help please

Craig_Donny

My mum works part time, my dad doesent work as he cant with a bad back, and i work part time and at college full time

I get EMA and think we get child support, also when i leave college is there something else we could claim? as we will loose child support which is alot.

What can we claim?

Could my dad get something if he got classed as disabled? or for not working?

Thanks

mouseymousey99

Your Dad may be entitled to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) depending on his level of mobility or care needs.

When you leave college won't you be looking for work??

cw18

Your parents should be getting Child Tax Credit -- is this what you mean by Child Support (which would be paid by an absent parent)?

mouseymouse99 wrote:

When you leave college won't you be looking for work??

Craig_Donny could be planning on going to University.

I'm in much the same situation (though I'm a widow, and was made redundant last month), in that when my youngest finishes his college course in June 2010 I will lose Widowed Parents Allowance, Child Benefit, Tax Credits and the dependant child element of an Occupational Pension -- which loses me about £8k a year :eek:

Conor_3

Craig_Donny wrote: »

my dad doesent work as he cant with a bad back,

Utter rubbish.

Signed Conor
- who has worked for 15 years doing up to 60-70hrs a week with a completely knackered back - 2 discs compressed and operated on to stop me ending up paralysed, the third which went 6 years ago being inoperable....

Craig_Donny

Conor my dad can run over when he was about 30 and it shattered all the discs in his back

he then was a truck driver for about 10 years but pain got too bad

he also has alot more injuries from various accident, one where he nearly lost his arm from a chain saw, and he did something to his knee, cant remember what. and s a truck driver my dad worked about 80 hours a week, sometimes more. before you say he cant of that agasint law, it was at the pits, so he could get away with it

also i am full time college, and part time work, but when i add overtime i am doing around 65 hours a week, let alone adding hours from college, 14 hour days for a 17 year old. Please dont make out i am trying to spounge

how could i find out if he would be classed as disabled?

yes i am planning on getting work, but within public services which is hard to get in, i want to be in police force, but may be going in army

this is not me wanting money, this is me wanting my mum to have more money

and cw18 sorry to hear you are also having money troubles and yes the child tax credit is it i think

cw18

Craig_Donny wrote: »

how could i find out if he would be classed as disabled?

He needs to complete an application form for Disability Living Allowance (commonly known as DLA). The form is tricky to fill in, so the best advice I see regularly is to get help from CAB (Citizens' Advice Bureauz).

If he qualifies for certain elements/levels of this, then if your parents qualify for Working Tax Credits (WTC) they would also qualify for an extra premium on this (could be enough to kick in a small amount of WTC for them even if they don't get it now) -- and they might then also continue getting WTC even after their entitlement to Child Tax Credits (CTC) stops when you leave college if your Mum can increase her weekly hours to 30.

Oldernotwiser

Craig_Donny wrote: »

also i am full time college, and part time work, but when i add overtime i am doing around 65 hours a week, let alone adding hours from college, 14 hour days for a 17 year old. Please dont make out i am trying to spounge

how could i find out if he would be classed as disabled?

yes i am planning on getting work, but within public services which is hard to get in, i want to be in police force, but may be going in army

this is not me wanting money, this is me wanting my mum to have more money

and cw18 sorry to hear you are also having money troubles and yes the child tax credit is it i think

Your best way of helping them financially is to stay in education as they'll carry on getting CTC etc and also the money you're paying for your keep. Why leave when you'll find it difficult to get work?

mouseymousey99

Heard many people are joining the forces of late. You are guaranteed employment for at least 6 years with the services (correct me here if I'm wrong) and a decent salary. If we could just get a government that didn't shove the forces somewhere they really shouldn't be......sorry not scoring political points but if you do join up good for you...

cw18

mouseymousey99 wrote: »

Heard many people are joining the forces of late. You are guaranteed employment for at least 6 years with the services (correct me here if I'm wrong) and a decent salary.

4 years -- or 4 years from 18th birthday if you're under 18 when you enlist

(My elder DS was a couple of weeks shy of his 18th when he joined last year, so doesn't come out until his 22nd birthday)

ETA: It's not a brilliant salary (think DS's works out at the highest level of minimum wage), but what he pays for accomodation is a pittance -- and includes food, heating, lighting, power for all his appliances, council tax, water and TV Licence. This is what gives him a lot of disposable income.

Bernie_Flint

Depends what service you are in cw - and "mans" time is calculated from 17.5 years now (not 18).

I did 24 years RN (56K lump sum when I left, and a pension paying £500 a month for life).

So Craig_Donny get down the nearest AFO (Armed Forces Careers Office) and see what's on offer if you are interested?

Conor_3

Craig_Donny wrote: »

how could i find out if he would be classed as disabled?

Whether he qualifies for DLA or not depends on how his mobility is affected and what care he needs, how many times he needs help and for what amount of time per event. In addition to that, it's how it prevents him from being able to do normal daily things or what he needs to do to be able to help achieve doing these. This is all in relation to how it would be for a normal person.

For example, I still can't wash up pots without a bucket load of pain from having to be bent over slightly for a period of time or hoover the house without getting pain from the pushing and pulling of the vacuum cleaner. At my worst point, I couldn't walk 30 yards without having to stop and crouch down for a few minutes and carrying shopping was completely out of the question. I couldn't make my own meals because I couldn't stand long enough. When I was eventually forced to take 10 months off, I basically got to the point where I didn't give a toss about my appearance either. It's things like that they want to hear about.

Basically, apply for DLA regardless. Your father needs to complete the forms honestly, not as many people do saying they can manage to do something when the reality is they maybe can eventually with a bucketload of grief and suffering. There's not a lot of room in most of the answer boxes so it's worth writing an accompanying letter stating how it affects his life on a daily basis - that'll probably give them a far better idea.