question about housing & benefits if i do not return to work

[LucyAnn]

hi all
currently i am a single mother in a 1 bed flat with my 3 month old daughter.
the property is part buy part rent off a housing association so i do have a small mortgage & at the moment i am on maternity leave from work.

i really want to sell and move but im scared i wont afford rent privatley. i have asked my current association for a property to rent and if i apply i go on a waiting list. but if my property sells before a property comes up for rent where do i go what do i do? or if i get offered a property and mine hasnt sold that puts me in a kind of grey area!

also if i go back to work i dont think i would get offered a property due to my salary but im not sure if i am going back as its 9-5 mon- fri and im really loving being a mother. I may only be 24 but i have always worked and loved working and really would love a year or two off my daughter if the money is there to support me.Probably Ideally i would love a part time job instead of part time which is something my current employer cant offer me.

Any one in a similar situation with housing or know what the money is like benefits wise if i dont return to work, would i then be able to rent privatly and recieve housing benefit.?
Im feeling the only way out of this is by winning the lottery lol!
xxx

 

[littlemiss83]

I'm in a bit of a similar situation, i'm in a housing association flat just now & I pay full rent with no housing benef...as I earn too much. This month we are moving to a private let & i'll be applying for housing benef for the first time as the rent is more than double my current rent, we can afford it w/out the housing benef but it will be tight, i got a h/ben estimate from my local council & they said I should be entitled to some help, not alot but better than nothing. If I was on full housing benef (if i was single & not working) I wouldn't be able to afford this new house coz the max they'll pay out per month is 400 towards a private let & mines is 700 so i'd have to pay the rest myself. I know a girl who is actually a single mother, she gets benefits coz she's ill & in a private lett, she gets full housing benef (the max they can give out) & she still has 100 to make up out her own money. A few years back they'd pay out the full amount but they changed it recently. Go to your local council's website, majority of them have housing benefit calculators.

Good luck

 

[LucyAnn]

hiya thanks for the info, it sounds promising for you then, you defo going back to work? ive had a look like you said and yes think with my council they will pay 400 quid a month towards your rent if i dont get back to work, then theres council tax benefit, and child tax, all together it seems just about affordable to be honest for me, as i can find some 2 bed houses for about 450 in some areas.
dont you think its lovely in a way being on a housing association as its affordable but it really hits home when you have to go private.

think i just need to decide wheter to go back to work or stay of and enjoy chloe for a year or two. if i went back to work i wouldnt qualify to rent off housing assocation because of my salary. and if i was working i could afford private, but dont know whether i have the energy or enough hours in the day to work full time, take and pick up chloe from nursey along with household chores and family visits being a single mom. i would love part time but my position isnt avaliable part time.
you sound nice and positive hope it all works out for you. i think my next battle is to find out if i dont go back to work if i have to pay any money back.... oh decisions decisions xxx

 

[littlemiss83]

I think with regards to you having to pay your employer money back...im sure you have to go back for a certain amt of time (4weeks for talking's sake) then you can resign w/out having to pay back mat pay. Check out your contract it shld be in there.

I agree its so cheap in h/a house, but for me, its bad coz im up a 6 in a block close, with not even a shared garden, in quite a rough area & there is drug users in the close. Was never able to move before coz LO was in nursery & it cost to much, now we're not paying that we can afford the private let. In most other areas of scotland the h/a houses are back & front garden but in glasgow its all high-rise flats & tennements. So really im paying out for a nice area & a garden. Its so expensive in this area coz its right at city centre. Price goes down further out you go.

I worked full time when my eldest LO was wee & my OH worked long hours so wasn't about much, was basically a single mum & it was very tough, hard to find time to do anything in house, just wana crash when you get in. Terrible if LO has a bad night. It really is so difficult, I decided to keep working after she was born coz its a decent job & didn't want to get too used to doing nothing. Done the same with this LO, defo going back, if finances dont work out right with new house need 2 go bk early, which is gona be hard but OH is about a bit more & has offered to do most of child-care

 

[LucyAnn]

will have to check out contract, will have to find it first lol!! or i may ring HR closer the time. thats a good idea cus if i do go back i will have built up holiday to use and im not due back till sept 17 so only a couple months and it will be xmas plus it will throw me in at the deep end and if it really is too much i can just quit. do you know if i went back for a bit then quit would i still be entitled to housing benefit and all the things i was entitled to as if i never went back?

