Should I be trying to get into part time paid employment at 40?

[Mr Allen]

I am tempted to ask the lady who runs a local Lego and toy shop called Bricks and Bits if she has any work going, but she only opens Friday and Saturday.

Last year I applied to the Lego store in Meadowhall, but got turned down, at least they got back to me to tell me though.

 

[Kari Suttle]

I am tempted to ask the lady who runs a local Lego and toy shop called Bricks and Bits if she has any work going, but she only opens Friday and Saturday.

Last year I applied to the Lego store in Meadowhall, but got turned down, at least they got back to me to tell me though.

Ah yeah, working just two days a week wouldn't really be worth it. I forget if you said where you live? But where I live the pay wouldn't be worth it after they take out taxes and you subtract the gas money it takes to drive back and forth. But you have a good idea there, finding employment at places selling things you like. With me I found my first job to be challenging but in a good way.

 

[Judge]

I am tempted to ask the lady who runs a local Lego and toy shop called Bricks and Bits if she has any work going, but she only opens Friday and Saturday.

I'd think paid employment possibilities would be somewhere between unlikely and impossible given much of any business run by a sole-proprietor open with such restrictive hours of operation.

 

[Mr Allen]

I'd think paid employment possibilities would be somewhere between unlikely and impossible given much of any business run by a sole-proprietor open with such restrictive hours of operation.

I see your point but with the limited hours I can do without coming off benefits, it could work for me.

 

[Mr Allen]

Ah yeah, working just two days a week wouldn't really be worth it. I forget if you said where you live? But where I live the pay wouldn't be worth it after they take out taxes and you subtract the gas money it takes to drive back and forth. But you have a good idea there, finding employment at places selling things you like. With me I found my first job to be challenging but in a good way.

I live in Sheffield, England.

I am also on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) so strictly speaking I had to be signed off as incapable of working, but they'll let me do "permitted work" as long as it's less than 16 hours a week at full minimum wage.

3 weeks ago I had a meeting at a local branch of Job Centre Plus with an adviser, she said that based on working 10 hours per week over 2 days, I could come away £72 a week better off without having any negative impact on my benefits or having to give any to the tax man.

 

[Judge]

I see your point but with the limited hours I can do without coming off benefits, it could work for me.

What I stated wasn't about you, but rather about them. That for a business likely run by a sole-proprietor only two days a week, it's highly unlikely they could or would employ anyone else at all. Even on a reduced, part-time basis.

I used to underwrite insurance for a great deal of small businesses run only by the owner under the tightest overhead considerations. People who couldn't afford employees period, short of their businesses growing exponentially. I just see it as a long shot to even investigate such a prospect for anyone looking for paid work, even on a part-time basis so as not to compromise your benefits.

That you're better off looking at anything retail that is open at least five days a week. And to factor in a harsh reality that these remain trying times for Britain's economy. An unfortunate consideration that is unavoidable at the present.

 

[Rayner]

Hey rich.

What about construction? I've been doing since I was 16 and I got on the job training.

 

[Mr Allen]

Hey rich.

What about construction? I've been doing since I was 16 and I got on the job training.

Me on a Building site with my co-ordination and poor social skills? How about no? Plus there's the whole Building site culture of being mercilessly took the P out of, I wouldn't stand for it.