Any advice - single parent of two spiralling into debt

theoretica

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

I can't understand why if the OP is at work all day the live in help doesn't do the child care, surely not enough housework to keep them busy all day if they appear to be the only person in the house the majority of the time?

They aren't being paid minimum wage for all those hours and there are rather strict rules about that sort of thing, even with accommodation.

Karonher

theoretica wrote: »

They aren't being paid minimum wage for all those hours and there are rather strict rules about that sort of thing, even with accommodation.

Surely they could be paid more out of the £1900 childcare expense. Even an extra £500 a month would clear the shortfall and leave a few £100 for bill repayments.

theoretica

Karonher wrote: »

Surely they could be paid more out of the £1900 childcare expense. Even an extra £500 a month would clear the shortfall and leave a few £100 for bill repayments.

Not for the 7am to 8pm needed - that comes out at £2200 + employers NI a month (at minimum wage if over 25) and hugely exceeds the working time directive as a 65 hour working week.

sadcuckoo

When will your child be 3 and be able to get their free hours?

In a year (and then another term, I think). The total reduction in fees is around £300 / month, which will definitely bridge the gap a little bit.

I can't understand why if the OP is at work all day the live in help doesn't do the child care, surely not enough housework to keep them busy all day if they appear to be the only person in the house the majority of the time?

The live-in help is not a nanny, just someone who is already engaged elsewhere almost full-time (a student), but helps with domestic chores and gets paid a little bit (well below the PAYE threshold) and free accommodation. I looked at live-in nannies - with taxes, NI and pension on top I am looking at £2.5K minimum.

ash28

[FONT=&quot]Hi Sadcuckoo[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Just a thought, have you looked into Tax-Free childcare? It's the scheme that replaced childcare vouchers towards the end of last year.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]You need to earn less than £100k, which you do and your childcare providers have to be signed up to the scheme - so check with them.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Basically, you open an online childcare account and for every £80 you pay in the government will add £20 up to a maximum of £2000 per child per year...potentially saving you up to £4k a year in childcare costs. It's better than childcare vouchers for parents with high childcare costs and more than one child. Your children need to be under 11 to qualify.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/tax-free-childcare/[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This might seem a bit harsh but you are £1k short every month, I would seriously look at what your ‘help’ is actually costing you….£260 (including insurance) a month plus food and the amount in fuel it is costing and the extra council tax….a more realistic figure is probably nearer £500 a month. You could probably get someone in a couple of times a week for a lot less. Without an extra adult to feed you could probably halve your food bill with a bit of planning as the children must eat most of their meals at school/nursery/childminder. I understand the loss of the live-in help will affect your quality of life.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The other thing is the speech therapy; you can’t afford it to be honest. Could you cut down the number of sessions? [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]You need to find over £12k a year just to keep your head above water and tinkering with fuel/clothing/presents/entertainment won’t really make a dent in that[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Since your lifestyle is unsustainable, if a £12k pay rise isn’t on the horizon and the fact your debt must be growing by £1k a month my advice would be:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Claim tax-free childcare….£380[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Get rid of the help £260[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]And halve the food bill £200[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Stop the speech therapy £300 (at least in the short-term)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Council tax discount £45[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Potential income/savings £1185[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]However, if you kept up the speech therapy you would need to find a £175 a month as the total potential income/savings (including removing speech therapy) would give you a small surplus of £125 a month. You could try and find better fuel deals, cut down on clothing/entertainment/presents/prescriptions (seems very high) or you might be happy to have your debt grow by £175 a month rather than £1060 until the NHS appointments kick in.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If you have a non-functioning hand have you investigated the possibility of PIP? It’s not means tested, it might be worth a look, especially if there are things you can’t do or find particularly difficult. [/FONT]

jenijen27

Which child has speech therapy? One of my daughters has been seeing SALT (NHS) for a while now but they've always said they don't really start doing it properly until after their first term in reception as before that they lack the understanding.
I don't know what area you are in, but there may be group speech classes which may be beneficial if you were to stop private therapy. I know our local Sure Start does group classes for a couple of pounds. There are also other classes that I've looked into which are around £6 per week. My daughter also gets some 121 time with a TA at school which helps too. Maybe worth asking. (Or if it's your younger child, ask at their nursery. There's funding around for nursery staff to attend SALT courses.)
Good luck. It sounds like you're having a tough time trying to provide the best of everything. You don't need to be the best X

Annie35

You've got £400pm down as emergency savings but there's ref to £400 savings total on assets, have you doubled up here by mistake? If nog you really can't do £400 savings a month right now.

Gas & electric are surely twice what they should be as everyone is out all day right.

Live in home help are you getting value? Have you thought about a lodger instead which can give you over 7000 pa tax free income to pay for specific hourly care from an agency? Just a thought.

anna_1977

sadcuckoo wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 4700
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4700

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1200
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 180
Electricity............................. 100 really high
Gas..................................... 100really high
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 48
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 30
Groceries etc. ......................... 400this is a lot for 1 adult & 2 kids
Clothing................................ 100you said they are going through uniform etc but you only have 1 child in school, this is an excessive amount and surely can be reduced
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 180
Childcare/nursery....................... 1900 people have already commented but I think this does need addressing
Other child related expenses............ 300
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 80£1k a year for what?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 25
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 15
Other insurance......................... 60
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 20do you really spend £20 a month?
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 400once you have a buffer then use this for the CC debt
Total monthly expenses.................. 5300


Assets
Cash.................................... 400
House value (Gross)..................... 500000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 500400


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 240000...(1200).....3.2
Total secured & HP debts...... 240000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................10200.....250.......0
Bank debt......................7400......210.......4
Total unsecured debts..........17600.....460.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,700
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 5,300
Available for debt repayments........... -600
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 460
Amount short for making debt repayments. -1,060

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 500,400
Total HP & Secured debt................. -240,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -17,600
Net Assets.............................. 242,800

Please see my comments in red. I really think you should take to payplan or stepchange. As amlready said you're in too much of a deficit to sort this out yourself. With the wage you have you really should be able to cope, the childcare is killing you

You should also look at pursuing child maintenance through the CMS from your ex.

anna_1977

Annie35 wrote: »

You've got £400pm down as emergency savings but there's ref to £400 savings total on assets, have you doubled up here by mistake? If nog you really can't do £400 savings a month right now.

Gas & electric are surely twice what they should be as everyone is out all day right.

Live in home help are you getting value? Have you thought about a lodger instead which can give you over 7000 pa tax free income to pay for specific hourly care from an agency? Just a thought.

The OP saves £400 a month (as of this month I'm guessing) so that is an asset, it should be there I believe

Grumpelstiltskin

OP You have to have a MASSIVE rethink about your lifestyle.

If there are things you can't do because of your disability why are you not claiming PIP? It isn't means tested.

You must be looking at maintenance for the children, why isn't he paying?

Are you sure the speech therapy is vital?

Otherwise you will be bankrupt very quickly and the OR may not accept much of your outgoings leaving you paying a large IPA for 3 years and unable to get any more credit.