I worked something out today which is quiet sad and depressing. In my present situation, the children at home and in college and school, I will never earn enough to come off benefits. This doesn’t include child benefit but does include the tax credits, housing and council tax benefit.
To be not entitled to help from the government I have to be working at least 40 hours a week and earning around £16 pounds per hour. Finding a job that can offer these hours is the first hurdle and then to be paying that much is …well….a bit unlikely to say the least.
Yes it’s true that it’s a lot to earn as a single person. But even some couples would struggle to reach £33k+ a year. If the mother had a part time job around the children at typically the minimum wage, the partner would have to be earning £13+ an hour at a 40 hours a week job.
These figures are reachable but the thing that saddens me is that I know it’s not within my reach. Trust me, it’s an awful feeling to know you will never earn enough money not to be on benefits. It’s a sad truth that the cost of living is more than earn-able wages.
So next time all us single mothers are tarred with the same brush, as we normally are, that we are the root problem with the whole benefit system, remember that it may just not be all our fault. Even a married couple with 2 children and both working full time on minimum wage are entitled to benefits. Or to put it another way, a typical married couple with two children where both the parents are working full time ( min wage) don’t earn enough to live and are entitled to benefits.
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