How much does a single mum with 2 children receive in benefits per year?

katiejones

"How much are the milk tokens worth per week?"

These are worth £2.80 per week - for 7pints of milk per week and for use on fruit and veg, although our local Tesco will exchange them against general food shopping(not fags or alcohol)

Sent to you every 4 weeks

sarahlouise210

While you can work out that you will be better off (or at least have the same money) not working .. you will soon find that you miss the adult working company, the self esteem, the having something to get up and get ready for. It is lovely to spend time with your children, but when you are giving up a job just to go on benefits then it can be a lonely time - and before long YOUR friends will be trying to work out how much you are "raking in". Maybe at least consider working 16 hours - that way you will still get your tax credits but will retain your working skills and social mix of your colleagues.

Idiophreak

Clow wrote: »

Strangely enough i do at the moment. How strange is that. I assume i am not going to be any worse off at all giving up work

Much as this reads increasingly like a single-mother-bashing thread (which you assure us it isn't) I'll give you the benefit of the doubt...

If you have a 16k job, on the face of it you'll be no worse off quitting and living off other people. (thanks for the post btw meester - I found it interesting to see how it adds up)

But, once you quit and let other people support you - that's pretty much your only option for the immediate future and your income isn't going to increase that much (unless you start a proper baby-farming operation...)

Anyway, if you stay in work, if you work hard, change jobs or just happen upon it and get a £2k pay rise - you're £2k (before tax) better off per year than you were before. If you get another 2k, you're 4k better off. You see where I'm going with this?

Basically, you have to chose whether it's more important for you to keep up with the storyline of Doctors (and the forthcoming BBC soap to replace neighbours!) or whether you'd prefer to stick with working and try and increase your income longer-term with a view to ultimately being able to provide better for your kid.

lil_me

Bizarrely we'd be 'better off not working' but aswell as the stigma of being on benefits when it comes to the children especially, as pointed out it's also the self esteem issues of providing for yourself.

snails's_pace

i would be better off by a few quid each week not working, however i had some time off when i had the children and couldnt wait to get back to work!...its not ideal as i work nights 10pm-6am but its the only job right now that fits around the schooling, a lot of term time jobs are snapped up as soon as theyre published, although knackering (especially inset days...48 hours of awake time lol)...it feels nice when i can treat the crew to some new clothes etc knowing i earned it, i wouldnt want to willingly give up my job just to be a few quid better off each week, but thats my choice.
i would think long and hard about how difficult it would be to get back into employment if you give it up, you have opportunities when your working for promotion/pay rises and to better your standard of living.

demonicangel

danijenner wrote: »

The £500 is ONLY if you're on benefits and is called the Sure Start Grant.

Not true, you can get the grant as long as you get more then £545 a year in child tax.

angie_baby

liney wrote: »

£12660.98 is the total figure for a non working single mother with one child, based on £100 per week rent.

For the love of god, dont chose to bring your child up on benefits. What kind of example are you setting!

I agree with this, i too would be better off not working. I have a neighbour who claims as a single mum, (even though she has just had another baby - by the same dad as the first one) and she has just had a brand new car???

How someone on IS can afford to live and run a car i dont know. I cant afford to and i work god dam hard each month.

But my main reason for working is for the above quote - my example to DS. He knows that mummy has to work to buy food, clothes, holidays. I want my son to know that life is hard - yep, you do have to work - better off or not.

meester

Clow wrote: »

Thanks, i have worked it out for myself based on my circumstances...

£5200 rent (based on £100pw)
£800 council tax (Based on 25% discounted rate i have at moment)

£6000

Income support £60.50 x52

£3146

Child benefit £18.80 x 52

£978

Child tax credit £2085+£545

£2630

Total of £12,754


To earn £12,754 through employment i would need to have a £16000 salary.

Strangely enough i do at the moment. How strange is that. I assume i am not going to be any worse off at all giving up work

Still better off:

You would still get the £545 of child tax credits (actually £1,090 for a year after birth of child), and the £978 of child benefit.

Your choices are:
£12,666 net income + £978 child benefit + £1090 family child tax credit (not withdrawable to income hits >£50k) + £6,390 tax credits (assuming you work 30 hours/week), minus £3,736.20 (part of the £16k withdrawn at 39%) = £17,387.80
or
£6000 + £3146 + £978 + £1090 + £2085 = £13,299

The difference is £4k. Not worth it, on an hourly basis, you should be spending the time with your child.

What other benefits will i get on top of this? Ive heard something about a £500 maternity grant to pay for my pram? A £500 CTF voucher? Free prescriptions?

Pregnant women get free prescriptions for 1 year, but on Income Support you'd get to keep them beyond that. Probably not worth that much though, for most people. There will be other benefits, discounts on museums, transport, free dentistry, optical care, etc.

There are other options:

you still get free NHS care on incomes up to £15,050.

You can reduce your hours down to 16/week. This means that you keep ALL of your tax credits that I listed above, assuming that your income is then below £6,420/year (the extra tax credits are then £3,736). You will however not be eligible for income support. This is basically then: £6,400 income + £3,570 WORKING tax credits PLUS some of the housing/ct benefits.

The housing benefit 'allowance' is £128.80/week, based on 1 child + lone parent, and income is comprised of savings income, child benefit, earned income, and tax credits. That is £6,698/year income that you're allowed to earn before they start taking it off you. BUT: if you get income support, you will get the full amount, regardless of income.

Your housing benefit is then 'taxed' at a rate of 65%, and council tax benefit at 20%, above £6698.

The income if you go to work 16+hours per week, purely from benefits

£978 CB
£1090 CTC FE
£2085 CTC CE
£1800 WTC BE
£1770 WTC LPE

= £7,715

But you lose (£7715 - £6698) * 0.85 = £864.45 in housing benefit and council tax benefit.

On 16 hours week, which I make to be £6,400 year, you have £7,417 income above the threshold. You lose all of your council tax benefit, and you lose £4,821 of housing benefit. This leaves you with only £379/year of housing benefit.

Incidentally, if you work MORE than 16 hours, the tax rate actually works out massively over 100% - you pay 31% Income Tax + NI + 39% tax credits withdrawal + 65% housing benefit withdrawal = 135% marginal rate of tax (albeit briefly)!

So then you lose by working:

£4821 HB
£800 CTB
£3146 IS

you gain, for 16 hours:
£6,100, post-tax income
£3,570 working tax credit

So it's £9670 vs. £8767. Or £900 extra PER YEAR for working 16 hours. Which works out ~ £1.08/hour after tax. Which is appalling. Nobody wants to work for £900/year, not people in Poland, not people here.

Ironically, a LOWER PAID job that you enjoy more would pay almost identically. Optimally, you would earn exactly £5435 (the personal allowance) from 16 hours - because you are being taxed 96% on the excess - 65% housing benefit 'tax', and 31% income tax, the sweetener being the £3,570 WTC that you earn from working 16 hours.

Best bet is to stay with your baby, and in a few years you will be eligible for the New Deal - free training, education, grants, etc. to get back to work when your baby's at a better age for nursery care.

pipkin71

As a single mom of two on benefits, when I add all the benefits together, inc housing and council tax benefit, I receive around £17,800 per year.

Pipkin xxxx

meester

msmicawber wrote: »

I believe the £500 maternity grant is the one you've already listed under Child Tax Credits.

You can't spend the CTF voucher as that's savings for your child and I believe it's £250, but may have gone up.

£500 CTF if your income is low.

The Sure Start Grant is £500 for low-income mothers to spend on baby equipment.