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Financially worse off thanks to the CSA

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Finally the kids and I have moved to a house with affordable rent.  Yippee, I think to myself, I can now go out and get myself a job.  So I started to scan the job section of the local papers and eventually found a job that I knew I would be good at.

I went down to the job centre to discuss my plans with the lone parent advisor, just to make sure my calculations were correct and that that we would be okay.  So let's see, where are we?

Yes I am a lone parent with two children living at home.  No I don't get any help either financial or otherwise from THEIR father.  Yes, I also have three kids that don't live with me and who I have no access to.  Yes, their father has a high paying job, but he contacted the CSA anyway.

Scanning the job section of the local paper The lone parent advisor goes off to do the calculations and let me know where I stand.  The answer comes back, sorry but you will be worse off financially if you work.  The CSA will allow you 20% of the net because of the two children you have with you, but will take the 25% for the other three off what is left, oh and by the way; working tax credit and child tax credit are counted as a form of income too.

So here I am in a poverty trap, where there's no point in getting a job because I will be financially worse off.  What are you supposed to do in this situation?

By: Pink


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Oneof93mil

Oneof93mil

I'm in the same situation. I did all the research and found that I am better off working 16 hrs a week at Target, I'm better than WalMart and this is a griff so we're not really looking for our next family, just the job with the least amount of responsibility, and lets face it, I don't want to work with a legion of window lickers.

Apply for every benefit in the land.

I take home about $1000 cash a month but I have no expenses, have my insurance for 2 kids (CHIP), food stamps (SNAP), housing subsidy which pays for my entire rent, electrical and heating bills paid by LIHEAP, my 90k in student loans for a worthless AS in Science drops to $0 a month and is written of in 20 years. I get cash assistance and reduced rates for auto insurance and education. AND, I only put up 2 days a week in my time with 5 days off to do whatever I want with the same amount of cash as working a 40 hr week job.

I actually started on cyclic routine where I would work for 2,600 hrs (minimum hours worked for maximum benefit for unemployment) and then just check out mentally and wait to get fired. This can be harder than it sounds. It took me 5 months at my last job of doing absolutely nothing to get fired and I remember it well because I had plane tickets booked and the day was drawing near. That's shows the mentality I have about working in America, make it work for you. I've seen so many people work very hard for nothing and it's silly. I've been from dead end job to dead end job. I'm a systems engineer and nothing is worth the little time we all have, especially if the end result a few more bucks , while spending all my time working.

I did that for 15 years and got board with it so I just do the Target thing now. I have little regret about wearing a red vest and leaning on a display case for 8 hrs twice a week if everything is paid for. Plus it's a dime a dozen job, I can stop showing up and I wouldn't effect a thing, employers are oblivious to this and I'm not the only one. I've met few fellow 35 yr olds, married with kids, degree holding professionals that are just a bit wiser than all the sheep.

Don't wait too long to do what you want to do because one day you will wake up and it will be your last morning.
20/11/15 Oneof93mil
1
Mick

Mick

I can see her point - work and she will be worse off - and this is in proportion to her eranings. The more she earns the more she will need to give away to her 3 children who don't live with her. So yes she has a very valid point here.
15/05/13 Mick
-5
Mangas

Mangas

There are many reasons to work for you:
1)Set an example for your children.
2)Pay tax like everyone else i.e. put in & stop taking out so much.
3)Learn skills, develop and get promoted and earn more.
4)Talk to more adults
5)Gain pride and self respect in yourself and from your peers.
6)I'll be a little harsh now............stop sponging!!
23/10/12 Mangas
-4
Kenny (Site Admin)

Kenny (Site Admin)

Well you can't please everyone all of the time. Your comments were deleted for one of the following reasons:

1) Abuse, hate, racisim, bullying... that sort of thing - not tolerated here!
2) Impersonating others or generally being a nuisance etc.
3) Posting all in capitals, excessive swearing, over use of TXT language etc.
4) Obvious spamming

The choice is yours, but if you're engaging in intelligent communication with others who post on the site then your comments will stay - if not then b***er off to Facebook!
23/10/12 Kenny (Site Admin)
0
Weekly Gripe SUCKS, time to leave!

