Cutting hours better off?

R200

It’s so hard to work out if I would be better off all round cutting hours.

At the moment I earn £13hr x 30hrs per week.

There seems to be so many deductions on my payslip tax NI and a pension that I don’t want to pay into.

I think but I’m not sure if I reduce to 20hrs I wouldn’t pay any tax, I would also be able to opt out of compulsory pension which I don’t want to pay.

NI I don’t mind paying and also I get a tiny amount of UC and I think it would go up a lot if I reduced from 30 hours to 20.

but maybe UC would put pressure on me to work more

Grumpy_chap

R200 said:

It’s so hard to work out if I would be better off all round cutting hours.

At the moment I earn £13hr x 30hrs per week.

There seems to be so many deductions on my payslip tax NI and a pension that I don’t want to pay into.

I think but I’m not sure if I reduce to 20hrs I wouldn’t pay any tax, I would also be able to opt out of compulsory pension which I don’t want to pay.

NI I don’t mind paying and also I get a tiny amount of UC and I think it would go up a lot if I reduced from 30 hours to 20.

but maybe UC would put pressure on me to work more

At present you earn £13 x 30 hours x 52 weeks = £20k per year.  £12.5k is tax free allowance so you pay tax on £7.5k.  Take home pay will be about £17.5k per year.

If you drop to 20 hours, you will earn £13.5k and pay tax on £1k.   Take home pay will be about £13k per year.

£17.5k is a lot more than £13k.

The future you will be very grateful for the compulsory pension.  Giving that up would also mean you lose out on the employer contributions.

theoretica

R200 said:

but maybe UC would put pressure on me to work more

Yes, they probably would, unless you look after young children or something.  Any if you voluntarily gave up hours they might sanction you and not increase the UC.

Cloth_of_Gold

Grumpy_chap's post says it all really. You are a lot better off working 30 hours and even if your pension payments seem an unwelcome deduction now, when you retire you will be so pleased that you (and therefore your employer, as G_c says) did pay into it.

R200

Grumpy_chap said:

R200 said:

It’s so hard to work out if I would be better off all round cutting hours.

At the moment I earn £13hr x 30hrs per week.

There seems to be so many deductions on my payslip tax NI and a pension that I don’t want to pay into.

I think but I’m not sure if I reduce to 20hrs I wouldn’t pay any tax, I would also be able to opt out of compulsory pension which I don’t want to pay.

NI I don’t mind paying and also I get a tiny amount of UC and I think it would go up a lot if I reduced from 30 hours to 20.

but maybe UC would put pressure on me to work more

The future you will be very grateful for the compulsory pension.  Giving that up would also mean you lose out on the employer contributions.

Thanks for your post but regarding compulsory pension I hear most of these companies have unfunded liabilities and will struggle to pay out unless a lot more people decide to pay in just like a pyramid scheme. The reality is the global financial crisis is getting worse and instead of more people paying in more people are dropping out. This is why I also want to drop out as it’s a waste o f money if they can’t pay out when they are supposed to.

R200

theoretica said:

R200 said:

but maybe UC would put pressure on me to work more

Yes, they probably would, unless you look after young children or something.  Any if you voluntarily gave up hours they might sanction you and not increase the UC.

What are minimum earnings threshold at the moment to stay on light touch please?

It says The current Administrative Earnings Threshold level for an individual claimant is £355 per calendar month and £567 per calendar month for couples. 

so as long as £567month you stay on light touch?

R200

[Deleted User] said:

R200 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

R200 said:

It’s so hard to work out if I would be better off all round cutting hours.

At the moment I earn £13hr x 30hrs per week.

There seems to be so many deductions on my payslip tax NI and a pension that I don’t want to pay into.

I think but I’m not sure if I reduce to 20hrs I wouldn’t pay any tax, I would also be able to opt out of compulsory pension which I don’t want to pay.

NI I don’t mind paying and also I get a tiny amount of UC and I think it would go up a lot if I reduced from 30 hours to 20.

but maybe UC would put pressure on me to work more

The future you will be very grateful for the compulsory pension.  Giving that up would also mean you lose out on the employer contributions.

Thanks for your post but regarding compulsory pension I hear most of these companies have unfunded liabilities and will struggle to pay out unless a lot more people decide to pay in just like a pyramid scheme. The reality is the global financial crisis is getting worse and instead of more people paying in more people are dropping out. This is why I also want to drop out as it’s a waste o f money if they can’t pay out when they are supposed to.

Where on earth did you read that crap!!!

Employer contributions is FREE money!!

Plus employee pension save you 20% in tax.

I’m talking about the possibility of the pension company not being able to pay all its liabilities 

Albermarle

R200 said:

[Deleted User] said:

R200 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

R200 said:

It’s so hard to work out if I would be better off all round cutting hours.

At the moment I earn £13hr x 30hrs per week.

There seems to be so many deductions on my payslip tax NI and a pension that I don’t want to pay into.

I think but I’m not sure if I reduce to 20hrs I wouldn’t pay any tax, I would also be able to opt out of compulsory pension which I don’t want to pay.

NI I don’t mind paying and also I get a tiny amount of UC and I think it would go up a lot if I reduced from 30 hours to 20.

but maybe UC would put pressure on me to work more

The future you will be very grateful for the compulsory pension.  Giving that up would also mean you lose out on the employer contributions.

Thanks for your post but regarding compulsory pension I hear most of these companies have unfunded liabilities and will struggle to pay out unless a lot more people decide to pay in just like a pyramid scheme. The reality is the global financial crisis is getting worse and instead of more people paying in more people are dropping out. This is why I also want to drop out as it’s a waste o f money if they can’t pay out when they are supposed to.

Where on earth did you read that crap!!!

Employer contributions is FREE money!!

Plus employee pension save you 20% in tax.

I’m talking about the possibility of the pension company not being able to pay all its liabilities 

Most current workplace pensions are the sort that do not have any liabilities. Effectively they just hold your money for you. Almost like a big bank account in a way. If you name the pension company your employer uses that would be useful.
By not contributing you are throwing away free money.

poppy12345

If you reduce your hours when claiming UC you could be sanctioned but it will depend on your circumstances and why you want to reduce your hours.

Emmia

R200 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

R200 said:

It’s so hard to work out if I would be better off all round cutting hours.

At the moment I earn £13hr x 30hrs per week.

There seems to be so many deductions on my payslip tax NI and a pension that I don’t want to pay into.

I think but I’m not sure if I reduce to 20hrs I wouldn’t pay any tax, I would also be able to opt out of compulsory pension which I don’t want to pay.

NI I don’t mind paying and also I get a tiny amount of UC and I think it would go up a lot if I reduced from 30 hours to 20.

but maybe UC would put pressure on me to work more

The future you will be very grateful for the compulsory pension.  Giving that up would also mean you lose out on the employer contributions.

Thanks for your post but regarding compulsory pension I hear most of these companies have unfunded liabilities and will struggle to pay out unless a lot more people decide to pay in just like a pyramid scheme. The reality is the global financial crisis is getting worse and instead of more people paying in more people are dropping out. This is why I also want to drop out as it’s a waste o f money if they can’t pay out when they are supposed to.

So what's your plan if / when you want to retire, without a works pension and the state pension isn't enough to sustain you?

Working until you drop? 

R200

poppy12345 said:

If you reduce your hours when claiming UC you could be sanctioned but it will depend on your circumstances and why you want to reduce your hours.

How would UC know?

my payslip varies tremendously 

sometimes I need to book a lot of time off and only do 20 hours week but when I have no holiday days all month it works out about 30per week.

the month when I worked about 20hrs week I never had any sanctions and UC paid a lot more