Advice needed re Income support please

pinkpauline34

Hi everyone

I am looking for some advice about my chances of being awarded IS. My story is that I have been a single parent since 2000. I have two children, one is 9 and has autism and the other is 6. I currently claim DLA for my oldest daughter and Carers Allowance as well as CTC and Child Benefit. My ex is supposed to pay me £43 per week in child maintenance (for two children and he's on a salary of £25k!). I am a full-time carer for my Mum (who lives with me) as she has emphysema and inoperable breast cancer. Mum is over 65 and she only has her pension and her DLA.

A couple of weeks ago, my child maintenance payment "failed" - my ex is notoriously bad with money and the first thing that suffers when he gets into debt is my kids maintenance via the CSA. The CSA are setting up a DoE order but I know from experience that this takes a couple of months to implement. I haven't had any maintenance since 10 December and I'm not expecting to get anything until probably March. In the meantime, I'm struggling financially.

I am very lucky as I own my house outright (sold the house I owned jointly with the ex in London and I got 60% of the sale proceeds (as I'd paid the mortgage on my own for 3 years) and he got 40%.

I applied for IS on 16 January, went through the application by telephone and signed and returned the application as soon as I got it. I haven't heard anything from them since and wondered how long an application like this will take to process? I am fortunate that I don't have a mortgage but I have gas, electric, phone bill, contents, buildings, car insurance and food shopping to pay for.

I also don't have any idea how much IS I'm likely to get (if any). My savings are just under the £3k mark (but depleting rapidly at the moment) - I have been totally honest with them about my Mum living with me.

Could anyone please give me an idea of how much I would be likely to get if I'm successful and how long (roughly) I'll have to wait?

Thanks in advance.

Pauline

krisskross

i do hope you get it sorted soon. You have enough on your plate without money worries as well.

$17mma

This site is helpful

www.welfarerights.co.uk

and this one lets you calculate what you could be entitled to...

www.entitledto.co.uk

krisskross

Hi Pauline everyone gets an applicable amount to live on based on personal allowences and premiums in your case £56.20 for a single person plus a carers premium,the bad news is they take into account most monies coming in,including maintainance less the first £10, so you could have a problem.As to how long it will take,how long is a piece of string? keep phoning the DWP btw have you claimed council tax benefit?you do this through your council. good luck

pinkpauline34

Thank you for your advice - Last year I applied for Council Tax Benefit and was awarded this. I will chase up the DWP about my application as I can't keep dipping into my savings (I was saving up to have my boiler replaced). As for the maintenance, it seems to me that I would be better off financially on IS as £56.20 pw is certainly more than £43 per week which is what I'm "supposed" to get from the ex but probably won't get anything for a couple of months while his employer sets up the DoE Order. I'm sure I will be back again soon looking for more advice but in the meantime, thank you so very much for your advice.

CIS

If I calculate correctly;

Your IS applicable amount would be £56.20 + 25.80 carers premium = £82.00

However, Your carers allowance is taken in to account when your IS is calculated, this will reduce the the IS level of £82.00 per week down to around £36.00, without any other income being taken in to account.

So it looks like you should get the Carers Allowance of £82 + IS of £36 + CTC of £120 = £238 per week + child benefit

You would also be eligible for full Council Tax Benefit

TAZ

CIS wrote:

If I calculate correctly;

Your IS applicable amount would be £56.20 + 25.80 carers premium = £82.00

However, Your carers allowance is taken in to account when your IS is calculated, this will reduce the the IS level of £82.00 per week down to around £36.00, without any other income being taken in to account.

So it looks like you should get the Carers Allowance of £82 + IS of £36 + CTC of £120 = £238 per week + child benefit

You would also be eligible for full Council Tax Benefit

when you are on IS and claiming carers allowance you get the amount of carers taken off your IS but you do get a premium for be entitled for carers so altho it looks like you don't gain anything by getting IS and carers you are actually slighly better off