Help / advice needed Please !

horizon

Hi

I'll try top keep it short.

What benefits is a jobless, pregnant seventeen year old girl entitled to ?

Her parents are both dead, and at the moment she lives with my wife and I.

My son has done the deed, and we now feel a bit beholding to her, if you see what I mean !

I've lost count of the times I told her to get a job during the last couple of months, and now she has told us she is pregnant no one will employ her.

My son is earning about £250 a week gross, but has big debts. (nearly five figures)

At the moment we are recieving no money from her, and it's costing us a fortune.
She stays in all day with the heating, lighting and tv on, and eats all our food !!

Can someone tell me what benefits she can claim.
Can we charge her rent, which she could claim housing benefit for ?

Or should we just chuck her out, and let someone else sort it out ?

I tried Martins lnk to the entitledto website, but as soon as I put in the age of 17 it wouldn't work !!:rolleyes:

TIA
Horizon

Zara33

horizon wrote: »

Hi
My son has done the deed, and we now feel a bit beholding to her, if you see what I mean !

Or should we just chuck her out, and let someone else sort it out ?Horizon

:rolleyes: Oh how nice of you that i assume is your grandchild that this girl is carrying...son done the deed now you can't wait to get rid lovely!

mrsspendalot

Hi

My ex husband's sister got pregnant at 16, turning 17 a month or two into the pregnancy and is now overdue her baby by about a week. Her parents kicked her out initially because they were so cross with her about getting pregnant so young - so she came to me to help.

I took her to the job centre and was basically told that at the age of 16/17 someone else is legally responsible for you and therefore is financially responsible for you, therefore claiming benefits is not so straight forward. She was told she could claim JSA but she would have to be available for work or training until the baby was born, but that to do this she would have to sign up with the Connexions service. Her attitude was that she didn't want to work and she didn't really want to do a training course either. Still, we went round to Connexions and she made an appointment with them. They gave her advice on housing when you've been chucked out of home so we went to the homeless housing support place. They said all she qualified for at that point was a one bed place, and all they had as temporary accommodation was in some shared thing which they couldn't put her in because of her age, and she couldn't get a flat or house until the baby was born. She went to the housing association who said they needed proof she'd been kicked out of home before they could consider a housing request. She wasn't very happy by the end of the day that it wasn't as easy as she imagined it would be to be able to just claim benefits and get somewhere to live because she was pregnant, purely because of her young age.

My suggestion would be to take her down to the job centre, or straight to Connexions and get some advice. If she is signed up to a training course or is applying for some work, then she may be able to get some JSA which would help you out financially if she is staying with you. Hope that helps a bit.

[Deleted User]

horizon wrote: »

Hi

I'll try top keep it short.

What benefits is a jobless, pregnant seventeen year old girl entitled to ?

Her parents are both dead, and at the moment she lives with my wife and I.

My son has done the deed, and we now feel a bit beholding to her, if you see what I mean !

I've lost count of the times I told her to get a job during the last couple of months, and now she has told us she is pregnant no one will employ her.

My son is earning about £250 a week gross, but has big debts. (nearly five figures)

At the moment we are recieving no money from her, and it's costing us a fortune.
She stays in all day with the heating, lighting and tv on, and eats all our food !!

Can someone tell me what benefits she can claim.
Can we charge her rent, which she could claim housing benefit for ?

Or should we just chuck her out, and let someone else sort it out ?

I tried Martins lnk to the entitledto website, but as soon as I put in the age of 17 it wouldn't work !!:rolleyes:

TIA
Horizon

"just chuck her out and let someone else sort it out?" wow what wonderful caring people you must be I bet your new grandchild cant wait to meet you:mad:

I think maybe we should let you find out the answers for yourself,after all for someone so compassionate that would surely be a doddle?


some people :mad:

cw18

I doubt she'd be able to claim rent to pay to you, as the fact she's been previously living with you (and that the baby will be related to you) means they'll probably count her as family.

Once she has had the baby (sounds like that's a way off though) she can get Child Benefit, and I believe should also be entitled to Child Tax Credit.

She could be entitled to Income Support now (this page quotes figures from age 16), but they may still class her as family and take your income into consideration

If you're on low income, then she should/could be added to your claim as a dependant if she hasn't already been.

hanny83_2

Here's a suggestion (brace yourselves), how about you teach your son some responsibility and chuck him out too, tell him to provide for his own child and then he will have no other option to sort his debts/life out instead of expecting the state to provide for another unexpected child. Perhaps working overtime or a second job to provide.

No child deserves to be born into a world of poverty and no human being deserves to be cast aside just because you can't be dealing with them. Life is a b**** sometimes but he needs to learn the hard way.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not squeaky clean, I grew up with nothing but have worked my butt off to get where I am. Yes, I have debts but they are being paid off regularly. I just think that sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind instead of just palming her off to someone else, she is your son's responsibility. I'm sorry if this sounds like a personal attack, of course I don't know you or the total ins and outs but just ending up on benefits in some dodgy bedsit paid for by the LA is not the solution.

scooby1001

I am not sure why some people are being nasty to the op about mentioning throwing her out. It is not the parents responsibility to keep this girl even IF their son is the father. For all they know she might have slept with someone else and it is not even their sons child(watch alot of daytime tv. lol) Sorry i would chuck her out. Well rather take her to the council offices and leave her at the homeless desk. At 16/17 they have a duty to find her somewhere to live. She will then be able to claim benefits in her own name. That way they are doing her and themselves a favour. She has to be responsible for her own actions not them. They did not make their son sleep with her. The son will be paying for the next 20 years if he is the father so he is going to learn his lesson.

Oldernotwiser

I think the OP's comment about chucking her out was meant lightheartedly, but I don't see that s/he has any responsibility (other than as a human being) towards this girl. The fact that they've been keeping her for some time, even before she became pregnant, and the fact that she showed no interest in being responsible for herself before this happened put all my sympathies on the OP's side.

I agree that Connexions has to be the starting point but also that the son is the one who needs to be responsible for this girl and their child, not his parents! His debts shouldn't come into the equation, paying his way and taking responsibility comes first.

Personally, I think that they should solve this situation as a couple and not rely on the parents.

hanny83_2

scooby1001 wrote: »

They did not make their son sleep with her. The son will be paying for the next 20 years if he is the father so he is going to learn his lesson.

Right, so as he will pay for the baby for the next 20 (19) years that's it, done and dusted is it? What about this baby growing up with a loving father and being nurtured and looked after? It's okay just to palm it off with money is it? This girl is 17 and is still classed as a child in the eyes of the law, her own parents are dead. I think she deserves a bit of compassion as we all make mistakes at that age. She needs support not being plonked down at the council offices.

hanny83_2

Totally agree, Oldernotwiser.

bunny999

While the girl is living with your she will be entitled to child benefit. She will not be entitled to any means tested benefits or one parent benefit while she is living with your son. If you throw her out the council will house her - propably in a grotty b & b and she will get income support. Your son will be liable to pay child support. How old is your son ? You write as if he isn't invovled in this situation.