Cant afford to work!

[semiskimmed]

hi, im putting this here in order to try and get some help or advice on what i can do in the situation im in.
basically im a single man living on his own with no children that live with me. ive got a young daughter who lives with her mother and i work full time but only earn minimum wage.
now for over a year now ive been trying to get the child support agency to calculate how much i need to pay towards my daughters up bringing and theyve only just come up with this amount and its crippling me financially as its got the arrears from the past year which need to be paid off over a year apparently so theyre not prepared to budge on the amount i pay each week, which is 25% of my total take home pay. this amount doesn't even let me pay fully for my traveling expense each week let alone food to eat.
ive tried getting help towards my rent but i only get something like 50p a week towards it and council tax i wont get anything.
i also get a bit from working tax credit but its not much and still doesnt help me pay for a weeks worth of food, if i carry on liek this im not going to either at or manage to pay my rent.
ive tried all the things i can think of to try to get either help towards bills or benefits whilst working.
the only thing i can think of is quitting work and claiming job seekers but im not sure how far the reason would take me that not earning enough?

any help would be fantastic and sorry for a huge long post

[weetsie]

well if your job doesn't pay enough what else can you do?

sign on and get everything paid for you and look for a job that pays well.

[semiskimmed]

Originally Posted by weetsie

well if your job doesn't pay enough what else can you do?

well thats my problem at the moment, i just dont know what to do other than go and claim jsa etc and look for another job. but im open to other suggestions before i do this, as its got to eb done as a last resort. but i need to do something

[orpheus]

There's something seriously wrong with a system that leaves a man unable to pay for rent/food etc. Yes I agree with paying for the cost of your child, but the payments should be at a reasonable level that is within your means. They can't seriously expect someone to live in poverty due to disproportionate child care costs.

[dazza74]

Originally Posted by semiskimmed

hi, im putting this here in order to try and get some help or advice on what i can do in the situation im in.
basically im a single man living on his own with no children that live with me. ive got a young daughter who lives with her mother and i work full time but only earn minimum wage.
now for over a year now ive been trying to get the child support agency to calculate how much i need to pay towards my daughters up bringing and theyve only just come up with this amount and its crippling me financially as its got the arrears from the past year which need to be paid off over a year apparently so theyre not prepared to budge on the amount i pay each week, which is 25% of my total take home pay. this amount doesn't even let me pay fully for my traveling expense each week let alone food to eat.
ive tried getting help towards my rent but i only get something like 50p a week towards it and council tax i wont get anything.
i also get a bit from working tax credit but its not much and still doesnt help me pay for a weeks worth of food, if i carry on liek this im not going to either at or manage to pay my rent.
ive tried all the things i can think of to try to get either help towards bills or benefits whilst working.
the only thing i can think of is quitting work and claiming job seekers but im not sure how far the reason would take me that not earning enough?

any help would be fantastic and sorry for a huge long post

I'm not in this position personally but I can understand your plight from trying to get by on a very low income myself. My personal approach to this situation would be to write down all your monthly expenses on paper and go back to these people and explain it's simply not feasible to pay this amount every month and have money to live. If you don't get anywhere with this tact then I'd personally have no qualms about leaving a job in this situation.

End of the day mate, you've got to be selfish and put yourself first in a situation like this.

[shodan]

Write down how much you get paid then write down a list of EVERYTHING you spend from debts to tax to shopping to shoes to glasses subscription glasses, running a car etc etc. you have to be very honest with this list. Once this is done, go see the citizens advice bureau. Good luck mate.

[rickinyorkshire]

What else do you pay for each month (without going into detail). Such as, Sky, Broadband, Mobile Phone etc. As all these can be scrapped if it means paying for your child's upbringing.

[eric pisch]

Originally Posted by shodan

Write down how much you get paid then write down a list of EVERYTHING you spend from debts to tax to shopping to shoes to glasses subscription glasses, running a car etc etc. you have to be very honest with this list. Once this is done, go see the citizens advice bureau. Good luck mate.

i was going to post this

there's alot of expert advice on this kind of thing on the money saving expert forum

[semiskimmed]

i agree and im not trying to worm out of paying for my child, its a bad situation as i dont trust or get on with my ex partner and turned to the csa to sort this out and so i could pay them without dispute coming back in the future of me not paying etc. ive always tried to be honest with the csa btu they seem hell bent on just screwing me. ive sent pay slips to them and theyve said theyve lost my file twice its a real disaster and now theyre assumign i wont pay and have told me i can appeal but it wont change much. theyve also ptu the attachment of earnings on my wages too so i really cant do much.

[eric pisch]

i really would go ask on the MSE forum, its mainly techie geeks here

they have a CSA specific forum, seams to be some good info

copy n paste your first post there

Child Support - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

[Nobber22]

Originally Posted by orpheus

They can't seriously expect someone to live in poverty due to disproportionate child care costs.

I guess you haven't had any dealings with the CSA then.

[semiskimmed]

thanks eric, will do that.
still doesnt solve my problem i have at the moment though, and thats either carry on working and not eat and pay my rent or just give up work and try to get some benefits to tide me over whilst i look for another job. the csa arent exactly fast at sorting anything out and i dont want to be homeless.

[Dony]

I can't give you any advise, but if you leave your job voluntarily, will you be able to claim benefits straight away?

All the best.

[eric pisch]

Originally Posted by semiskimmed

thanks eric, will do that.
still doesnt solve my problem i have at the moment though, and thats either carry on working and not eat and pay my rent or just give up work and try to get some benefits to tide me over whilst i look for another job. the csa arent exactly fast at sorting anything out and i dont want to be homeless.

I don't think there's going to be a quick fix, but it will tell you what you can do and where to do it

However it makes for grim reading, the CSA seams to see itself as above the law, in one of the posts a CSA representative actually told a judge he did not have the power to change there decession

[Iccz]

Originally Posted by Dony

I can't give you any advise, but if you leave your job voluntarily, will you be able to claim benefits straight away?

All the best.

Exactly what I was just about to mention, I don't think you can claim JSA if you walk out of a position, you need a grace period of a few months I believe.