Young single parent benefits

Mikey177

Hi everyone,

I'm a regular poster (fantastically fervent something or other!) of 4 years standing but normally only post on the pure money boards. Due to the delicate nature of my query I've decided to register a new username.

My 'problem'...

Around 2 years ago, and after 25 years of marriage, my then 19 year old daughter started to go off the rails. Matters were complicated by my then 15 year old youngest son following in her footsteps. All this caused my marriage to break down, so much so that 18 months ago my wife, daughter, and son moved out (leaving myself and our eldest son in the family home). Relations between myself and my children weren't good at all, and I didn't speak with my wife much as we both needed some time apart.

Around 4 months after moving out my daughter, who is now 21, became pregnant and the baby is now 8 months old. I haven't seen much of the children over the last year or so because things were still strained.

My daughter and son have now mended their ways, and seem to have matured and seen sense. I now want to try and undo everything that's gone wrong over the last few years and try and get the family back together again, although my wife has said (whilst crying profusely) this week that she thinks it's 'time to move on' and settle up. I do not want to do this.

The reason for my post...

I now want my wife (and youngest son) back in the family home, but believe my daughter, her fiance, and my grandchild (who all currently live with my wife in rented accommodation) should have their own place. They have no money and, because my wife has been looking after them, claim very few benefits. The fiance seems to drift from job to job and is often unemployed and claiming whatever benefits he can (presumably JSA only?).

My question(s)...

I'd like to know what housing (and other) benefits my daughter/granddaughter (and her fiance if he moves in) are entitled to?

I don't want her to move into council accommodation (primarily because there's none suitable nearby...the only one's being in very very rough areas) and so I'm hoping to find her private rented accommodation in our area.

I spoke with the council last year who, from memory, intimated that it was possible (once the baby was born) to get a 'contribution' from them towards private rented accommodation in lieu of an actual council house. Of course I'll ring them for further details now that I'm absolutely sure I want to give my marriage another try, but wondered if anyone had any practical experience of such a situation? I understand the council may not meet the full cost and I'm prepared to make up any shortfall by 'gifting' my daughter some money each month.

We could afford (at a push and because prices are falling dramatically) to buy a small 2-bed terrace (on a mortgage...again) and let my daughter rent it from us. However, I'm reluctant to go down such a route at the moment until we can be sure any reconciliation is permanent (we have enough complications as it is!). Plus we're both approaching 50 and so wage earning years are against us!

I'm very sorry for the length of this post, and hope it didn't put you off reading it.

Please help! I've never had a day off work in my life, bought my own house, and so don't know the first thing about the housing benefits system...or any other benefits system for that matter.

Thanks to all who can help.

stompin-sarah

im not entirely sure but i do know that if you get a council house the benefits will pay all the rent and council tax for your daughter.... however if she decides to go private renting.... in my area(preston) i do know that benefits only pay upto 80.00 a week on private rented houses.

she would also beable to claim income support for her and her child and child benefit(which i presume she should already get)

income support for a single parent with one child is around the 100.00 a week mark...however if her partner moves in with her they would have to claim together (providing hes not working) and im unsure of how much they would get as a couple

hope that helps you a bit

Oldernotwiser

stompin-sarah wrote: »

im not entirely sure but i do know that if you get a council house the benefits will pay all the rent and council tax for your daughter.... however if she decides to go private renting.... in my area(preston) i do know that benefits only pay upto 80.00 a week on private rented houses.

she would also beable to claim income support for her and her child and child benefit(which i presume she should already get)

income support for a single parent with one child is around the 100.00 a week mark...however if her partner moves in with her they would have to claim together (providing hes not working) and im unsure of how much they would get as a couple

hope that helps you a bit

The daughter isn't a lone parent, so none of this information applies.

seven-day-weekend

Their Benefits will be means-tested and based on all household income.

xnatalie81x

I hope this can help a little. Private rented accomodation means you will pay the deposit (which you can get help with) but the local housing people can do an assessment on the property to decide how much help they will get towards rent. It can be difficult if fiance is drifting from job to job though as the claim will be regularly changing and my council will only work out new claim when the new wage slip/evidence is presented resulting in a months backlog at times and affecting how and when you can pay. It can result in uncertainty.

If you are going down the privately rented route find out from local council what max benefit they will pay for the size of property they are entitled to. I think under 1 baby does not 'need' their own room so they will only be entitled to benefit for a 1 bed place but if over a year they will be entitled to a 2 bed. In my case i am in private rented 2-bed house but am entitled to a 3 bed house so when income is 0 i get FULL benefit. A 3 bed locally would cost me about 900 and they are only willing to pay 825 so i'm better off here until i get housing association accomodation.

With JSA they will get a joint claim if she can sign on and is not working, or is baby still young enough to claim income support/incapacity/maternity........ The best place to go is to the Job Centre where they can be advised better.

