Housing benefits without claiming JSA??

fluffymovie

HI there

It is very difficult to assess a claim where the customer is saying they have a 'nil income' but no bank account to show for it.
Can I ask, how do you pay your rent to your landlord? If it is a private tenancy which it sounds like it is if 12 month contract in place, then you should be on LHA and receiving payments directly. Where are these paid?
A nil ncome is accepted but usually only when someone can show how they pay for bills etc. How will you pay for food. gas etc if you have no JSA?

fabforty

fluffymovie wrote: »

HI there

A nil ncome is accepted but usually only when someone can show how they pay for bills etc. How will you pay for food. gas etc if you have no JSA?

That's exactly what I was going to ask. The academic year starts Sept/Oct, so you are looking at managing for 9 months with absolutely no income. Your local authority may find that hard to swallow.

vaspar

fluffymovie wrote: »

HI there

It is very difficult to assess a claim where the customer is saying they have a 'nil income' but no bank account to show for it.
Can I ask, how do you pay your rent to your landlord? If it is a private tenancy which it sounds like it is if 12 month contract in place, then you should be on LHA and receiving payments directly. Where are these paid?
A nil ncome is accepted but usually only when someone can show how they pay for bills etc. How will you pay for food. gas etc if you have no JSA?

I pay my rent via my mothers bank account. HB send me out a cheque every 2 weeks via post (due to me not having a bank account). I cash the cheque, give the money to my mother and she forwards it to my landlord. HB won't send money directly to a landlord so they give you 2 options: they will put money directly into your account, or they will send you a cheque.

My mother said she will give me £20 a week to mind my brother twice a week. That would cover my food until September. Like I say, it will be a struggle. I have no debt to worry about, and as for electricity and water, I'll pay them what I can afford, when I can afford it.

Hope this clears some things up,

Mark

fabforty

vaspar wrote: »

I pay my rent via my mothers bank account. HB send me out a cheque every 2 weeks via post (due to me not having a bank account). I cash the cheque, give the money to my mother and she forwards it to my landlord. HB won't send money directly to a landlord so they give you 2 options: they will put money directly into your account, or they will send you a cheque.

My mother said she will give me £20 a week to mind my brother twice a week. That would cover my food until September. Like I say, it will be a struggle. I have no debt to worry about, and as for electricity and water, I'll pay them what I can afford, when I can afford it.

Hope this clears some things up,

Mark

Yes and no. £20 p.w for everything, food, bills, utilities, tv licence etc is totally unrealistic. Utility companies do not give you the luxury of paying what you can when you can. They can/will terminate your supply, bring in the debt collectors, ruin your credit and everything that follows on from that. Something which is particularly important (and detrimental) to your chosen career (like you, I also studied law). Don't make the mistake of thinking that such a low income will satisfy your LA, that you are entitled to HB/CTB. They are more likely to be suspicious of your application - i.e. suspect that you have undisclosed income. Obviously it's your decision, and no need to justify yourself to us, I'm just pointing out the problems you might face.

fluffymovie

Hi there

I don't mean to be harsh and apologise if I sound that way.

I work in HB and I can honestly say that I would be unhappy to allow a claim to continue for any length of time if the customer told me that he lived on £20 per week.

I am also concerned that you are cashing cheques and so presumably paying a cheque cashing shop 9% of them each fortnight for the sake of not opening an account in your own name? That would suggest that you then would have to find this money to pay your rent as well as the food and bills etc?

Perhaps you could ask your LA to pay the money into your mum's account directly? We do this in my LA and consider it for a period of time whilst the customer opens an account in their own name.

I fully appreciate that you are trying to better yourself but just can't get past a feeling that there is something that we aren't being told? Apologies if not correct and I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide

vaspar

I do not pay 9% to anybody! HB send me a cheque, I then take the cheque to my local HB office (One Stop Shop) and open the checque (using my birth certificate for ID) they then give me a signed and stamped paper slip which I take with me to Natwest to cash the cheque. It's HB policy for people without bank accounts, and its very simple. I get 'full' value for the cheque, no deductions at all. This is how anybody without a bank account will cash their HB cheques in the UK.

As I've mentioned before, unlike the jobcentre, HB will ONLY pay money into the account of the claimant. They will not and cannot pay it into someone elses account on my behalf (I've asked about this many times because it would be much easier just to have the money paid into my mums account -- they won't do that).

There is no duplicitus agenda here fluffymovie. I just want to go to university in September, the jobcentre wont allow me to carry on my studies, so I'm willing to struggle - it's as simple and clear cut as that. I am not witholding any information.

I want to change my life for the better, and what the jobcentre have proposed will send me backwards. It will also keep me on benefits longer!!! It is not beneficial to me, the government or the taxpayer to keep me on benefits longer than I have to be!

I don't mind answering any more questions,

Mark

sp1987

Is there any reason you are unable to open a bank account in your own name? Will the student loans company be able to pay you student loans without one in september? Just interested how it will work really, as it seems very complicated to not have an account, especially having to go through the dramatics of taking cheques to various places and not being able to just withdraw money as needed!

Do ou have any savings anywhere? If you did then at least they could see you had more than £20/week to live on even if you did not use it and coped on £20 (I can't see how that is possible myself?), which might make them look more favourably on your claim.

vaspar

I have been planning on opening a bank account for some time, but I just haven't got around to it - out of laziness more than anything. I would have no problem getting a bank account in my name, and I plan to do that soon. Would it help my cause if I opened one now?

Sadly, I have no savings at all. I've been living on JSA for the best part of 3 years. I'm sure if I was short of food some weeks I could eat at my mums. She has said that she will help me where she can, but she doesn't have an awful lot of money herself so I would try not to burden her too often... but if I was struggling food wise, she'd help me out.

It's not ideal I know, but its better than a life on benefits! I can live this way for a short while if at the end of it I will be a more attractive employment prospect, with a good career ahead of me.

Mark

DX2

vaspar wrote: »

I have been planning on opening a bank account for some time, but I just haven't got around to it - out of laziness more than anything. I would have no problem getting a bank account in my name, and I plan to do that soon. Would it help my cause if I opened one now?
Mark

Opening a bank account online would probably have taken less time than the time it took you to post that.

MissRose

I totally applaud you for wanting to further your education. But I think you really need to be realistic. You say you have 8 months left on your current lease and have no savings. You also state that you will pay gas and water bills as and when you can afford them. (Sorry, I am a newbie and don't know how to quote). You won't afford them on £20 a week. So your supplies will be cut off and you will face a huge bill when your tenancy comes to an end for what you owe and reconnection charges.

Not what you need to be dealing with just as you are starting a university course.

Your course at the moment is only one day per week. Can you not take on a part time job?

Wishing all the best.