Housing benefit stopped!

sausageface

Hi,

I am a single mum of 3 children and have been renting privately since June at £600 per month. At the beginning of September I put a housing benefit claim form in, I received my award at the end of October and it said for week 19/10 to 25/10 my benefit award was nil. Then from 26/10 it was £113 per week then the following week it was the full amount of £115. I rang them up and said this seemed high as I had thought I was entitled to about £70. The lady I spoke to said that once they had received my childcare cost confirmation they would review it.

I sent my confirmation in around a fortnight ago and today I received a new notice and it says I am not entitled to anything!

My wages are £900 per month and I pay £100 childcare per week and I also get tax credits. Entitledto suggests that I should be getting £74 per week HB and £11.38 CTB.

On my award forms there are different workings out but on both awards it has the "Applicable amount used to calculate your benefit". It is the same amount on both.

Do you think it is a mistake? The office isnt open until Monday now and I am really worried. I didnt even want to claim it in the first place but at the moment money is really tight for me and now to find out I won't be able to claim HB it has left me really

I hope this makes sense and if anyone has an idea if this is right or wrong can you help me?

Thank you

xx

Macro_3

What is your LHA rate? How much per week do you get in tax credits? Any other income?

sausageface

Hi, the LHA is £115 and my tax credits were £998 and my childcare costs were £600 (this was the initial tax credits form I sent in with the claim) but now my childcare costs are £400 the tax credits has gone to £740. (These amounts are 4 weekly). This leaves roughly the same amount after childcare each month. I don't have any other income.

xx

karenx

you have child benefit also every week

Macro_3

Based on earnings of £900 net per month (that is, your gross less tax, ni and half of any pension conts), tax credits of £185/week, childcare costs of £100/week, 3 children, lone parent, LHA £115, no savings, working full time 30+ hours I'd say you should be entitled to about £114/week in benefit.

There must be something wrong with your claim - I suggest you call them in the morning!

sausageface

I do but that's not taken into account for HB/CTB purposes.

sausageface

Thanks Macro, I will give them a ring on Monday, I hope you are right . The only thing different in your paragraph is my hours of work, I currently do 28 per week over 4 days. Does this make any difference?

Macro_3

sausageface wrote: »

Thanks Macro, I will give them a ring on Monday, I hope you are right . The only thing different in your paragraph is my hours of work, I currently do 28 per week over 4 days. Does this make any difference?

Duh, no, it doesn't because you're a lone parent - there is a disregard for most people who work 30 hours or more, but because you are a lone parent it kicks in at 16 hours. Ooops! You can tell that it's Friday!

sausageface

Phew, fingers crossed it is a mistake then and I will try and not think about it until Monday now x I know what you mean about the Friday thing, but unfortunately I tend to suffer from it most days.

Thanks for your help Macro x

Anthillmob

From the top of my head ill say they havent taken your child care costs into account for some reasons. Funny enough i had a chat with a claimant today with exact same problem. Easy sorted if the proofs are there.

sausageface

Thanks Ant, hopefully it is something this simple. It was after I sent my childcare invoices in that they assessed me as nil. I know they have received the invoices because they sent them back to me about a week ago with a compliments slip. Roll on Monday...