Maintenence Bonus???

Tabbykatt

Hi

I am in need of advice from anyone who has either been in my position or knows anything about Maintenence Bonuses.

I have been on Income Support since Feb 2002, when my ex husband decided that having a wife and two very young children was not that much fun.
On the 17th Dec I am finally coming off benefits (WAHAY!!) as I am getting married and moving in with my new partner.

I have just been on the phone to confirm that my benefits will be stopping as from 16th Dec and have just found out that because I am not returning to work I will not be intitled to the Maintenence Bonus.

For anyone who does not know what this bonus is... anyone claiming Income Support after April 2003, who's ex is paying maintenence for the children, were able to 'keep' £10 of that money on top of benefits recieved, making them £520 per year better off than anyone on the old system... like me!

People like myself were compensated for this unfairness by having a Maintenence bonus in place, meaning that if I were to come off benefits I would get the money that others had been getting all along. Sounds simple, or so I thought!!

I have just spent the last hour being passed from one dept to another and they all say the same, if I am not returning to work I dont get my money. Is this fair??

I really feel like I am being victimised because I want to stay at home and look after my own children. I was told 'off the record' to send a letter of complaint to the CSA deaming that I have been treated unfairly as others in my position have been getting more money than me and demanding that I be paid compensation for the £1300 that I have missed out on because 'the system let me down' (her words not mine!).

Does anyone on this board know of any alternatives to throwing a paddy?

And before the oh so self-righteous amoung you start slamming me for being a lone parent on benefits for the last 3.5yrs, believe me it was out of necessity NOT CHOICE.

Please help....

CIS

The maintainence is a run on to give you some extra money if you come off benefits and go in to work and is worth up to £5 per week as a one off payment.
http://www.directgov.gov.uk/Bfsl1/BenefitsAndFinancialSupport/BenefitsAndFinancialSupportArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=10018787&chk=5umibn

Just from reading it, it seems that maintainence bonus isn't just there to compensate for the £10 as even people who where getting the extra £10 with IS are eligible to claim it if they start work over 16hrs. Its there to provide an income bonus for returning to work.

Tabbykatt

I have been told and have read that the maintenence bonus is not available under the new system.

So from what you say because the CSA has been so slow in ungrading the old accounts to the new system I just lose out on £1300.. simple as that? Somehow I think I have a big L printed on my forehead as far as the Government is concerned.

Also just found out that the Housing Benefit/Council Tax benefit is the same.. if I were returning to work I would get an extra month's housing/council tax benefit. Again because I choose to not return to work, but stay at home and do the most important job a parent can do, I lose out again.

Can anyone else see something wrong with this picture? We seem to live in an age when the Government only seems to back parents who wish to leave their children with a child minder for 8 hrs/5 days a week. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with this, just that as a parent I choose to not do this. It seems that the decision of parenting is being taken away from me.

Spendless

How old are the children? If they're school age would it be worth considering taking a part time (16+hours) job in school hours, even as a temporary measure. Do you have to stop in the job for x amount of time also to qualify.

I'm afraid there's many incentives to get us to work, and few if any for us to stop at home these days.

Tabbykatt

I have a daughter who is 5 and a son who is only just 4. I am also 30 weeks pregnant, (and before someone bites my head off, the reason why I am coming off benefits so late into my pregnancy is that my future husband and I both had housing commitments which could not be altered until this time due to contracts etc. and there was no way that he could support two homes with his income.), so there is no way, even if I felt the inclination to put my son into childcare while I worked 16 hrs a week, that anyone would employ me in my current condition.

Spendless

Well that options out then. Sorry don't know what else to say, other than are you aware of what you do qualify for when new baby arrives. Inform tax credits of your new addition cos there's a baby element of tax credits (an additional £545p.a) payable till baby is 1. You might qualify for surestart grant, have a look into that.Is your 4 year old at nursery, pre-school, if not you are eligible for him to go upto 12.5 hours in term term which is funded for you.


Congratulations on your forthcoming marriage and new baby:)

Tabbykatt

Thank you Spendless for your kind comments, I am starting to see why there are so many people out there who try and defraud the system. Serves ,e right for being up-front and honest and trying to live life the old-fashioned way! :wall:

camper

up front and honest?!!!
when you are pregnant with your partners child but 'couldn't afford to come off benefit' ? This is fraud.

Child Maintainance Bonus has been abolished. Its nothing to do with Csa or Income Support Benefits, solely the decision of the government.

Perhaps you should think about the help you've received over the past from this government, instead of complaining that you aren't being subsidized more.

donnalove

hi tabbykatt
hopefully you will get your maintenance payments in full now if he was paying that is

gl for the future

also camper why is it fraud if she wasn't living with him, from what she say's she was still living on her own just cos she got pregnant thats not fraud

VenuS

camper wrote:

up front and honest?!!!
when you are pregnant with your partners child but 'couldn't afford to come off benefit' ? This is fraud.

.

I think you will find this is not fraud, as she clearly stated they are not living together, as yet. Pregnant or not, she hasn't commited an offense.
If I read it correctly, she and her ex-husband were living apart also.

I think you owe tabbykatt an apology.

Tabbykatt

Have to say that I am not surprised by Campers response, to be honest after reading this board for the last year I'm just surprised I have not had more biased, self-rightious comments!
Just to clarify Camper- I have commited no fraud. Oh it would have been very easy to have done, and I could have gone on for years and years doing the same AND been claiming more of your 'hard earned cash' for baby #3. But no I am being honest and marrying the father of my un-born child BEFORE it is born and coming off benefits, as soon as we were able to afford to live together.
Yes I have had a relationship while being on benefits, but is that banned? Do all my personal rights as well as my dignity go out the window just because my ex-husband left me with two children (one who was only 6 months at the time??) to bring up alone?
Yes I have spent the last 3 years on benefits because there was no way that I could have found a job that paid high enough to support my children as well as paying the child care while I worked, but to be honest I paid my taxes for 13yrs BEFORE having children so I have just taken a little back of what I have put in.
Many thanks to you all for backing me up, I have discovered over the last three years how beligerant Government departments can be, and I have been stupid in thinking that coming off would have been easy. I am lucky enough to have an MP who is supporting me in this fight with the CSA - Oh Camper, sorry to burst your bubble but the Maintenence Bonus DOES still exist for mugs such as myself who have waited 2.5yrs to be treated on the same system as anyone claiming since. It does seem to be two seperate issues, 1- that I am not elegible for Maintenence Bonus and 2- that I have been underpaid by £1300.