Working under 16 hours and benefits

nanny79

Hi I'm new!

I live with my partner, we both work and are not entitled to any benefits due to his salary. I have a child under 16 (receive maintenence monthly £80) However, partner may be moving out so here are my questions.

I work 10 hours per week, earning £70 weekly. I'm having a slight panic that if he decides to go at the drop of a hat I'll be left in s**t street. I did an online calculation for housing benefit and council tax benefit and apparently these would be pretty much paid in full. I wonder if I would be entitled to income support also?

Also I'm unsure of how child tax works, have had nothing to do with child/working tax since I received a huge bill for an overpayment. Would I be entitled to child tax also? Anything else I may be entitled to if I become a single parent?

Many thanks

NASA_2

nanny79 wrote: »

Hi I'm new!

I live with my partner, we both work and are not entitled to any benefits due to his salary. I have a child under 16 (receive maintenence monthly £80) However, partner may be moving out so here are my questions.

I work 10 hours per week, earning £70 weekly. I'm having a slight panic that if he decides to go at the drop of a hat I'll be left in s**t street. I did an online calculation for housing benefit and council tax benefit and apparently these would be pretty much paid in full. I wonder if I would be entitled to income support also?

Also I'm unsure of how child tax works, have had nothing to do with child/working tax since I received a huge bill for an overpayment. Would I be entitled to child tax also? Anything else I may be entitled to if I become a single parent?

Many thanks

You should be entitled to Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit. Income Support might be payable but probably not at a high rate.

nanny79

ESA wrote: »

You should be entitled to Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit. Income Support might be payable but probably not at a high rate.

Thanks for your reply, forgot to mention I do get child benefit and we live in Scotland (not sure if that matters)

Any idea how child tax credit is calculated?

cabbage

Hi

Whether or not you get Income Support will depend on the age of your child. If you claim under the lone parent rules, a lone parent of a child under 16 used to quallify but its been reduced to 12 with further reductions next year.

This is from direct.gov.uk

• from 24 November 2008, if your youngest child is aged 12 or over, or will be 12 in the next year, your Income Support may stop during that year if you are only claiming it because you are a lone parent
• from 26 October 2009, if your youngest child is aged ten or over, or will be ten in the next year, your Income Support may stop during that year if you are only claiming it because you are a lone parent
• from 25 October 2010, if your youngest child is aged seven or over, or will be seven in the next year, your Income Support may stop during that year if you are only claiming it because you are a lone parent

You may be entitled to child tax credits. If you were able to increase your hours to 16 per week then you may also be entitled to Working tax credit too.

nanny79

cabbage wrote: »

Hi

Whether or not you get Income Support will depend on the age of your child. If you claim under the lone parent rules, a lone parent of a child under 16 used to quallify but its been reduced to 12 with further reductions next year.

This is from direct.gov.uk

• from 24 November 2008, if your youngest child is aged 12 or over, or will be 12 in the next year, your Income Support may stop during that year if you are only claiming it because you are a lone parent
• from 26 October 2009, if your youngest child is aged ten or over, or will be ten in the next year, your Income Support may stop during that year if you are only claiming it because you are a lone parent
• from 25 October 2010, if your youngest child is aged seven or over, or will be seven in the next year, your Income Support may stop during that year if you are only claiming it because you are a lone parent

You may be entitled to child tax credits. If you were able to increase your hours to 16 per week then you may also be entitled to Working tax credit too.

Thankyou, my child was 9 in Jan this year, I have no way of upping my hours unless I look for a new job. To be fair, the problems I've had with working tax credits has been enough to put me off claiming even when I have been entitled to them in the past!