My Girlsfriends benefit has been refused, I have to cover her expenses?

vegankris

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You don't get discounts off council tax unless someone's a student. Council tax benefit is means tested.
.

CAB told us we might get a discount on council tax, which is why I said this. We've sent off the form and are still waiting to hear atm.

Oldernotwiser wrote:

Individual circumstances are taken into account but only from a financial point of view;

Actually, I did mean from a financial POV! It seems both our and the OP's financial circumstances haven't been taken into account, because if they had been, we wouldn't have a shortfall.

lynzpower

bielzabob wrote: »

I need some advice please,
my girlfriend was made redundant and applied for housing benefit, we rent a flat together.

However this was refused on the grounds that i make enough money to cover the rent on my own, the problem is that i have other payments coming out as well and left alone i would quickly be in debt (even cutting down to the essentials)

surely this is not right though? as i understood it we are not married and therefore hold no financial responsibility to each other.
I have heard that i may be eligible for working credits, though when i checked i am not over 25 and have no children so i would also be refused that.

If anybody has ANY help at all then please share, i starting to panic over this.

Hi OP,

Im wondering if you could let us know how much you earn?

Im afraid as usual some people have flown off the deep end here.

I know when I nearly ended up out of work , my OH was meant to be supporting me, on his part time min wage job ( 160pw) but also needed to pay the mortgage, ( 750pcm) service charge ( 70), bills ( 65) out of that, it simply wasnt possible, so I really do feel for you.

This is EXACTLY why people lie to the benefits office, It is not based on what you need its based on what you are "entitled to " ie nothing in some cases - like mine

Good luck

Becles

bielzabob wrote: »

as i understood it we are not married and therefore hold no financial responsibility to each other.

Although you are not married, for benefit purposes as you are living together and sharing a home and life, you are classed as being a married couple.

Sorry it's hard - been in the same situation when I lost my job and my ex was expected to support me, but our budget was based on two incomes coming in.

Have you done an SOA? If you write down all your income and all your expenses, and have a look and see what you can cut back on. Anything non-essential can go for now, plus you might be able to cut back on utilities, groceries etc. If you post the SOA on the debt free board, sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can spot where you can make savings.

Best of luck with sorting your finances, and hope she finds a job soon.

Zara33

lynzpower wrote: »

Im afraid as usual some people have flown off the deep end here.

Which is understanable when you get these sorts of comments:

bielzabob wrote: »

what's the chances of them believing we broke up then? We've tried the honest route and that got us into trouble. sometimes to survive you need to tell porkies?

hippy-chicy

Unfortunately benefits are there for the people on the very lowest of incomes considering that the goverment states that a couple only needs £100.95 p/w to buy food, pay gas,water, electric bills. They are not there to keep people in a lifestyle they are used to.

Single people and couples with no children dont come off very well as the goverment seem to think they can live off very little !!

Could your girlfriend maybe get a bar job, anything to help get some more money coming in, while she is looking for something more suitable? That way her days are free for job hunting and interviews? She should also be claiming Job Seekers Allowance Contributions based if she has paid enough NI conts. This wont take into account your income and will be paid for 6 months. Thats a extra £64.30 p/w coming in?

Hope you manage to get something sorted - but dont lie about it its not worth it.....also just to add i am a benefits assessor and if i had a claim from a couple that had been refused then they applied a single people a couple of weeks later....it would be referred straight to our fraud department. Its not worth it !!!

Also just to note that if you haven;t done so already contact your council tax department and ask them to spread your installments over twelve months. That will help to reduce your monthly payments.

Oldernotwiser

vegankris wrote: »

Actually, I did mean from a financial POV! It seems both our and the OP's financial circumstances haven't been taken into account, because if they had been, we wouldn't have a shortfall.

If you mean that benefits don't give you money to pay off your debts, then that's true - thank goodness!

alwaysonthego_2

vegankris wrote: »

CAB told us we might get a discount on council tax, which is why I said this. We've sent off the form and are still waiting to hear atm.

You will not get a discount off your CT as ONW as already explained, you may get CTB but this depends on your income.

Pssst

In sickness and in health....

AsknAnswer

surely this is not right though? as i understood it we are not married and therefore hold no financial responsibility to each other.

In some cases, you hold no financial responsibility to each other. i.e; if she has debts in her sole name, you are not responsible for paying them.

Benefit legislation considers "couples" or "partners" not husband and wife. It is known as LTAHAW (Living together as husband and wife).

If you decide to commit benefit fraud and are caught, they can impose sanctions on future benefit claims, which means if you find yourself in a situation where you need to claim benefit you could end up receiving nothing at all for a period of up to 26 weeks (approx 6 months) because of previous fraudulent action.

vegankris

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

If you mean that benefits don't give you money to pay off your debts, then that's true - thank goodness!

One of the things I was referring to was referring to was travel expenses to get to work. Would love a closer to home job- in fact I had one when I moved there- but my workplace closed and my hometown is fast becoming a ghost town, so if I want to work I need to get a train to the nearest cirty, which at nearly £75 every 4 weeks is a huge whack off basic allowance- almost a weeks worth!. At the very least I think this should be taken into account.

As for paying off my debts, I'm trying my damnedest to do that with the money I earn working, doing overtime (and am looking for a second job), and think it's horribly unfair to expect me to cover another person's cost of living on top of that, driving me further into shortfall even faster when I struggle to even meet my own expenses.

I love my partner so of course I put feeding him before my mortgage, but I do think he should get help. He's had a good job before he was made unemployed(and is now looking for just about anything!) and paid a lot of tax over the years, but now gets turned away when he needs it most.