Help Please!

Quincifer

Hi all,

I rang rang United Utilities about a Single Person Allowance but you can only get this if you have been refused a water meter (which I haven't). There would be no point me changing to a water meter either because i'm on the lowest rateable value band thing so even if i used less water it wouldn't save me any money!

I am registered with Reed and Hays as far as agencies go. Reed i've been with forever and do most of their applications online, Hays I registered with last week and the guy there does all the contract for temp + perm work for NHS and Virgin Media. Not sure if or when I will hear anything from them but its better than nothing I guess.

My partner still lives with his parents so doesn't really get much allowance as far as using the phone goes (because he is one of those lucky people that don't pay any board to live at home!). Thats why we tend to stick to mobiles because it works out cheaper for both of us.

He also only works when there is work going (he's a stonemason) and at the moment he hasn't worked for about 3 weeks plus he has his own debts he's struggling to pay off, so he's in no state to lend me any money or help with bills.
My parents live abroad and are paying their mortgage and bills out of their savings at the moment because my dad is disabled and my mum can't find work so they can't help either

I've applied at all the local supermarkets (and have done supermarket work before, used to be an Online Shopper at Sainsburys) but nothing yet from them except 12hr/wk tills (which pays less than my benefits so no point).
The general vacancy idea up here is part time minimum wage, no more than 16hrs so its hard work to even find anything fulltime.

I didn't have PPI on my loan, however I wasn't made redundant so the cover still wouldn't apply. My (and 120 other people's) contract was 9 months fixed-term but in the past they have always extended them then take everyone on permanent. I was unlucky to be in the first ever group of fixed-termers that they didn't keep on after about 10yrs of extending!

I'm not 25 until next march, sucks!!

I am excited about my interview tomorrow - I had to do an hour long test last week as part of the shortlisting in which I had to do some data entry type stuff and take 2 mock phonecalls. It was hard work but I must've done alright to get through to final interviews, not sure how many others got through though.

x

gettingbetter

hi

fingers and toes are crossed here
hope you get a result tomorrow

kas xx

angelpye

Hi, just thought I wuld pop in to say that when my sister was in a similar situation (single no children) and was working only part time she was able to claim working tax credits. Might be worth you looking into this - think there is a 'benefits checker' type thing on here somewhere. Think you have to work minimum of 16 hrs but may be of help for now until you find something full time. You said above that part time minimum wage wasn't visable but maybe with a tax credit boost it would be?
Good luck with your interview:D.

whitewing

www.entitledto.com (supposed to be quite good/accurate for tax credits, but not so accurate perhaps for other benefits). Can't remember how old you are. Think there is a min age of 25 to get tax credits.

Good luck tomorrow.

Quincifer

Yeah as above, you have to be 25 to get Tax Credits. This is getting to be a bit of a sore point for me, especially since I used to work in the Tax Credit Office. Spent all day handling claims from people who blatantely didn't want to work and just sat at home with their kids. Don't get me wrong because I know there are ALOT of people who claim genuinely and its great, but its the people who don't make the effort that annoy me - when I'm working my !!! off to get something!
So thats Working Tax Credits + higher level of JSA + more Housing Benefit that I am not entitled to due to me being born 11 months too late!

Ok rant over again haha.

Again, thanks for all your help so far guys...

x

Fire_Fox

Quincifer wrote: »

Hi all,

I rang rang United Utilities about a Single Person Allowance but you can only get this if you have been refused a water meter (which I haven't). There would be no point me changing to a water meter either because i'm on the lowest rateable value band thing so even if i used less water it wouldn't save me any money!

I've applied at all the local supermarkets (and have done supermarket work before, used to be an Online Shopper at Sainsburys) but nothing yet from them except 12hr/wk tills (which pays less than my benefits so no point).
The general vacancy idea up here is part time minimum wage, no more than 16hrs so its hard work to even find anything fulltime.

I am excited about my interview tomorrow - I had to do an hour long test last week as part of the shortlisting in which I had to do some data entry type stuff and take 2 mock phonecalls. It was hard work but I must've done alright to get through to final interviews, not sure how many others got through though.

x

I am metered for water and pay about £7 a month (£20 a quarter), this is less than you are paying. If we had a soakaway for surface water drainage we'd be paying about £12 a quarter!

You can work part-time/ casual (you must declare the mystery shopping) and still sign on after filling in boring forms. If your income is less than Jobseekers Allowance you should be able to get it topped up - I did this when doing Avon. Once you have one part-time job, e.g. supermarket, you should be able to either get extra hours or even a second part-time job (?barmaid) to fit around the first. It isn't ideal but, again, I have done this.

Let us know how your interview went! :beer: