housing benefit nightmare !!!!!!!!!!!!

fawd1

I am so very angry right now I may actually implode. I have just received a letter this morning telling me that I am not entitled to housing benefit because apparently I have a weekly income of over 600 pounds after tax. This is despite the fact that I am not working and my husband earns 17000 a year. how they got this number I don't know, especially as we were asked to bring in proof of his payslips and my letter of rejection for JSA (apparently in my last year at university I didn't contribute enough to national insurance). So, we now have rent of 850 a month, plus 110 a month council tax (no reduction in that either) and I am currently six months pregnant so no hope of income for at least another six months from me ( I am suffering from spd and sciatica and have been told by the doctor that I can't go to work as I could risk partially paralysing my right leg permanently- I am not entitled to IB either apparently because of the same reaso as for JSA). I cannot begin to comprehend that, with my husband and I both having worked full time since coming out of education (him at 16) and never having claimed a single benefit of any kind, when we desperately need some help, we are not entitled to anything at all. Our grand total of working tax credits would come to 20 something pence a week. What in the name of hell are we supposed to do??????????:mad:

MrsKelly_2

To be honest if your husband earns 17000 a year why should you be entitled to housing benefit? My Husband only got £170 a week 2 years ago when we moved into our flat and we didnt get a penny even though we had a child and had to pay £76 a week rent and council tax, we weren't entitled to a penny of help, we tried they said no, and my OH earned less than 11k a year.

fawd1

I would assume for the same reason that you thought you would be entitled to it, being that our rent is double what you have said yours was, but my husband doesn't earn double what yours did?

SomeBozo

MrsKelly wrote: »

To be honest if your husband earns 17000 a year why should you be entitled to housing benefit? My Husband only got £170 a week 2 years ago when we moved into our flat and we didnt get a penny even though we had a child and had to pay £76 a week rent and council tax, we weren't entitled to a penny of help, we tried they said no, and my OH earned less than 11k a year.

£17000 equates to approx £1120 take a home a month.

Why are you paying so much in rent? Is it a private rent? Also are you not getting any maternity pay?

Benefits are not a saving scheme you pay into and then take it back, its a safety net for those who are in dire straights.

Can you post a SOA?

Bozo

DreamerV

I understand you are frustrated, but getting angry won't really help. There are a few separate issues. First of all, part of their refusal seems to be based on earnings that you don't understand how they got such high figures for...so I think first, it would be best to contact them to see how they came up with such figures. Another thing is, this rent money you pay....is this the cheapest you can get, e.g. a couple could live in a 1 bedroom flat if without kids...perhaps 2 bedroom flat if 1st kid. A council would not usually pay for you to live in a bigger place than you need. If your joint income isn't sufficient to cover it, perhaps you need to find somewhere smaller if possible. With the tax credits, it works out around £90 a month, which is helpful....and after baby, there will be child tax credit with an extra baby element, which should help. Then there's child benefit too. Do you get SSP, SMP, or otherwise maternity allowance? Have you thought of maybe asking the CAB if there's anything else that you might be able to apply for?

MrsKelly_2

I'm not saying your situation isn't hard but your Husband isn't exactly on a very low wage, and yes your rent is a lot but not all rents cost that much so surely if you aren't entitled to anything the logical thing is to move? You may not want to but you may have little choice. Although i agree £160 after you have paid rent and council tax is not enough to live on or pay other bills, your local council much tell you how much you need a week to live on before they will pay benefit?

mrcow

So if you have worked full time since leaving full time education, are you currently employed now? Or have you quit, or are you planning to be on maternity leave/maternity allowance?

fawd1

SomeBozo wrote: »

£17000 equates to approx £1120 take a home a month.

Why are you paying so much in rent? Is it a private rent? Also are you not getting any maternity pay?

Benefits are not a saving scheme you pay into and then take it back, its a safety net for those who are in dire straights.

Can you post a SOA?

Bozo

it is a private rent in London, and I am not entitled to maternity pay as I was working for an agency, even with maternity allowance which will help loads, I can't get it yet, have to wait another 8 weeks, by which time I'm pretty sure my landlord will have thrown us out unless we have proof that we will be able to cover the rent and at this point, arrears from this month. I'm aware that benefits aren't a savings scheme, but we are in dire straits, that's why we've asked for them. It's not as though I've ever thought we could just use it to buy a plasma tv, we need it to live. Our current SOA is:

Income 1200 pm approx

rent 850
council tax 110
petrol 100
electricity approx 35
gas approx 35
insurance, road tax, television license etc appro 45 total.

So, as you can see,this leaves us with nothing before we've even bought ourselves a can of beans for food. We are currently living off our parents goodwill and the 600 pounds inheritance that my husband was left by his grandmother.

fawd1

DreamerV wrote: »

I understand you are frustrated, but getting angry won't really help. There are a few separate issues. First of all, part of their refusal seems to be based on earnings that you don't understand how they got such high figures for...so I think first, it would be best to contact them to see how they came up with such figures. Another thing is, this rent money you pay....is this the cheapest you can get, e.g. a couple could live in a 1 bedroom flat if without kids...perhaps 2 bedroom flat if 1st kid. A council would not usually pay for you to live in a bigger place than you need. If your joint income isn't sufficient to cover it, perhaps you need to find somewhere smaller if possible. With the tax credits, it works out around £90 a month, which is helpful....and after baby, there will be child tax credit with an extra baby element, which should help. Then there's child benefit too. Do you get SSP, SMP, or otherwise maternity allowance? Have you thought of maybe asking the CAB if there's anything else that you might be able to apply for?

Thanks for your help, bu unfortunately where we live, it is the best rent we can find. Most rents round here are over 1000 a month.We live in a flat above shops so it's not exactly a luxurious place. The problem with tax credits is that we've been told that because he earnt just over the cut off point (by about 30 pounds) we are not entitled to anything except the aforementioned 20p a week.

MrsKelly_2

fawd1 wrote: »

it is a private rent in London, and I am not entitled to maternity pay as I was working for an agency, even with maternity allowance which will help loads, I can't get it yet, have to wait another 8 weeks, by which time I'm pretty sure my landlord will have thrown us out unless we have proof that we will be able to cover the rent and at this point, arrears from this month. I'm aware that benefits aren't a savings scheme, but we are in dire straits, that's why we've asked for them. It's not as though I've ever thought we could just use it to buy a plasma tv, we need it to live. Our current SOA is:

Income 1200 pm approx

rent 850
council tax 110
petrol 100
electricity approx 35
gas approx 35
insurance, road tax, television license etc appro 45 total.

So, as you can see,this leaves us with nothing before we've even bought ourselves a can of beans for food. We are currently living off our parents goodwill and the 600 pounds inheritance that my husband was left by his grandmother.

The best thing to do is go to citizens advice, and try entitledto.com that will give you an idea of what you should be getting. It is awful being in this situation as i said i have been through it myself i was just pointing out to you that just because its so bad doesn't mean the government will help, because they didn't help us one bit. Also are you both over the age of 25? For some reason the amount you are allowed to have when calculating benefit is higher than if you were under 25, thats how our council works it out anyway!

fawd1 wrote: »

I would assume for the same reason that you thought you would be entitled to it, being that our rent is double what you have said yours was, but my husband doesn't earn double what yours did?

No not quite earning double but not so far off my oh earned £680 a month, yours gets £1200!!

SomeBozo

My only suggestion is get yourself on the list for council housing, your situation is unsustainable.

I would also query how they got the £600 a week figure as thats wrong.

Bozo