wanting to be a couple

sibcy

can someone please help me, I am divorced with 2 children aged 4 and 6 and I am living in a rented house and the council pay most of the rent and all council tax.
I get income support plus £10 csa a week, Full child tax credit because i don't work.
My boyfriend gets about £360-£400 a week, so we sat down assuming that I would lose all benefits and there is no way that he could move in.
My rent is £ 575 a month plus £ 100 council tax thats without everything else.
Would we get any help at all or is it all doom and gloom

Regards
J Sibcy

[Deleted User]

sibcy wrote: »

can someone please help me, I am divorced with 2 children aged 4 and 6 and I am living in a rented house and the council pay most of the rent and all council tax.
I get income support plus £10 csa a week, Full child tax credit because i don't work.
My boyfriend gets about £360-£400 a week, so we sat down assuming that I would lose all benefits and there is no way that he could move in.
My rent is £ 575 a month plus £ 100 council tax thats without everything else.
Would we get any help at all or is it all doom and gloom

Regards
J Sibcy

well you`d still get child benefit(£33 a week from january)and child tax credits,but if thats his net pay and not gross then i doubt you`d get much h/b or c/tax,but remember your boyfriend wont have to pay rent on wherever he`s living atm and there would only be one set of bills(gas/electric etc),and maybe if you had a partner living with you then some part time work for yourself might be easier to arrange?

LizzieS_2

Assuming the figures are net and using the lowest (£360), after rent and council tax, he is left with £204pw. You will also get £33 child benefit as already stated, tax credits of at least £10pw, full amount the csa actually collects. Even taking all the very basic figures your income after housing costs is at least £257pw, ie far more than you would get on benefits.

seven-day-weekend

But won't there be at least £800 a month left after housing costs? Surely that is enough to live on?

Conor_3

And the OP is completely ignoring the fact it's far cheaper to run one household than two.

Anyone else getting tired of the "can't have X move in because then I'd lose my benefits" posts? Heaven forbid that two people together should actually function as a proper couple.

If it were me and the girlfriend was saying that she didn't want me to move in because she'd lose her dole money or if I were the one in her situation and my o/h said they didn't want to move in because they'd have to help support me, I think I'd be walking away from the relationship because it smacks of putting money grubbing over what you feel for the person. .

jacklink

we live on £336 a month after rent and moneys taken of for social loan at £10 a week. if you say you are going to be on £800 a month i think you are very lucky indeed.

Atomised

You can't put a price on companionship or love , take a chance
and move in together.

bestpud

How much does your ex pay in child maintenance? Because, as Lizzie said, you would get that in full, rather than the £10 of it you get to keep now.

Child tax credits would likely be just the £10 a week but child benefit would be the same, as already said.

I agree you'd be extremely unlikely to get any ctb or hb.

For me at least, the first priority would be my children, so if I trusted, and cared for, the guy enough to let him live under the same roof as them, I can say for sure, money would not bother me...

rchddap1

If you're not on IS then you get the full amount of maintenance. Its only when you're on IS that the state only lets you have a tenner. The idea is why should the state care for a child on benefits when there's a father out there that should be contributing. So if you're not on benefits you get the lot.

Looking at the figures though I'm another thinking that you should be fine. That is a healthy amount of excess. Unless of course there are debts not listed here.

If this is the guy you want then forget about the lost income from benefits. As long as you can get by and everyone is happy then that is all that matters. There are a lot of people that get by on less after essential bills. Myself included.

DaisyFlower

Conor wrote: »

And the OP is completely ignoring the fact it's far cheaper to run one household than two.

Anyone else getting tired of the "can't have X move in because then I'd lose my benefits" posts? Heaven forbid that two people together should actually function as a proper couple.

If it were me and the girlfriend was saying that she didn't want me to move in because she'd lose her dole money or if I were the one in her situation and my o/h said they didn't want to move in because they'd have to help support me, I think I'd be walking away from the relationship because it smacks of putting money grubbing over what you feel for the person. .

Well said.

Added to the fact that the children are not babies so working is not out of the question.

sibcy

Thank you for everyone's advice.
Message for Conor, don't Judge me, The reason I asked the question was because my children come first, I didn't want my boyfriend to move in , and then find out that we couldn't afford to buy them clothes etc
My boyfriend lives with his boss at the moment so only has to pay to run his car