They will also get tax credits based on overall yearly income and if your daughter wants to work may be entitled to help with childcare costs

Hope that helps a little

Oldernotwiser

xnatalie81x wrote: »

I hope this can help a little. Private rented accomodation means you will pay the deposit (which you can get help with) but the local housing people can do an assessment on the property to decide how much help they will get towards rent. It can be difficult if fiance is drifting from job to job though as the claim will be regularly changing and my council will only work out new claim when the new wage slip/evidence is presented resulting in a months backlog at times and affecting how and when you can pay. It can result in uncertainty.

If you are going down the privately rented route find out from local council what max benefit they will pay for the size of property they are entitled to. I think under 1 baby does not 'need' their own room so they will only be entitled to benefit for a 1 bed place but if over a year they will be entitled to a 2 bed. In my case i am in private rented 2-bed house but am entitled to a 3 bed house so when income is 0 i get FULL benefit. A 3 bed locally would cost me about 900 and they are only willing to pay 825 so i'm better off here until i get housing association accomodation.

With JSA they will get a joint claim if she can sign on and is not working, or is baby still young enough to claim income support/incapacity/maternity........ The best place to go is to the Job Centre where they can be advised better.

They will also get tax credits based on overall yearly income and if your daughter wants to work may be entitled to help with childcare costs

Hope that helps a little

Without wishing to be rude, it's hard to spot a correct fact in this post!

cheap_charlie

As daughter and her partner are living together they would claim benefits as a couple.

I don't actually understand why you mention "single parent" in your post and title as your daughter clearly isn't one.

Obviously she personally is entitled to claim Child Benefit and as a couple, depending upon circumstances, would be able to claim Child Tax Credits, and IS or JSA as circumstances permit. As for benefit towards housing and council tax, I simply don't know.

Of course this is based upon the assumption that your wife will move back and agree to you not permitting your daughter back in the family home - which may not happen.

Mikey177

Thanks for the replies so far.

Maybe I should clear up the "single/lone parent" wording...it's possibly a bit of wishful thinking on my part because the relationship is turbulent (although not violent) and they have been regularly spending time apart (up to a week). The fiance, at only 20, seems to be very immature...and that's a worry for me.

I've been on my local council's website and seen the Local Housing Allowance for 2-bed private rented accommodation is a little over £100 per week (around £450 per calendar month) which will just about cover the rent judging by those I've seen on a local estate agent's website search. Appreciate the council will 'vet' the accommodation to ascertain it's worth the asking price so no guarantees there.

I've also been on the 'entitledto' site and tried to enter some details. However, because relations have been so bad I don't know her full financial circumstances.

If the truth be told her income must have been minimal since leaving school...

2003/05: full time technical college (health & social care course).
2005/07: NVQ type childcare course (4 days work placement in a junior school and one day in college. Pay around £50 per week take home.
2007/08: working in a cafe part time (probably around £130 per week take home), and on maternity leave towards the end of the tax year as the baby was born in May 2008.
2008/09: hasn't worked at all.

Sorry for the confusion and lack of information earlier. Does what I've added now help? What other information do I need to provide to get further help?

Thanks again.

viktory

Have you actually discussed this in depth with your wife and daughter? They really might not be happy with the course of action you are embarking on - and, to be perfectly frank, your daughter should be doing all this research herself. She is not a child so perhaps you should stop treating her as such.

Mikey177

Thanks viktory,

Sitting down with the 3 children (well, young adults really!) this afternoon to see if we can find a way through this. They are the key really to getting the family back together (in their own individual ways), and especially to any possible reconciliation between myself and my wife. If we make progress, plan to sit down with my wife tomorrow.

I do consider my daughter to be immature for her age, although she's grown up a little of late. She's always been 'mothered' by her mother. I know that will sound strange, but my wife has always done too much for her whereas I've been the opposite and tried to get her to be more independant...and this has caused a lot of friction in the past.

The biggest problem I have is that things are very 'cosy' where they are now. They have a new baby and are totally immersed in that and not looking to the future IMO. My daughter has an on-tap nanny. I appreciate mothers are very close to their daughters, but I also remember that my wife didn't have her mother round every day when we were raising our kids. Indeed, they only saw each other at weekends (but phoned each other through the week).

In an ideal world, I'd get our daughter settled in her own home nearby. Near enough that we could be on hand if required, but far enough away that she was encouraged to be independant to a degree.

At the end of the day I'm trying to see if it's financially viable for her to live a) on her own with the baby, and/or b) with her fiance. Because if it isn't, then there isn't much I can do to try to keep my marriage together...and that's very important to me.

Any more help with the financial side of things?

xnatalie81x

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Without wishing to be rude, it's hard to spot a correct fact in this post!

Damn i must be dreaming my life then - better wake up :rolleyes: