sincere in her desire to be out, jobless and homeless, or all but, by Christmas. Unless she is the guilty party and is doing it out of guilt.

If it is an amicable split, step back, regroup and consider all the options. Being a PT is not a viable longterm employment and has been said counselling is only viable if you have post grad qualifications in the field. I am sure the last thing you want is to help her get onto a course with no future, yes, at that point you could walk away feeling that you have put the issues behind you. The reality is that this is a woman who has given you, your home and your business 25 years of her life for little remuneration. It is she not you who is now in a bind, and the sticking plaster of unrealistic jobs/benefits/cheap flats is not in any way going to repay that.

In your shoes, and given that only you know the intimate details of the split I would want ensure she was doing this, going along with this, initiating this, for the right reasons, not because she is; wanting to ease your path, feeling guilty, browbeaten, depressed, can't see the wood for the trees or any other negative mindset you wish to apply.

Given that I had spent 25 years with this woman and I am saying it is amicable, I would want to be sure.

Are you?

onomatopoeia99

Person_one wrote: »

So the 'business' she ran finding work for you was not really a viable, genuine business?

We know nothing about how it was set up (Ltd company, sole trader etc), plenty of self-employed / sole-traders don't make NMW averaged over their hours worked (though for all we know she may have worked 10 hours a month for that £250, which makes it very well paid), nor do they make enough to support themselves if they didn't have a partner earning as well or other form of income. That does not make them not genuine businesses.

e.g. If I set up a sole-trader business offering freelance wedding photography at £200 a pop and only did one a month, I could not support myself on that. It would be a "genuine business", in that it would be set up with the aim of makign a profit, even though I couldn't live on the proceeeds. In this case, I also have a full time job to keep me solvent.

It is possible the OP and their former partner arranged how she would work finding him work in the most tax-efficient / money saving way possible, which is not surprising, given this site is called "money saving expert" .