wow i havent got a garden either just a little strip of grass. theres just one flat below me and im above that, no one above me. my next door neighbours who i share stairwell with smoke weed every know and again. have had to report them as the smell comes in my flat!!

yeah sounds like it would be fab for you to be in a nice area and garden too!

and wow sounds like you work well hard. im scared to miss out on chloe growing up incase shes the only child i have. my mom n dads view is theres no harm taking a couple years off if you can afford it as you will be working till your 70 with this goverment lol they make me laugh!
dunno how you did it espec after a bad nights sleep.

my job is sales abd so demanding like if you dont hit target for a couple days you can get a warning. so really wouldnt want that pressure along with looking after chloe and a house. there prob would be a different position come up in the company if i waited for it like customer service or admin but the money aint great there for that position and i really would love to move from this area whicvh would make working there impossible. im guessin it could be the first 6 weeks i have to pay back if any? i was on 90% pay for those xxxx

 

[littlemiss83]

Yeah if you went back & quit you'd still be entitled to the same as if you'd never went back - but h/ben do piss about quite a bit when they have to calculate someone who is paid (its easy for them to calculate benefits coz its standard amounts & often make mistake with working ppl's calculations, so keep your eye out for that - my friend works for the h/ben dept) it may hold things up a bit if you go bk to work then quit, but someone told me they now have regulations where they have to pay you in 2 weeks of applying.

Its a tough choice to make, I worked part time majority of LO's childhood which was great, best of bost worlds but still very hard too. When you work you still have to do evrything a stay at home mum does, except in your "free time". Its alot to get used to & getting LO into a good routine is important. Even though its nice to be at home with LO there is a certain element of boredom to it too & its hard not to fall into a routine of sitting about watching telly ect.

And even though your parents are right, no harm to take a couple of years out, you need to consider how bad things are job-wise. I've heard (I duno if its true or not) that its harder to get a job if you've been out of work for a while looking after LO. I would say, try it & see how it goes, its gonna be stressful thats for sure, esp the first cpl of months it takes a good couple of months to get into a routine. Its basically the same choices all mummys have to make...do I look after my child full time or work full time & give them nice things/house.

 

[LucyAnn]

cheers for that thats really good to know i would still be entitled. and that they can sort in a couple weeks.

yeah i know what you mean, when my lo is being really goos and sleeping alot or not needing me too much i do miss work, like i miss striving for it. but when she is keeping me on my toes i love it lol and i couldnt imagine ever working haha! will take you advice bout routine as at the mo my LO doesnt get up properly till 9.30am that would have to change if i had to be in work for 9 lol but im sure that will change as she gets older....i hope!!

yeah you are spot on i reckon new employees would be skeptic about takin someone on who aint worked for a couple of years i would be myself as would think theres nothing stopping them giving up work again. my mom just really wishes it was how it used to be when mothers stayed at home etc she has got 7 of us and my dad alwaays worked to provide but i try to explain how things are much differnt now cost of living etc. i have done a rough estimate and would prob be 200-300 pound lighter each month not working but if i was workin there would be some nursery costs also llots more petrol commuting. so from the first glance the either situation looks quite do-able xxx but yeah would be hard working getting back in employement and may have to start at bottom of ladder again!! xx

 

[littlemiss83]

Tax credits will pay 85% ( or thereabouts ) off the cost of your child-care. They pay it in with the rest of your tax credits every week, whatever you tell them the fee's are & they put the money in more or less as soon as you tell them LO is in childcare (obvs you have to have a job for this) given that your a single parent i'd imagine you'd get the full 85% but it is less if you earn alot. You can do a tax credit calculator on hmrc website, im sure it also calculates childcare fees. I left my eldest LO in nursery from 6 m/o I didn't particulary want to do it, but I tried to focus on the positive side of it, for example, apparently babies that go to nursery younger, have an easier time (psychologically) settling in at primary school & tbh my LO is very confident with her peers & is highest in her class at reading & writing so the nursery did her well, also because she was so wee it was easier to settle her in, rather than waiting til the toddler stage when it can be harder. We had long lies til i went bk to work & adapted really well to getting up a cpl of hours earlier.

I wish I could stay at home too, but I also stand by the fact that I love working & I want my LO to know that I worked when they were young & pass on a good work ethic. My OH doesn't earn enough for me to leave my job (I earn more than him) but even if he did, i'd still want something part-time at least, I think most sahm's manage til lo gets to about 3 then they start wanting something more, i cant imagine how hard it is being stuck in that rut & unable to get a job.