I do not think it is possible to survive living alone in the UK and recieving only minimum wage, I know its been called the minimum wage as its the lowest amount deemed possible to work on, but I do not think its possible to work on this, not when you include tax, council tax, travel costs (especially in London), tv licence, geas and electricity, clothes for work, phone line rental.....
I'm not sure who set the minimum wage, but who ever it was they have obviously never tried to actually live on it. They must also have decided that alot of the things that are taken for granted as part of modern society should be considered as luxuries and that is wrong. In our society having an internet connection is virtually a necessity, but it doesn't come cheap, and that wasn't factored into the calculation. Nor was TV; we live in an area where we can't use an aerial and have to use cable. We struggle to pay that bill, but otherwise it would mean no TV at all, and that would cut the kids off from a large part of modern culture. People who can't work get help with their housing costs and council tax, and that is only right. But those of us who earn the minimum wage don't get such help, which leaves us effectively worse off than those on benefit, and that can't be right. It is no wonder that when people do the calculations they decide it is just not financially worth it to come off benefit for a minimum wage job.
There is no way if you were living alone and not including house sharing that on the minimum wage you could get by unless maybe you were out on an island somewhere and paying £30 per week in rent, then maybe and you would have to grow your own vegetables and probably not run a car. The minimum wage is a joke as realistically it doesn't cover the minimum cost of living. Hence why there is so much flatsharing in this country, you don't have in other countries to any of the degree that its in the UK
not if you work, Im a single working parent and I cannot afford to live on my own, but if I didnt work, I could afford to, what is the country coming too?
Not a chance. My job only pays national minimum wage atm (£5.52ph!) and i'm living in rented accomadation with my girlfriend who only works part time. We are getting by but we have to budget EVERY month and thinks like council tax and Gas/Electricity bills take a lot out of my wage packet at the end of the month. We are fortunate that we live in an area of the country that the prices arn't quite so extortionate as those of London and further south.
Definitely not. No way would somebody be able to manage on the minimum wage. My husband earns quite a good wage and we are struggling to make ends meet especially the way petrol prices have gone up, the council tax has gone up and dont even get me started on the rising cost of food. I really dont know how the government expect us to manage on the same wages but the increases in costs. It is so hard and they have only been saying on the news this morning how many families are nopw living on the poverty line. It is a scary time for all of us.
Other