Benefit Help Neede

panjit

I am 53 and have daughter 17 who I receive tax credits for. I was working 30hours per week but now am only working 16. The problem is my daughter is thinking of taking a gap year next year and going to Uni the year after (this depends on her A level results). If she does take a gap year she will still be dependant on me but will not be attending college. I assume my tax credits will stop. I will only have £587 per month income from my job which will be impossible to live on - am I entitled to claim anything else. I have no other income or savings.
Help!!!

Oldernotwiser

Taking a gap year usually involves working for the year or travelling rather than doing nothing. You should consider discussing with her the fact that you can't afford to keep her doing nothing for a year and that she should either stay in education (free until 19, you carry on getting CB/CTC, she gets EMA) or she needs to get a job and contribute to the household.

Spending a year just dossing won't help either her university applications or her future career whereas getting appropriate experience or further skills will do both.

macaque_2

panjit wrote: »

I am 53 and have daughter 17 who I receive tax credits for. I was working 30hours per week but now am only working 16. The problem is my daughter is thinking of taking a gap year next year and going to Uni the year after (this depends on her A level results). If she does take a gap year she will still be dependant on me but will not be attending college. I assume my tax credits will stop. I will only have £587 per month income from my job which will be impossible to live on - am I entitled to claim anything else. I have no other income or savings.
Help!!!

Here are some options

1. You could go back to working 30 hours a week (or more)
2. Your daughter can (like most gap year students) earn money
3. Your daughter could abandon the gap year
4. Your daughter could go out to work

The state is paying for your decision to have a child. It is paying for schooling, medical care, university, family support and a million other things. Not only do you seem to be taking all this for granted but you also want the state to pay for your lifestyle choices. My advice would be to contribute a little more than 3 hours a day by way of productive effort.

welshmoneylover

I'm always amazed by the number of posters who seem gobsmacked that tax credits will stop once a child either leaves ft education or turns 18 and wonders how the heck they're going to manage on lesser money.

It's hardly rocket science to work out one day TCs will stop, so other plans need to be put in place to make up the shortfall.

panjit

Thanks for all the negative comments - I have applied for over 70 jobs to try and get 30 hours and my daughter is has just got a part time job. I thought the forum was to help people not to criticise. Unlike some I do not know my way around the system and certainly don't expect anything for nothing but jobs are hard to come by despite all my efforts - 4 more applications sent off today. If you can't be helpful don't bother replying.

macaque_2

panjit wrote: »

Thanks for all the negative comments - I have applied for over 70 jobs to try and get 30 hours and my daughter is has just got a part time job. I thought the forum was to help people not to criticise. Unlike some I do not know my way around the system and certainly don't expect anything for nothing but jobs are hard to come by despite all my efforts - 4 more applications sent off today. If you can't be helpful don't bother replying.

People are not being negative and I certainly don't bear you ill will. My reaction to your post however was tinged with cynicism. You are enquiring about social payments when your status changes (your daughter's decision). Millions of people are in money difficulties (especially now). The solution is to find gainful employment, not new ways of working the benefits system.

You are literate and articulate and I am left wondering why you only do 16 hours a week rather than 35. People are remarkably good at finding 16 hour a week jobs. I am told 16 is a magic number for claiming certain types of benefit.

If you had taken your concerns to a job hunting site you would have enjoyed support and encouragement. Instead you chose to come here and ask about benefits. Has it occurred to you that the response you recieved here was well meant (even if somewhat painful to digest)?

Oldernotwiser

panjit wrote: »

Thanks for all the negative comments - I have applied for over 70 jobs to try and get 30 hours and my daughter is has just got a part time job. I thought the forum was to help people not to criticise. Unlike some I do not know my way around the system and certainly don't expect anything for nothing but jobs are hard to come by despite all my efforts - 4 more applications sent off today. If you can't be helpful don't bother replying.

You've actually received very positive advice and several alternative routes for you and your daughter.

As for having applied for several jobs recently, you can't really be surprised when people comment that it's only now that you're losing certain benefits that you're choosing to be selfsupporting.

nexuss

You sound very hard working and obviously want the best for your daughter but she needs to realise that you cannot support her on a gap year if she does not work.She would be best working if she is going to have a gap year so she can get some money together for when she starts Uni.

panjit

Thank you nexuss for your reply. Like I said in my previous post I was working 30 hours per week until April when I lost my job due to economy. I am now only working 16 but actively looking for more. I was enquiring if I was entitled to anything else until I gained some more hours. I am hoping my situation will not be long term. No one really has given me a reply to my question they have only commented on my apparent laziness and my daughter's dependancy. Like I said she has also found part time work but it is not enough to support me.

SuziQ

Youn do know that ctc/CB stop even if she was going on to University? It is a bit of a shock to the system,happened to me last year,and when you are already on a low income making changes to allow for the drop is difficult. I joined the grocery challenge,which has saved me loads over the last year and have also cut down in many other ways.Have you checked wehther you are entitled to HB or CTB?
It's tight but doable. Hope you and your daughter manage to get a job with more hours soon.

Oldernotwiser

panjit wrote: »

No one really has given me a reply to my question they have only commented on my apparent laziness and my daughter's dependancy. Like I said she has also found part time work but it is not enough to support me.

I don't really see why your daughter has to support you but there's no reason why she can't pay for her keep out of her part time job even if it isn't for very many hours. She's an adult now and needs to be supporting herself in her life choices.

If you rent your home you may be eligible for LHA and CTB, although you'll lose the 25% discount once she reaches 18.