Housing Benefit - Can we claim please ?

lil_lisa

blueotter wrote: »

I take it you mean in a financial capacity do you ?
If i do i take it the mother of my child will be penalised for that as well ? Or is there a limit to the amount of financial consideration i can offer

If going through official channels then you can expect to pay around £200 a month for child maintenance, based on the salary you mentioned earlier. So for you to actually be financially better off under this arrangement then you will actually have to find a way to find a way of saving at least £200 on you current expenditure, be that on bills or rent on a smaller property.

As you seem particularly interested in ensuring that you recieve everything you are entitled to, I suggest your girlfriend also practises the same principles and ensures that she receives everything that she is entitled to from you as non-resident parent.

blueotter

Very emotive this isn't it ,i had no idea it would draw this response but its good to see.

I started this thread because i was trying to get a bit of advice about housing allowance and whether or not i would be expected to pay the entire cost of the rent of around £900 from a salary of £1600 net.

The answer is YES i'm expected to pay the entire amount,the council tax,all the household bills etc etc etc.

but
I now understand that if my partner took the decison to live on her own she would actually receive upto £700 per month housing allowance,no council tax etc etc etc

This seems absurd to me that we are actually being penalised for wanting to live together,i don't set rent prices for where i live,we happen to live in a very expensive part of the country where 1k a month is the going rate for renting property.Yes i earn £1600 a month but i currently share with a friend because i can't afford to live on my own.

Of course we could move away but then my job wouldn't move with me and both of us would be reliant on the welfare state to some degree.If we lived in an affordable place i wouldn't even be asking any questions but we don't so i'm asking questions which are evidently rubbing folk up teh wromng way who see me as some kind of benefits scrounger when i've worked for 25 years and never claimed a penny from the welfare state.

I'm not asking for anything other than fairness,it just doesn't seem a fair system to me at all when all we want is to be able to live together and bring our child up in a secure family unit.Its a question of living,not existing.

DX2

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Words almost fail me :eek:.

If the father's name is on the birth certificate, won't the CSA come after him regardless of whether he voluntarily pays maintenance or not?

Nope not any longer it is up to the PWC to persue the NRP for child support either via the CSA or a private agreement.

DX2

blueotter wrote: »

I'm not asking for anything other than fairness,it just doesn't seem a fair system to me at all when all we want is to be able to live together and bring our child up in a secure family unit.Its a question of living,not existing.

But benefits are just that existing. A stop gap nothing more nothing less.

Bogof_Babe

DX2 wrote: »

Nope not any longer it is up to the PWC to persue the NRP for child support either via the CSA or a private agreement.

:eek: again.

So if the PWC decides she'd rather live off the taxpayer so that her boyfriend can keep all his money, that's fine then?

Anyone want to join me in a mass emigration?

Bogof_Babe

C&P'd this off another board, an extract from an article in the Telegraph...

....The state has smothered self-reliance and personal responsibility and spawned a host of perverse disincentives that positively encourage irresponsibility. In today's welfare state, too many people are better off doing the wrong thing rather than doing the right thing.

Sorry, I know I am digressing from the OP's question, but it really worries me that people can't see how unrealistic they are being in wanting everything given to them without them having to make any compromises or sacrifices themselves.

DX2

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

:eek: again.

So if the PWC decides she'd rather live off the taxpayer so that her boyfriend can keep all his money, that's fine then?

Anyone want to join me in a mass emigration?

Yes, although if she was a "single parent" and a boyfriend/partner was with her often and people thought she was committing benefit fraud then of course they are open to people calling the fraud hotline. I know I wouldn't like to keep looking over my shoulder

blueotter

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

:eek: again.

So if the PWC decides she'd rather live off the taxpayer so that her boyfriend can keep all his money, that's fine then?

Anyone want to join me in a mass emigration?

I'm sorry to say that's the implication,now you can see why there are so many problems. Things like housing benefit are not income related to where people live.
If i lived in an area where the average rent was £500 per month for a 2 bedroomed property it would be decidely different from where i live now as the average is £1k a month instead.
We're actually penalised for where we're living and whilst i recognise that £1600 per month net income seems a lot ,it doesn't go very far round here.

Kimitatsu

blueotter wrote: »

Very emotive this isn't it ,i had no idea it would draw this response but its good to see.

I started this thread because i was trying to get a bit of advice about housing allowance and whether or not i would be expected to pay the entire cost of the rent of around £900 from a salary of £1600 net.

Not wishing to be rude but that leaves you £700 to pay all of your other bills without ANY other money coming in. As has already been said it is likely that your girlfriend is entitled to SMP at £120 ish a week - thats another £500 a month (total £1200 after rent so far) and when the baby os born you will get another £45 a week in CTC and CB. So I fail to understand why you cant live on £280 a week after you have paid your rent?

The answer is YES i'm expected to pay the entire amount,the council tax,all the household bills etc etc etc.

Unfortunately this is what being a parent is all about, you are liable for all of your own costs now unless you are the poorest people in society

but
I now understand that if my partner took the decison to live on her own she would actually receive upto £700 per month housing allowance,no council tax etc etc etc

She will not be able to decide where she lives though, she will either be allocated a property or will have to make up the difference from her own benefits. For one child she will get the local housing allowance for a two bedroom flat, her council tax paid and CTC, CB and income support of £64.30 a week, about £130 a week. Any money that you contribute, she will be able to keep the first £20 a week and then will have to declare the rest, anything over £20 a week will be deducted from her benefits.

This seems absurd to me that we are actually being penalised for wanting to live together,i don't set rent prices for where i live,we happen to live in a very expensive part of the country where 1k a month is the going rate for renting property.Yes i earn £1600 a month but i currently share with a friend because i can't afford to live on my own.

Assuming that you only pay £450 a month rent as you share with a friend that leaves you £1150 a month to live on, most people I know would LOVE to have that left over.

Of course we could move away but then my job wouldn't move with me and both of us would be reliant on the welfare state to some degree.If we lived in an affordable place i wouldn't even be asking any questions but we don't so i'm asking questions which are evidently rubbing folk up teh wromng way who see me as some kind of benefits scrounger when i've worked for 25 years and never claimed a penny from the welfare state.

I'm not asking for anything other than fairness,it just doesn't seem a fair system to me at all when all we want is to be able to live together and bring our child up in a secure family unit.Its a question of living,not existing.

I think you need to look back on your posts and understand that we are not getting at you but you need to be more realistic about the amount of money you will have when this baby arrives. As I have said after you have paid your rent you will have £280 a week to live on, more than enough to pay the bills etc. You may not be able to afford to maintain the lifestyle that you do now but thats the reality.

You could choose to let your GF fend for herself but do you think that you will stay together? I know if my husband said to me that he was going to live in a nice area and I could fall back on the state to look after my children I would feel hurt (understatement :eek:). Sometimes money is a secondary value.

Two can live as cheaply as one - check out the hints on these boards, but I know that I could easily cope with a family of four on what you will have left over, its about resetting your expectations.

lil_lisa

Kimitatsu wrote: »

I know if my husband said to me that he was going to live in a nice area and I could fall back on the state to look after my children I would feel hurt (understatement :eek:).

If my husband did that to me then it wouldn't be me feeling hurt. And the hurt he felt would probably ensure that he never had any more children... :eek: