£3 per hour - Am I missing something?

Takmon

qwerasdfzxcv wrote: »

Do you mean thinking about it as the excess from the 3 days that I will actually see, the £20-£30 'take home' per day, as coming to effectively one extra week of UC money?

It is hard to turn up and rid the "I'm working for less than £3 an hour" from my mind! In fact as it stands I'm seeing it as a 63% ultra higher rate tax!

My situation is just unfortunate I see, I.e. not rewarding me for trying to be proactive in the meantime. If I was on a linear route back into work, then the taper is fine, and ideally the 2 to 3 days of work would result in further opportunities and eventually full time work.

Thanks for your input.

All the successful people I know have one thing in common; they are all hard working and take advantage of all opportunities to earn money and progress. Some of them have even worked for effectively nothing to get ahead.
Personally I would be of the mindset in your position that I'm going to work as much as I can to earn money instead of relying on handouts. I would be happy that every day I worked I was reducing the amount of benefits I was receiving and getting some extra money on top.

If your of the mindset that you would rather sit at home relying on handouts than go to work to reduce the amount your claming then your more likely to be stuck on benefits and never really get anywhere in life.

Its your choice what kind of mind set you have in life and how successful you want to be.

KiKi

qwerasdfzxcv wrote: »

It is hard to turn up and rid the "I'm working for less than £3 an hour" from my mind! In fact as it stands I'm seeing it as a 63% ultra higher rate tax!

Try and see it this way: you're working for (for eg) £7.50 an hour, which is £320 extra a month than your current circumstances. And for that, you get experience, easier access to other jobs, a better CV, and more of a purpose than hanging around at home every day.

ELLYP

Come off benefits and keep all your earnings, you'd also be able to work more and make more.
I'd love to be able to work! I'd much rather be out doing something and being able to meet people than being at home in pain and lonely.

parkrunner

qwerasdfzxcv wrote: »

Hi all,

Just looking for some clarification and whether I'm missing anything.

I'm on UC now simply for what would be the JSA allowance. So circa £80 a week.

I'm getting funding for a 4 week course to begin soon.

I've been trying to find some work here and there to top up my money in the meantime. Through agencies I've managed to get 3 days and have worked them. I've had an offer of another day but decided I should really check whether it's worth my while.

I've worked 26 hours and after tax will earn circa £200. At the taper rate that will reduce my UC by £126, meaning that really I've worked 26 hours for £76 / £2.84 an hour.

Why am I working in the meantime when it is having pretty much no tangible benefit to me and is not leading to future work?

I don't get paid for that work for around 4 weeks and it is PAYE. So one way or another they're going to find out about it or sanction me if I keep shtum. Am I missing something or am I actually working for nigh on nothing?

(Do I have to let them know once I have actually received the money, or before?)

I understand some will not appreciate the undertone to this but appreciate your responses nonetheless.

Many thanks

I'm having a slow day!! Does this mean you are £76 better off than you would be with just the benefit?

System

qwerasdfzxcv wrote: »

Ask yourself in my circumstances who actually would? And be honest with yourself.

I currently do and have done for almost quarter of a century. I'm disabled with three knackered discs in my lower spine and I work for not much more or some weeks less money than I'd get sat on my backside on a combination of ESA, max tax credits, DLA and council tax benefit contributions. I do it because I have self worth and prefer to say that I provide for myself rather than poncing off the backs of the work of others when I'm capable of working and supporting myself because that's what you're supposed to do as an adult and in the weeks I aren't that bad I can double what I could get on benefits albeit doing a 60hr week, the average working week for truck drivers in this country.

(Don't take this personally OP, I gather from your post about it being your first encounter with benefits for a decade you've grafted in the past so this isn't aimed at you rather at readers who think its a decent lifestyle choice)

By all means sit on your !!!! at home on the dole, you don't need to justify it, just do it. My 48 year old sister has only worked 6 weeks in her entire life so you're not alone. However your life will end up like hers, the standard of living being dictated by what money the government decides you should have, where you live and the size of property you live in being dictated by the amount of LHA the government decides you should have so you need to get used to the idea of always living in a house share or bedsit or at best a one bedroom flat. You will always be skint living a poor standard of living having to do everything on the cheap or by using very expensive credit like Brighthouse so you can do things like pay £1500 for an entry level TV that everyone else is paying £300 for.

And here's some food for thought. £76 a week better off is £3952 a year better off. Are you telling me you're doing so well in life that another four grand a year wouldn't be worth having? And here's more food for thought. When you work you contribute to a workplace pension, so does your employer and you also get NI credits for your state pension. That means that come retirement you won't be trying to exist on a fraction of the state pension and pension credit top up, you'll have the full state pension and you'll have an income on top of that from your pension from working.

Final kick in the teeth from me to those who think this is a good way to live...

If you're male you'll find that not many women are attracted by blokes who have no money and sit at home on the dole all day with no prospects and no willingness to do anything. They tend to like people who can treat them now and again and prove they're capable of providing for any potential future family.

calcotti

Tarambor wrote: »

...you also get NI credits for your state pension.

Just wanted to point out that OP will get these on UC too. (That is not any reflection on the rest of your argument.)