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

Anniemay_3

Hello who who,
With all due respect I think some people at the beginning of the thread were just a bit upset about the disability issue which was raised in the first thread. It is very hard and stressful living with any disability in a family. I know it was not meant in the way it was perceived, but I too was quite upset by the post.

AM xx

danijenner

demonicangel wrote: »

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

I stand corrected

http://www.surestart.gov.uk/surestartservices/support/helpwithchildcarecosts/maternitygrant/

affordmylife

too much if one can get £28,000 (disability or not) but hubby dont earn that to pay a mortgage and support a wife and 5 kids

N71

I'm a single mum, of two, and have been for 6 years.

My eldest child is severely disabled with learning difficulties and autism.

I have never signed on to the benefits system. i've worked every day, since I left school.

When my eldest was 1, and we realised he had special needs, i reduced my hours to part time. I never even considered going onto income support.

My 'babies' are now 10 and 7. Their father is a waste of space who phones them every 6 months.

I work for the dwp, and know how the benefits system works. When you take into account school dinners, housing benefit, council tax benefit, parking, petrol, carers allowance etc, i'd be £25.00 per week better off not working!!!

But, I don't want to turn into one of those pjyama wearing scrots!, who linger around Merseyside! Although my eldest may never understand the concept of working, or even life, I want my daughter (7), to think that Mum going out to work is normal.

My daughter came home from school crying that it wasnt' fair that her friend got free school dinners and she had to pay (how times have changed since the 70's when I was the single parent family outcast!).

But I have my pride, my home that i've worked for, and hopefully two happy, well balanced children!

Mollymop5

I worked from the time I left college in 1989, even after I had my ds in 1994.I only stopped work in 2002 when I was pregnant with my dd.It was an awkward pregnancy so I gave up work and my husband and I calimed tax credits.I found we were £2 per week worse off.I couldn't believe it!!!!
My marriage broke up in 2005 and I became a single parent on benefits.I like to keep busy so helped out in my dd pre-school and now school.
I attend back to work interviews where they ask if I'd like help getting back into work.When my dd started fulltime school I said i'd like help.We looked into various jobs I could take.
I went along on 2 occasssions to have my entitlements worked out with job vacancies I was interested in.Both times I would have been worse off working because of travel costs ect.
I was gobsmacked.
I've now decided that taking a job on minimum wage is just not possible.I am training as a teaching assistant to update my Nursery Nurse qualification.This is because I want to work.
I totally understand why some young girls want to leave school and get pregnant again and again.The money seems to be there in the amount of children you have.
I live a very comfortable life and do feel guilty but try to justify it tomyself that I have worked hard and paid my taxes.This is just short term payback.

sarahlouise210

My 5 year old came home from school the other day complaining that her friend(who has a single mum) gets free dinners and that she wants free dinners as well ! I spent quite some time explaining that some people do not have as much money as we do so they get their dinners for free but we pay for ours ...she looked at me in a very confused way ..."NO MUM ! I dont think you understand ...I WANT THREE DINNERS !!!!:rotfl: :rotfl: Kids eh !

Fran

One thing I don't think has been mentioned. If you claim Income Support they will automatically contact the Child Support Agency and the father will be expected to contribute. However you will only receive £10 of whatever he pays. If you are on Working Tax Credits you can keep any maintenance that he pays.

pipkin71

N71 wrote: »

I'm a single mum, of two, and have been for 6 years.

My eldest child is severely disabled with learning difficulties and autism.

I have never signed on to the benefits system. i've worked every day, since I left school.

When my eldest was 1, and we realised he had special needs, i reduced my hours to part time. I never even considered going onto income support.

My 'babies' are now 10 and 7. Their father is a waste of space who phones them every 6 months.

I work for the dwp, and know how the benefits system works. When you take into account school dinners, housing benefit, council tax benefit, parking, petrol, carers allowance etc, i'd be £25.00 per week better off not working!!!

But, I don't want to turn into one of those pjyama wearing scrots!, who linger around Merseyside! Although my eldest may never understand the concept of working, or even life, I want my daughter (7), to think that Mum going out to work is normal.

My daughter came home from school crying that it wasnt' fair that her friend got free school dinners and she had to pay (how times have changed since the 70's when I was the single parent family outcast!).

But I have my pride, my home that i've worked for, and hopefully two happy, well balanced children!

Do you claim any CTC or WTC N71, as you are only working part time, or are you fully self sufficient and rely on absolutely no benefits what so ever?

Like IS, CTC and WTC are a state benefit!

"But, I don't want to turn into one of those pjyama wearing scrots!" Sadly that is stereotypical of the view of many single parents on IS, but not always true. Have times really changed from the 70s when opinions like that still flourish?

Pipkin xxxx

Anneliese13

Just a quick point about the "average" wage. I'm fairly sure that this is overinflated due to top-end salaries being very high.

It is the mean figure as opposed to the median. In reality the average person earns rather less than this 23-25K.

meester

mitchaa wrote: »

This is the 1st real life figure i think mentioned in this thread as to what a mother of 2 actually gets.

I take it this is pure money. (£17800/12 = £1483 per month)

So if you wanted to go back to work and come off benefits you would have to get a job that was paying a salary of £23500 per year just to break even. (£23500 = £1477 per month)

£23500 is thereabouts the average UK wage.

In this situation, i doubt any mother would do so as they would incur travelling costs etc and be worse off meaning in reality to go back to work they would have to have a salary of £30000+ to make it worth their while.

That's not entirely accurate due to Working Tax Credits which are only payable if you work. But basically it's true, because tax credits get withdrawn the more you earn - so the marginal tax rate is AT LEAST 70% (39% for the tax credits, 20% Income Tax, 11% NI) - but potentially more due to loss of other benefits

Frankly i doubt this would happen as i suspect girls that have left school and straight into motherhood dont have the skills to be in a job earning this kind of money. Majority would be on minimum wage or around £11000pa full time.
Crazy, single mums are so much better off than working:eek:

Very true. Young childless people get virtually nothing. About £50/week. No council accommodation. Not much fun.