Able to survive?

Okay, so I'm going to be teaching in the UK and will make between 14,000 and 19,000 a year roughly. If I live in London I should make the 19,000, if if I live outside of London to would be at least 14,000. My question then is would I be able to survive on this, as a single parent? I keep doing the income tax (which it says is 22% minus the personal allowance of roughly 6,000) and NI (which it says would be 11% of the gross) calculations and it seems like an insane amount of money would be taken out, leaving barely enough to afford an apartment. My calculations could be way off though, I guess. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

Bue

I dont know.  But better than zero these days!

That seems like an awfully low salary for a teacher (unless you're working part time).  I see signs up on the bus for teacher recruitment saying that new teachers start at�20K outside london!

For an adult and child, I would say it is going to be difficult if that's what you'll be making.  For example, you can expect rents of �400+ outside london and �800+ in london for a flat/house depending on what you want.  That'll take up about half of your take home pay on those salaries...  But I think it may be doable if you have very little or no debt.

BTW, you can find an accurate tax/take home pay calculator here- http://www.listentotaxman.com

edit: argh, if you see diamonds and question marks in my post, those are supposed to be pound signs!

Thank you springhaze for your input. I'm basing the salary on the unqualified teachers pay scale. I am a qualified teacher here in the states and the schools in the Uk recognize that I'm qualified, but because I don't have Qualified Teacher Status, they can choose to pay me on the unqualified pay scale. The debut that I do have will not be being paid for from my teachers salary.  I'd rather figure that I'm bringing home less and then have extra money than the other way around.

ah, that makes more sense with the qualified/unqualified teacher pay scales.  I guess it all depends on your budget and whether you're okay with having most of your pay going to necessities.  Most people I know who are single and make between £14-18K (up here in the north of england) rent rooms in shared houses because housing is pretty expensive over here relative to salaries...but since you have a child that probably won't be an option.

If you live outside of cities then you need the added expense of a car. 

You couldn't rent a two bedroom house in Cambridge for under 700/mnth. 

buebug -

Realistically, it's going to be very very difficult to live inside London in your own place on that salary.  The biggest place I think you 2 could afford would be a small studio flat!  A house-share will find you bigger accoms, but not sure how that would work with a child??

Just think, your take-home every month will be just over £1000...what do you want to spend on rent?  £600?  £600 just MIGHT get you a studio flat in outer London, but then you make all that up in travel costs...it would be extremely difficult to live above the poverty line with £19k and a child.

buebug -

Realistically, it's going to be very very difficult to live inside London in your own place on that salary.¦nbsp; The biggest place I think you 2 could afford would be a small studio flat!¦nbsp; A house-share will find you bigger accoms, but not sure how that would work with a child??

Just think, your take-home every month will be just over £1000...what do you want to spend on rent?¦nbsp; £600?¦nbsp; £600 just MIGHT get you a studio flat in outer London, but then you make all that up in travel costs...it would be extremely difficult to live above the poverty line with £19k and a child.

This is pretty much what I was trying to get at- I think that it is theoretically possible to make the numbers add up and still be in the black at the end of the day, but with so much money going towards basic necessities (my rule of thumb is about 50%, for you it would be more like 85-90%), it'll really be difficult to enjoy your life without constantly worrying about money.  Have you got any other sources of income that you'd be able to use to top up your wages?

Do you have your heart set on England and/or big cities? Because it's also possible to teach in Scotland with overseas training, and in some rural areas there is such a dire shortage of teachers that you are very likely to get a work permit quickly. You also get higher pay because they can register you straight away if your qualifications match. Scotland generally is a bit cheaper than England and has excellent quality of life.

Do you have your heart set on England and/or big cities? Because it's also possible to teach in Scotland with overseas training, and in some rural areas there is such a dire shortage of teachers that you are very likely to get a work permit quickly. You also get higher pay because they can register you straight away if your qualifications match. Scotland generally is a bit cheaper than England and has excellent quality of life.

Superl99 is right - but even if you had your heart set on England, you could still move up here to the rural areas of the northeast (Northumberland, Durham, etc, close to Scotland, as well) - there are many houses around here that are a very comfy size for a single parent and one child for anywhere from £325 to £425/month, and the cost of living is much less. There are three of us in a very spacious two bedroom studio terraced house for only £425 and we are right down the street from the beach! You would never find that in or around London. If you were able to move into the village where you would be teaching (and loads of local villages need qualified teachers) then you wouldn't really NEED a car, as technically you could do what most people do and walk or ride a bike to the shops on the high street, to work and back, to school, etc., and take the bus when you want to go for a specialty shopping trip in the city. It could be very possible, though you might not have a lot for luxuries, but providing you would stay long enough to obtain QTS, you would then start earning more and be able to have a better lifestyle. Good luck!

Yup, springhaze summed it up.  You might make more money (19k as opposed to 14k) in London, but that 19k is worth farrrrrrr less!!  Considering that Jewlz pays HALF of what we do for a property DOUBLE the size, I don't think London is the right place for such a low income to raise a child!  If my husband & I didn't have jobs linking us to the city, then trust me, we'd be moving up north in an instant to get much more for our pound.  We do plan to, someday when the timing is right.  Given the choice all over again, I probably wouldn't have settled in London at all.

We're not trying to scare you or anything, but give an honest answer.  If you were single or a couple, it would be a whole different ball game, but I think being a single parents makes the picture significantly different.

Yup, I pay £495 a month for a 2 storey, 3 bedroom flat with garage and the world's most enormous closets, and we're within 10 minutes' walking distance of a farm shop, 2 fishmongers (one of which is also a cheese shop), a Co-Op supermarket, a Lidl supermarket, a Tesco supermarket, a mainline train station, 2 gyms (one of which has a pool), 5 Chinese restaurants, 3 Indian restaurants, half a dozen or more pubs, a factory outlet shop, an Argos... all in a town of under 9000 people surrounded by lovely countryside!

. all in a town of under 9000 people surrounded by lovely countryside!

Where may I ask in Scotland?

Where may I ask in Scotland?

Yeah, that's what I want to know!

Yeah, that's what I want to know!

There goes the neighborhood