Income Support - When are you entitled?

tiggs239

My friend currently works 22.5 hours a week and earns £5000 per year. She has maintenance payments of £250 per month + the usual tax credits etc. She is not entitled to legal aid as her income is too high. She needs legal representation as her ex partner is taking her to court over access to their son. She cannot afford to pay a solicitor, her G.P. is very keen to sign her off sick as she is suffering from depression but her employer does not pay sickness benefits. Does anyone know what benefits she would be entitled to if the G.P. did sign her off sick and whether she would then qualify for legal aid. Please feel free to move this post to another area if I have posted incorrectly.

bestpud

I think it would be ssp, if she has no children living with her.

I don't know how this would affect legal aid though, sorry.

Nigella_2

Statutory Sick Pay

If you are employed, but unable to work because of sickness, you might have sick pay arrangements as part of your contract of employment e.g. you may be entitled to full pay or half pay for a specified period. Check with your employer or trade union.
Even if you do not have any contractual sick pay arrangements you would normally be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). In most cases it is a legal requirement that an employer pays SSP. It is paid at a flat rate of £75.40 per week, regardless of your normal wages, and it is paid for a maximum of 28 weeks.
If your SSP is not enough for you to live on you may be able to claim some Income Support to top it up

astonsmummy

She wouldnt get IS if she was receiving SSP and Tax credits.

LizzieS_2

Legal aid is assessed on actual income at the time of claim. The allowances for legal aid are not the same as say IS as they do include some(fixed) recognition of housing costs.

Depending on the type of claim, assets including any equity in the home is included as capital, which could negate a legal aid claim.

There is a free calculator on the legal aid website.

tiggs239

Her 10 year old son lives with her and at the moment has no contact with his father. She faces a huge legal bill if she cannot get legal aid and as her income is so low, and no savings I wondered under what circumstances she could get income support. to enable her to have legal represenation.

astonsmummy

tiggs239 wrote: »

Her 10 year old son lives with her and at the moment has no contact with his father. She faces a huge legal bill if she cannot get legal aid and as her income is so low, and no savings I wondered under what circumstances she could get income support. to enable her to have legal represenation.

She would be entitled if she left her job.

tiggs239

Her job although quite low paid has given her a reason to leave the house during the past year and ex partner has been given her a really tough time. Ideally she would prefer not to permanently leave her job.

Rikki

Legal aid does need to be paid back at some point.

astonsmummy

tiggs239 wrote: »

Her job although quite low paid has given her a reason to leave the house during the past year and ex partner has been given her a really tough time. Ideally she would prefer not to permanently leave her job.

Well then she wouldnt be entitled to IS, unless her hours dropped to below 16, but then she would loose out on the CTC and WTC.
But even on undrr 16 hours, Her income may also be too high to actually qualify for IS.
She's really best of contacting the CAB or similar for some proper advice.

Bossyboots

Rikki wrote: »

Legal aid does need to be paid back at some point.

Only where money/assets are recovered or preserved. In children only cases, there is no financial settlement so the legal fees would not be repayable.