scrubbedexpat056

Hi, I try not to offer negative advice wherever possible since many people have enough on their plates with planning their lives as it is. I would just say that I tried commuting from Whitstable to London and gave up after a month. Admittedly I was using my car to get to the East side of London, but it was nightmare. Then from Folkestone I would still go to London occasionally with my work and it was worse if anything. My wife often took the train to London and even leaving after 9:30, if she didn't book well in advance, it was pricey. However you choose to commute from Ramsgate you will spend many hours each way travelling, which could mean childcare eating into your income along with expensive and inefficient trains. If you are planning to go to Ramsgate I would start job hunting now around Kent.
Good luck with it all.

TinaU

Thanks for the advice. I will look into finding work in Kent. Commuting long distances won't be possible as my children are young (10 and 5)

yellowroom

Ramsgate - London can be as short as 1 hr 20 minutes thanks to the new HS train, but it can be longer (2 hours to Victoria) by the old commuter routes. What you may not realise if you haven't worked in London before, is where you live and the route of the trains from your local station can really impact what jobs you take in London. For example, a 1h15m journey into St P sounds great, but if your job is in South London, you will have another hour on top of that to get across London at rush hour. So a slower train coming into Victoria actually may be the better train to take as you could walk or take the bus from there.

I used to live on Planet Thanet (Margate-Broadstairs-Ramsgate), and it has some of the most affordable housing in Kent, but local job opportunities are not great compared to the rest of the South East. York is expensive for Yorkshire, but still cheap compared to equivalent areas in the South East. Schools are good, and if you pick the right bit of York then you are in commuting distance of other towns & cities such as Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate. There are jobs up in Yorkshire!

holly_1948

No never been there, when I lived in Kuwait I used to have friends who travelled to Dacca (by then Bangladesh) frequently so heard all the stories about the hazards of motor-rickshaw travel :-) British Airways did flights Kuwait-Dacca on VC-10 back in the early 1970s.

It's no great disruption for kids to leave a school if they have only been there a short time. Kids are more resilient than we give them credit for. In fact, a new start when they have some experience and know what to expect might be helpful.
Maybe you could do three months in Ramsgate to meet the "habitual residence" test. Then move in with relatives in York and immediately apply to the local council for priority housing due to overcrowding.

mrken30

Bradford has a big Bangladeshi community, as far as I know. That might make the transition easier for the kids.

Benson55

maybe those in Bradford will be able to assist with the benefits question as well.

TinaU

Commuting to and from work won't be practical if I have to do school runs when my husband isn't with us. I think I'll have to look at part-time work. Worst-case scenario: If I can get council housing, and if I get the lowest paid jobs, will that cover food and clothes? Does council housing mean anywhere in UK or anywhere in a specific city?

yellowroom

christmasoompa

Maybe I'm missing something but why can't you use a childminder or similar? Plenty of mums work full-time and manage with the help of a childminder or before/after school clubs. I really wouldn't be thinking about relying on benefits, that's not going to be an easy life for any of you (not least because if you're an educated person used to working, it would be a huge lifestyle change).

az2014

Its always worrying (and sad) when people are moving to the UK and their first thought is benefits/council housing.

It should be a last resort to be used in an emergency, not a first plan.

BristolUK

The OP's very first post mentioned bringing savings to cover her while she tried to get a job. Also mentioned privately renting too.
.
How do you get benefits and council housing as a first resort from that?

BritInParis

I think you have this process back to front. Your first priority should be to secure employment in the UK. You can then move back by yourself, complete six months of work and be able to sponsor your husband to join you in the UK bringing the children with him.

TinaU

Getting a job first seems the right way to go about it.

Found these employment websites on the 'Useful Links' sticky post. Will research them right away. Suggestions to other good job sites will be appreciated. Thanks!
http://www.seek.co.uk
http://www.hays.co.uk
http://www.monster.co.uk

christmasoompa

Try Indeed, and do set yourself up a profile on Linked In if you haven't already, and start networking.

Good luck.

durham_lad

Our son used Indeed (among others) last year when he got back end of September and found a job through them within 6 weeks.

https://www.indeed.co.uk/