Entitledto.co.uk or Tax Credits calculator, which is right??

KirbyDubs

I've done calculations to see what my benefits would change to when and if my boyfriend moves in with me and my children. We're still talking about it as financially I don't know how different it would be and it may be better for him not to live with me still. I rent from the council, have 3 children under the age of 4, one of which is under one. all three receive dla, 1 mid rate 2 high rate, i get carer's and income support.
Entitledto says I'll still get £250 ish a week CTC as apposed to the £330 odd I get now, plus I'd still get £100 a week towards my housing benefit. Rent is £750pcm, all of which is paid for at present.

BUT local housing benefit calculator says I'd only get about £7 a week rent benefit and Tax credits website says I'd get £70 a week from them.

Which should I go by? I really don't want to screw the system as I don't have the nerve to try and do that, I'd rather be honest than get caught and get proscecuted, but I don't know how I can find out truely what I'd get if he stayed with us. He gets about £18K PA basic, but earnt 25K last year with his overtime, which I'm guessing is the figure they will want and that is what I used to calculate the above.

If anyone can help me i would be really greatful. The figures are so different it's hard to know which would be most accurate.

Thanks in advance.... KD

[Deleted User]

KirbyDubs wrote: »

I've done calculations to see what my benefits would change to when and if my boyfriend moves in with me and my children. We're still talking about it as financially I don't know how different it would be and it may be better for him not to live with me still. I rent from the council, have 3 children under the age of 4, one of which is under one. all three receive dla, 1 mid rate 2 high rate, i get carer's and income support.
Entitledto says I'll still get £250 ish a week CTC as apposed to the £330 odd I get now, plus I'd still get £100 a week towards my housing benefit. Rent is £750pcm, all of which is paid for at present.

BUT local housing benefit calculator says I'd only get about £7 a week rent benefit and Tax credits website says I'd get £70 a week from them.

Which should I go by? I really don't want to screw the system as I don't have the nerve to try and do that, I'd rather be honest than get caught and get proscecuted, but I don't know how I can find out truely what I'd get if he stayed with us. He gets about £18K PA basic, but earnt 25K last year with his overtime, which I'm guessing is the figure they will want and that is what I used to calculate the above.

If anyone can help me i would be really greatful. The figures are so different it's hard to know which would be most accurate.

Thanks in advance.... KD

There are 2 points to bear in mind here,one being that thankfully you dont want to "screw"the system,good idea as you would no doubt be found out eventually and risk a criminal record,the second being that your partner has a reasonable income and of course living together would be cheaper in sofar as only one set of bills to pay.The dla that all three of your children receive wouldnt be at risk and you would get the full amount of carers allowance as opposed to the I/S carers premium.
As to which set of calculations are correct I wouldnt like to say,but would suggest that you speak to the different agencies i.e. tax credits,housing benefits etc after the holidays and ask them.

cw18

When you used the Tax Credits calculator, did you give it figures for IS as income for you?

They would close your single claim, and open a new joint one. They might initially want the income you each had last year (your IS and his salary), but as soon as the claim is set up and approved you can ask them to recalculate on this years. So if the combined income for 2008-09 is less then the figures for 2007-08 (which I assume they will be, as you'll lose IS with his salary and it sounds like his salary will be less this year), they will redo the sums and pay you based on this years income.

(They use the lower of last tax year and this tax year).

KirbyDubs

cw18, no I didn't put IS down for me on the joint claim calculation as I wouldn't be entitled. The IS isn't used as income, but the Carer's Allowance is, that's about 2600 a year. I don't think it is anyway, they've never use it for my claim as a single mum.
I did the entitledto.co.uk calculations based on what my situation is now and it was spot on bar about a tenner on tax credits, so I guess I'm more inclined to beleive that now, as TC website said I'd still only get about £60 a week with my current situation, which must be wrong because I get more than that.

They can't give you an idea of what it will be can they? I worry that he'd move in and then I'd lose so much money that it wouldn't make up for what his overtime covers. It's so confusing.