Problems single parents face getting off of benefits and back into work

Rather than single parents and even stay-at-home mothers being lazy or precious, going back to work when you are the primary or sole carer for a child is not easy.

Some single parents will have excellent back up from their family or even their ex-partner. But for those who don’t, the buck starts and ends with them. Single parents equals a single income. Make a mistake and there is no other money to fall back on.

The government is intending to herd 100,000 single parents back into jobs this October when their youngest child reaches the age of five years. Chopsy Baby consulted with some of Bristol’s single parents who have been desperately searching for work and hitting barrier after barrier. We have collated some of the practical barriers stopping mothers from returning to work.

* Gap in your employment history? Maternity leave? So you have children? – Employer mentally tots up the number of days you will be off nursing every childhood illness imaginable.

* Part time hours at parent friendly times tend to be minimum or low waged jobs. Some of these are even offered as ‘casual’ contracts, meaning that although the business may need you to do a minimum number of hours, there is no guarantee of regular hours. This wreaks havok with all low-income related benefits.

* Single parent Maria says: “I faced disciplinary action when I had to take time off with my sick children. At the school, if a child is sick they have to be off for 48 hours after the last time they were ill. If I take them back before this, even though I shouldn’t, I run the risk that she is ill in school and then they know exactly when she was ill meaning she could be off even longer.

“Of course, if one child is ill, there is every chance they could pass it onto their sibling or myself meaning even more time off work. During the time I’m off I don’t get paid.”

If a child is off school ill and a parent has no money they can reclaim income support all over again. This could be a lengthy process and could mean repaying job grants back – or they can just fall behind with the rent…

* “Shift work I found impossible,” Rhianna says. “I didn’t know my hours in advance of a week and gradually all my childminders got fed up.”

* Job adverts state employee ‘must be flexible’ and ‘work evenings and weekends’.

Helen says: “My advisor at the job centre was trying to put me forward for bar work. He told me I would get child tax credit for childcare, even if it was just £1.40 an hour towards £10 an hour care. If I’m only getting paid minimum wage, I guess his maths is bad.”

Helen’s advisor was not only being ridiculous but wrong. Chopsy Baby was unable to locate any consistent late night childcare which was eligible for the childcare element of working tax credits.

* There is no wrap around childcare that will suit the working hours of some jobs.

A random selection of Bristol nurseries and their opening hours:

The Rocking Horse – Redland
Open from 8.00am – 6.00pm

The Green Door Nursery – St. Andrews
8.00 am – 5.45 pm

The Magic Roundabout – Southville
7.30am – 6.00pm

Bristol Day Nursery – Ashton
7.30am to 6.00pm

Great for parents working a standard 9-5 job with children younger than school age and car access. But totally unsuitable for those whose working hours are less structured, have school aged children or have to get from work to nursery through either rush hour traffic or public transport.

A typical Bristol childminder

Monday – Friday: = £4 per hour
Before 7am and after 7pm = £5.60 per hour
Bank holidays / Saturdays / Sundays if available = Double the above rates
 
Hourly Rate – Babysitting (off premises)
 Before midnight = £8 per hour
After midnight = £10 per hour
 
Before and after school care
 Minimum of 2 hours per day and 2 days per week = £4 per hour

* Nurseries do not open at weekends. When a job demands weekend working, a parent needs to find a childminder to work 16 hours across a weekend – if they are available. Few offer this service.

The parent could be earning £96 at £6 per hour and paying £128 for one child to be looked after by a weekend childminder. This would not even include the care time needed for the parent to get to work after dropping off and from work to pick up. The childminder would need to be Ofsted registered to get any help with childcare.

Baby sitting – Elf Sitters, Bristol
We used the fee rate of Bristol based Elf Sitters, to calculate how much a single parent working part time in a pub would have to pay baby sitters for out of hours care.

If the parent worked on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night from 7pm until midnight, they would have to pay £135.50 a week for childcare.

They would not be eligible for the childcare element of working tax credit because babysitters or babysitters working through an agency are not Ofsted registered.

The parent would also have to be home before midnight otherwise a premium rate comes into operation.

