# Moving to Southampton in August



## micropaleo (Jun 2, 2011)

Hello,

I recently was offered a fantastic post-doctoral job opportunity at University of Southampton (currently in Texas). The pay is slightly above average for UK post-docs (£30,000/yr). Will my family of 4 be able to survive living outside of Southampton without my wife working?

As I saw it, that would be ~£1850/month after taxes. So as long as we were paying under ~£800pcm on housing we should be okay. I expected things might be a little tight, but not bad. Then I started reading about things called 'council taxes' and other such things and my math started getting difficult. It is mighty hard to estimate how much living will cost us over there. We are currently living on much less than the offer here in Texas, but things are a bit more expensive over there. I just don't know how much more expensive.

Any guidance?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

micropaleo said:


> Hello,
> 
> I recently was offered a fantastic post-doctoral job opportunity at University of Southampton (currently in Texas). The pay is slightly above average for UK post-docs (£30,000/yr). Will my family of 4 be able to survive living outside of Southampton without my wife working?
> 
> ...


UK average salary is around £25,000 mark, and while your finance will be tight, you should be able to manage on £30k gross in Southampton. Council Tax will be around £100 a month on a modest property. Your net monthly pay will be around £1896. If you later switch to another points-based system of work visa, you are allowed access to public funds (but not if you stay on PSW), and you will get Child Benefit - £20.30 for your first child and £13.40 on your second per week, tax-free, making your monthly income £2042 net. You will probably get Child Tax Credit as well - you will possibly get around £542 a year, tax-free. Running a car can be expensive, so to start with, get your accommodation somewhere with good public transport links, both for your work and for shopping, schools etc. Your wife is entitled to work on spouse visa. She may be able to do part-time work, or continue some online work with US employer. And if she goes out to work, you can claim childcare element of Working Tax Credit, which will subsidise the cost of childcare, such as nursery, childminder etc. The key to managing is getting an affordable rental property. Look online for possibilities on rightmove.co.uk, fish4.co.uk etc. If you go to a local newspaper site at Daily Echo | Southampton news, sport & leisure for Hampshire plus jobs & homes, there are links to local property sites, and much other useful info such as transport, crime stats, local amenities etc.


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## micropaleo (Jun 2, 2011)

Joppa said:


> If you later switch to another points-based system of work visa, you are allowed access to public funds (but not if you stay on PSW), and you will get Child Benefit


Thank you very much Joppa, I see you help a lot of people on other threads I have been reading. I do have a question about what you mentioned above. I am not sure what the PSW acronym stands for. I am entering on a Tier 2: Skilled Worker Visa, which has a points system. Is that what you are talking about above?

Out of curiosity, what is the function of the child benefit? What is the rational behind giving it to people? To my knowledge, the closest we have to that in the US is a child tax credit, which it looks like from you post there is one of those as well. Not that I am complaining in the slightest, just curious about the different way governments approach their people.

I do have a real question. I am looking at housing close (< 1 mile) to train stations at all of the sites you mentioned (thanks for that by the way). My plan is to head out there before my official start date to arrange housing for my family, fly back to Texas, pack up, and then move out there. But my visa says that it only allows me entry into the country 14 days prior to my official start date (August 10). If I found a great place in mid-July, would I be able to go over there (like I was on vacation) and sign paperwork and put down a deposit on a place even though my visa hasn't taken effect yet? Or do I have to wait for that two week window before I can enter into any legal contracts?


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## cgutteridge (Jun 10, 2011)

Hi, came by this thread by accident on Google.

I run the University Open Data service. Some of our studetns have produced a map which might help give you a feel for the university and how it relates to the city. //opendatamap. ecs. soton. ac. uk/ -- it shows our campuses, main bus routes and stations etc. There are only two main stations to, central and airport parkway. All London trains stop at both. Although you can leave from St. Denys and change, if you need to get trains often for some reason, but I would be more concerned about bus routes. Also the city isn't bad for cycling. 

There may be some useful info here;
//w w w. soton. ac. uk/accommodation/privaterented/index.shtml
and moreso here:
//w w w. soton. ac. uk/accommodation/apply/couples.html

The accomodation office is mostly focused on students, but it can't hurt to ask if they can help -- your situation most be pretty common, and there may be some help they can offer.

The university opperates a salary surrender scheme which means you can pay the nursary before tax is taken off your income. A petty saving, but sounds like you'll be on a budget. 

Also, it's worth knowing that the main supermarket, near the university, is on Portswood road (where it meets brookvale road).

Disclaimer; the above is posted in the hope it will be useful but not in my formal capacity as a member of staff. Your mileage may vary.


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## micropaleo (Jun 2, 2011)

Thank you very much cgutteridge! I really appreciate you posting that information for me. I haven't gone through all of it yet, but just from skimming, it looks like it will be very helpful. 

I don't know why I had spent most of my time thinking about trains rather than the bus (possibly because I will be at NOCS which is so close to a train station), but thanks for reminding me of surface transport.


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