wtc,ctc,child ben. & still claim council tax ben. mort. int.?

nieve

I am on contribution jsa since being made redundant and we are claiming wtc,ctc and child ben.Can we claim council tax ben. and mort. int. or do we have to make ends meet with benefits already claimed?

CIS

you can claim housing/council tax benefit as well, but they are means tested against other benefits.

Have a look on your local council website and use the calcualtor here:

http://www.medway.gov.uk/index/community/benefits/webbencalc.htm

Curry_Queen

CIS wrote:

you can claim housing/council tax benefit as well, but they are means tested against other benefits.

Housing benefit only applies to rented properties and is not available for owned/mortgaged properties.

Nieve, I'm not sure about the rules for mortgage interest payments with JSA but I know that if you're on Income Support you can get help with that after 39 weeks (possibly sooner on mortgages taken out before 1995).

I can't seem to find the relevevant info on the DWP website, so maybe the rules have changed yet again

You should be able to claim Council Tax Benefit though.

Spendless

I most certainly got help with my mortgage whilst claiming JSA contribution based. I was single, without kids and living alone at time. No idea if that made a difference.This was in 1998. I got help before 39 weeks as my mortgage was taken out prior to 1995.

nieve

Thank you both for your replies.We do have a mortgaged property and have been on cont. jsa for 6 months now and I thought we would qualify after 9 months but somebody told us that the 9 months waiting does not start until we start claiming IS or income based jsa.I hope not to be in this situation then but would rather be prepared just in case.I will try council tax calc. and again thank you,any info. is greatly appreciated.

fatbelly

From the CAB website:
...you may get income-based Jobseeker's Allowance on top of your contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance if you have a partner, or because of your personal circumstances - for example, if you are disabled or caring for a disabled person or have housing costs. Contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance is paid for a maximum of six months. After that, you may get income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, depending on your income and savings.

So, your CBJSA is about to end and, depending on income and savings, you may switch to IBJSA. My understanding is that the 39 week waiting period for housing costs started when you claimed CBJSA - you can be treated as if entitled for up to 39 weeks before actually entitled if you get contribution-based JSA, statutory sick pay or incapacity benefit.

nieve

Thank you everybody that replied to my question,hopefully we wont have to claim any further than needs be but have a better understanding if we do. :T