* When three-year-olds start their free provision at nursery school and then move into full time state education, there are a lot of school holidays and in-service days that need cover.

* For single parents with no family back-up and no wrap around care, they can only practically work  between 10am and 2pm. This could only be in a local area to get to and from school in time.

Wrap-around care would include a breakfast club or after school club. But in some schools, children under five years of age are not allowed to use them.

* Employers are advertising jobs stating that employees will be informed of the hours they will be working the week before. This is useless for childcare. Nurseries and childminders won’t be interested.

* Tax credits will also not cover the entire cost of the childcare. Under the current system, parents can get help with up to 80 per cent of their childcare costs to a maximum limit of £175 for one child and £300 for two of more children.

The maximum help a parent can get for childcare through tax credits is therefore £140 a week for one child or £240 a week for two more more children.

Congratulations then to Cameron who is cutting the 80 per cent down to 70 per cent leaving parents to dig deeper, trying to find more money.

* For parents who claim Working Tax Credit as a boost to their income, they must currently work a minimum of 16 hours per week averaged out over the year. If job hours vary heavily between one week and another, say fourteen hours one week and 40 hours the week after, this can leaving you being over paid by Tax Credits and with you having to pay money back if the hours don’t add up.

Trying to get through to speak to somebody at the Tax Credit helpline to report a change in circumstance can take around half an hour of waiting first. On an 0845 number.

If your childcare costs go down by more than £10 per week for 4 weeks or working hours change, then this affects the claim and needs to be reported. Even if they will go back up again afterwards.

* If you claim housing benefit and start to work, hours need to be very consistent otherwise it makes claims messy and complicated – told to us by a housing benefit advisor. If you get this wrong and fail to tell them you have earned even £1 more than you are entitled to, you will investigated for benefit fraud. But this is not just £1 of benefit fraud, but the entire amount of money you are paid for that month – including housing, council tax, income support/job seekers allowance and tax  credits. By messing up just £1.00 you have potentially committed hundreds of pounds of fraud.

* When single parents come off of benefit and return to at least 16 hours of work per week for a minimum of five weeks, they currently qualify for in work credit and a job grant if they meet certain criteria. This is a fixed tax-free payment of £40 per week or £60 in London for parents bringing up children alone and a cash lump sum.

Cons: The in work credit stops after 52 weeks, leaving single parents back in financial trouble again. Should the single parent be made redundant from their job within these five weeks, all money must be paid back.

For single parents moving into self-employed work we believe they will not be eligible this money.

* Whilst help with childcare can be given, if you work for example 20 hours a week from 9.00am until 1.00pm daily, this will cut into a nursery’s second session. You would have to pay for each afternoon session from your own pocket as this would not be covered by the tax credit allowance. Effectively, your child would be attending nursery full time hours but you would only receive help for part time hours.

Selection of current vacancies all waiting for single parents and all displaying problems noted above.

Retail Team Member
Clacton – On – Sea, Essex
Job Salary: Salary Meets Nat Min Wage 
Contract Type: Temporary
10-40 hours per week, between, 7.30am – 10.30pm, over 7 days
Must be flexible with regard to hours worked. Own. transport is advisable due to park location.

Sales & Stock Assistant
Job Type:Part-Time
Salary:£4,484 – £4,603 p.a. Temporary 14 hours
You must be willing to work some weekends and occasional unsociable hours.
This is a temporary contract.
We regret only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Team Assistant
£6.10 ph
This role is offered on a permanent basis working a 40 hour week across shift patterns that include 7am – 3pm, 11am – 7pm and 3pm – 11pm. Shift patterns and rotas are published a couple of months in advance and generally follow a regular pattern.

Cleaners
Part-Time
£6.76 per hour approx
Hours: 15 hrs per week (won’t get tax credits or childcare help – breakfast clubs don’t start until 8pm)
Mon-Fri 5am-8am
Contract: Permanent
View more vacancies from this recruiter      www.yeovil.ac.uk

Store Assistant
Meets National Minimum Wage
Hours 0-60 per week over seven days between 9am and 8pm
DurationTemporary
Must be flexible with regard to working hours and days as will be working weekends and evenings.