25K pound salary for family of 3?

Question

hello. I have a possibility of coming to UK in Leeds or Liverpool (don't know yet) and I want to know what I can do with a salary of 25K. I saw that the price for renting a decent house of 3 bedrooms in a decent area is around 600 pounds. Taxes payed, that will leave me with around 900 pounds per month for gas, electricity, petrol, groceries, etc. We are a family of 3, our daughter is 1,5 years old, so no school yet. My wife will also get employed but I cannot count on that and just wanted to know how far this salary will get us. I'm including here some movies, some pubs and restaurants, etc. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

for leeds thats a good amount my mum only earns 13,000 and me and my brother mange.  you will also get benfits because your children are under 18

Answer 2

that will be tough going at first until you get settled because to start with there will be lots of additional expenses (furniture, furnishings, bedding etc etc) ... a lot of rental property is unfurnished, or only sparsely furnished

it will be difficult for your wife to work until you get affordable childcare which probably won't be until your little one is nearer to 3 years old and you can get a nursery place like the ones in a local authority nursery (private nurseries can be extremely expensive) ... as soon as you take up residence in an area, go and put your little one's name down at every nursery you can find locally as there is usually a waiting list ... also is your wife legally allowed to work?

I'm making the assumption that you would be coming on work permit so you won't be eligible for any benefits (such as Working Tax Credit or Child Benefit) as work permits are on condition that you have no recourse to public funds ... as long as you're in the country legally (i.e. the work permit) you would be entitled to the normal health and education services

I'm also making the assumption that you don't have any relatives or friends here who could help with the childcare

by the way, to your list of outgoings you should also add Council Tax (payable to the local authority and not always included in the rent) ... it's hard to say how much that would be because it would depend on the Tax Band and the local authority but have a look at this web page for Leeds ...

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/page.aspx?pageid...

of course a lot depends on where you're coming from and what standard of living you're used to, and expecting to have here

once you're settled and, hopefully, your wife also contributing to the family income, things should start to ease up ... lots of people in the UK manage on a lot less than £25k pa

Answer 3

I'm from Leeds. 25 k isn't a huge amount but it's manageable. There's quite a lot of affordable housing if you avoid the posher areas. If your wife got a job paying say 10 k a year you'd be absolutely fine and would be able to do quite a lot. With just you you wouldn't be able to do much though apart from paying for your house and bills  etc. to be honest. Leeds has had a booming economy in recent years so it might be relatively easy for your wife to get a job though. There's a booming financial services industry there and lots of secretarial work in the city center. In Liverpool it's probably a bit cheaper but it has a c**p economy compared to Leeds and your wife would find it harder to get a job there.

Answer 4

OAP's live on less than 8000 pounds per annum, however they usually have minimum expenses.  25K in either Leeds or Liverpool will be quite suitable if you are frugal and do not run up debt (credit cards etc)