When I lost my job in April 2024, we came a bit stuck financially. We didn’t have any money to fall back on, we were living pay cheque to pay cheque, always one step away from financial disaster and this was the disaster.
I had everyone’s worst nightmare, not being able to pay the bills. I had every man’s worst nightmare, not being able to provide for his family. So I swallowed my pride and asked for help, help in the form of benefits for the government. I arrived at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) office, terrified. Feeling judged and unsure of what to expect I walked in, sat down and patiently waited my turn, I was then met with a lady who tried to be helpful however, I left with more questions than answers. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I received £745 in housing benefit which saw us through to the following much, by which point I was back in employment. I will go into my experience in more detail but that isn’t the purpose of this post today.
Last night, I was lying in bed next to my wife, talking about money and we got onto the topic of benefits. We both know people who are claiming benefits who are quite content on continuing on claiming them for as long as possible without actively looking to change their circumstances for the better. It piqued my interest and I was curious to see how people are able to live solely off benefits.
I just want to be very clear here before I continue, I am not criticising anyone who is claiming benefits, in fact I’m actively encouraging you to check if you are entitled to any additional help.
I started to look into the UK benefits system to see if we were entitled to any additional support and it’s a minefield. It appears simple in principle but it becomes overly complicated and difficult to calculate accurately as soon as you factor in partners and children. You could married and have children, if you don’t choose a primary caregiver (even though you split it 50/50), you lose out on some money in your benefits award. Madness.
Then I came across an absolute gem of a website, Turn2Us. Turn2Us is a charity, they have a benefits calculator, simply input your information (don’t worry it’s anonymous) and it does all the calculations for you. So, I filled in all of our information and we’re not entitled to anything other than Child Benefit which we already claim but I was curious and so I played around a little bit and these were the results.
- If we had another baby – £245 a month extra.
- If we both quit our jobs and did nothing £1700 a month.
- If we earned £400 a month each, £1600 awarded plus we would have £800 earned income.
Now I’m not for one second suggesting you quit your job and live off the state but the two major points that stuck out for me.
- There are things you can potentially claim for that you wouldn’t think you could. Take an extra child for example, I was gobsmacked to see that we would be entitled to £245 a month. If I didn’t play about with the calculator, I would never have known and we would never claim.
- No matter what you current circumstance please check your eligibility to claim and check every time your circumstances change. You never know.
Here is the link again Turn2Us
Good Luck!