Single mum with 18month old - entitled to any benefits?

thepinklady

Hello to everyone who reads this thread.

Everybody on this forum is soo helpful, so thought maybe asking the experts may be helpful for my sister.

My sister who is 20yrs old and has a little 18 month old girl yesterday split from her OH. Her OH bought a flat when they found out my sister was expecting so she's not homeless just yet, but she's going to stay on there and he move out until she can find somewhere else and then sell the flat.

What benefits could my sister get to help her afford to rent somewhere? she works part time and only earns £900 a month. I know she will get CSA from her OH, but can she claim anything else? She already gets Tax credits and the usual child benefit, but are these likely to rise at all now she's going to be a single parent?

Would she be entitled to housing benefit?

If anybody could help it would be much appreciated.

Thank youx

MinBlack

The best advice is to check www.entitledto.co.uk, how much assistance she gets depends on her wages, the child support etc. Her tax credits should rise and she should get some childcare element. Any housing benefit or council tax benefit would depend on the Local Housing Allowance for the area and her total income but the above website should give you an idea.

Is the house jointly owned or in her partners name? If in joint names this may be taken into account, he would have to buy her out or they are normally given a set period of grace in order to sell the property.

Your local welfare rights can give advice specific to her circumstances as to what she can claim and how she should go about this.

Good luck to her and her child.

thepinklady

Thank you MinBlack.

The flat is in her partners name because my sister was only 19 when they decided to buy somewhere, so his name is the only name on the mortgage as he's a few years older.

I will have a look at that website to see what she's entitled too.

thanks againxx

Elle00

thepinklady wrote: »

Hello to everyone who reads this thread.

Everybody on this forum is soo helpful, so thought maybe asking the experts may be helpful for my sister.

My sister who is 20yrs old and has a little 18 month old girl yesterday split from her OH. Her OH bought a flat when they found out my sister was expecting so she's not homeless just yet, but she's going to stay on there and he move out until she can find somewhere else and then sell the flat.

What benefits could my sister get to help her afford to rent somewhere? she works part time and only earns £900 a month. I know she will get CSA from her OH, but can she claim anything else? She already gets Tax credits and the usual child benefit, but are these likely to rise at all now she's going to be a single parent?

Would she be entitled to housing benefit?

If anybody could help it would be much appreciated.

Thank youx

Hi there,

She probably wouldn't get any housing assistance on £900pm but it's always worth asking (I didn't on that wage). She should apply for the 25% single person occupancy reduction for council tax either way.

She should ring Tax Credits IMMEDIATELY - as soon as they've split the finances and the exOH has left the flat. She'll get a huge rise in her tax credits which will include Working Tax Credits and an increase in Child Tax Credits which should total at least a couple of hundred pounds a month. She can also get assistance for 80% of any chlidcare costs relating to her job. She'll be best off if she works more than 30hrs a week as there's a tax credits bonus if you do.

How much she'll have to live off will be down to how much maintenance she gets and how much she has to pay in her area to rent somewhere. Maintenance is 15% of her exOH's wage by the way.

Hope that helps, best wishes for her.

alwaysonthego_2

Did she contribute towards the morgage or any of the deposits etc?