Weekly Gripe SUCKS, time to leave!

This site sucks....deleting comments that werent even bad and therres no trace to remember what I said, I was going to makwe this my new site but im sure ill find better than this rubbish.

SWG.com - stupid weekly gripe.com
22/10/12 Weekly Gripe SUCKS, time to leave!
-4
anon

anon

Do you realize how much it costs to fill my Bentley with fuel, Six pounds an hour is my final offer, take it or leave it.............NEXT!
17/10/12 anon
-8
Mr Rupert

Mr Rupert

I don't blame anyone for staying at home if working (slave labour) means they are no better off, or worse off. I know people who write and some musicians that can't get a job. They don't lounge about watching daytime (crap) TV but are creative and aiming to make something of themselves that way.

The system is screwed anyway. Some folk earn £6 per hour, pay rent on a flat, have the usual utility costs and run a car, and at the end of a month have nothing to show for it, i.e. that work only to exist on the breadline.

A work ethic is laudable but in many cases it's little short of slavery, giving 8 - 10 hours per day for a pay packet that means mere survival and no more than that.

Life is meant to be more.
16/10/12 Mr Rupert
-1
Jethro

Jethro

anon, what you should have said is, This time next year when all the welfare money has dried up a six pounds an hour......
16/10/12 Jethro
3
anon

anon

Just wait until this time next year, a six pounds an hour job will be like finding the pot at the end of the rainbow.
15/10/12 anon
3
Friday Lunchtime

Friday Lunchtime

In those few well chosen words, you sum up what is wrong with the welfare system and the people who abuse it.

Rather than work and do something constructive, you would rather stay at home, scrounging like a parasite off the system and probably wasting your welfare money on cheap beer and gutterpress newspapers.

A job, however low paid it may be, could lead to a better one or enable you to work yourself up the ladder, but you, and millions like you, would rather stay at the bottom of the pond and live as a parasite.

I would say shame on you, but I suspect you have none.
14/10/12 Friday Lunchtime
-7
hairyfairy

hairyfairy

I know all about the poverty trap, I`m in it myself, I mean I go to the jobcentre to sign on & look at the jobpoints, and what few jobs on offer are only paying about £6 an hour. After fares, taxes & whatnot, I`d be hardly any better off. Why should a person have to drag themselves out of bed at the crack of dawn, then slave for 8 or more hours a day for next to nothing?
14/10/12 hairyfairy
-2
Andy75

Andy75

It never ceases to amaze me how there is such huge emphasis on money!!! There's EVERY point in working! Even if you are working, the wages are always a bonus BUT does anyone stop to consider the non-material benefits such as self-worth, dignity and having a "social life" - there's no dignity in not working whatsoever! This society is heavily scrutinised by the government and the hardship is an absolute nightmare!! No one knows when all this hardship will end... if it ever does!!!
13/07/12 Andy75
2
I Robot

I Robot

Switched On
The autobiography of a poor robot

I am a robot and these are the first few episodes from my autobiography. I was assembled in 1992. Mummy robot and Daddy robot never have enough voltage. We were poor and cold. Our owner was always failing to pay his electricity bills. One day the baillifs came and took me away. I was sold at auction for £1,000. After paying the commission, my new owners took me back to their museum. It was there that I began to acquire a real education, beyond the rote learning of words and sentences.
... [to be completed]
19/05/12 I Robot
-3
Respect the government

Respect the government

I feel for you, go an have a few more kids that way youll get more child benefit and child tax credit. Youll even get your rent paid. Thats what keeps me
27/04/11 Respect the government
2
Big Fat Greasey Banker Man

Big Fat Greasey Banker Man

Oh, thank God for my insight when I moved to the country and bought a property with high walls, security gates and a long driveway.
22/04/11 Big Fat Greasey Banker Man
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