Is 22k a year possible to live on for a family of 3

pinkshoes

If you only earn £10k, could you get a job as a TA in a school? Full time this would pay about £11,500 a year, plus in secondary schools you can also take on paid lunch time duty.

Depending on location, I know people that can make this work with school hours e.g. drop children off at primary, then get to secondary school for 9am lesson start. Leave secondary school 3pm for 3.15pm pick up at primary school. Another friend gets someone to walk her child home as she cannot quite make it home in time for pick up!

Even working as a term time only self employed cleaner could earn you £11k+ a year. Lots of people only need cleaners term time!

PeaIn2Pods

Jillanddy said:

My husband does not want to pay childcare because it is too much of a burden on our finances

And what do you want?

"Finances" are not the only consideration, even if he were bringing in a much higher wage that would allow you both to have a good standard of living on only one wage. But there is also whether you would like to have a career, whether being a stay at home mum is actually what you want, and whether or not you can sustain living on one wage in the longer term. Your husband isn't the boss of everything - what he wants is half of a discussion, but what you want is the conclusion of that discussion. Raising a family is not a woman's work, it is the work of both parents equally. 

I am surprised that you can't find work in healthcare for nights though - around most places I know, they can't fill such posts fast enough, and there is work for any and all shifts that people want. 

Finding another job within the healthcare sector as I am unable to get vaccinated. Rather not get into it but even though it is not mandatory, I am certain they'd rather not employ an unvaccinated person... Explains why healthcare sectors are so desperate to seek care workers.

I have to see it from my husbands POV as well I guess. I am worried about what will happen but worse to worse, I will either have to leave or maybe go on relief while I continue to look for another job. Not sure if my manager will accept that though, I completely understand if they do not.

PeaIn2Pods

That was supposed to day finding another job will be difficult in the healthcare sector.

Savvy_Sue

I have to say that I've never understood the practice of deducting childcare costs from the mother's income / potential income. Of course it then looks like a very expensive option, taking 'most' of the income. 

But if you take the costs of childcare from the father's income, or better yet from the JOINT income, it tends to look quite reasonable. 

Plus there are other things to consider: I always thought I'd be a SAHM, loving spending all my days with my offspring. Trust me, if I hadn't managed to get a couple of days' work away from the little darlings, I wouldn't be here now. If you feel the same, make sure that's included in the calculations and discussions ... 

poppy12345

PeaIn2Pods said:

 I used UC in the past and I found that they did not pay the amount that they said they would pay when I used the UC calculator so that was useless.

DWP didn't tell you that you would receive what was stated in the benefit calculator because the calculator will have nothing to do with DWP. A benefits calculator is only as good as the information you put into it.

There will be a maximum amount of UC you'll be entitled to for your joint circumstances with your partner. UC can pay up to 85% of childcare costs but you need to pay them first and then claim the costs back from UC.

Without the childcare costs you would be entitled to the following...

£509.91 per/month standard element if at least 1 of you is over 25.

£285.50 per/month child element if born before 6th April 2017.

or £237.08 of born after 6th April 2017.

housing element if you rent your home. No help with mortgage if you own your home.

Because you have a child on your claim you will be entitled to the work allowance of either £335 per month if you claim for help with the rent or £557 if you don't. Any earnings you receive over this amount during your assessment period will reduce your UC by 55%.

It will be worth using a couple of benefit calculator again and make sure you put in all the correct information and see what it comes up with. Depending on childcare costs and whether you own you home or not, there may not be any entitlement to UC based on both your earnings. 

RogerBareford

PeaIn2Pods said:

Spendless said:

How old is your child? What sort of hours are you trying to cover? I'm a bit confused by some of your post. You say it costs £2.5K per year for childcare (just over £200 per month - which is cheap) and the 2nd income into your household is £10K less this childcare and commuting costs. How much are these travel expenses? At first sight it seems that your household is still better off with you working than not.

What does 'we have discussed childcare costs but my husband is refusing to do it' mean? Is he saying he doesn't want your child in childcare? 

He is 5. I'm trying to cover term times only and occasionally teachers training days but I can probably do shift swaps for those.

My husband does not want to pay childcare because it is too much of a burden on our finances (rightly so really). We have a lot of outgoings because we have a couple of credit cards to pay off as well as having to do the house up, which we are keeping on top of. We budget religiously as well. We are not big spenders and last time we went holiday was in 2018.

Travel expenses for me is £130 a month, for my husband it'll be an additional £110 so that's more outgoings.

I think I really need to sit down and work out absolutely everything down to the last penny.

If you currently budget then surely you have a good idea of all your current outgoings so it's a simply case of seeing if the total amount of your essential outgoings is less than £22K a year and then seeing what non essentials you could also afford and decide if you would be happy living like that.

It's very difficult to say yes or no if a family can live on £X when you don't know their lifestyle and expectations.

laurajones81

A family living in a low cost of living area and maybe living in a council house might be able to to it. If that same family lived in London or had to pay a mortgage it would probably be tough or impossible.

I guess it depends on your circumstances.