How do I get the most from DSS

merikiito

Not having a very good year so far.

Had job offer taken away from me and my ex missus place of work burnt down and has now been made redundant. Situation as follows:

I live on my own and own my house and am now unemployed due to know fault of my own. My 3 kids stay with me all weekends but I do not get child allowance for them so cannot claim any extra for them. They live 35 miles away so i have to get a car as I had a company car before which leaves me with no money in the bank.

Ex Missus, just been made redundant and lives with boyfriend (working) and our three kids (gets the child benefit for all three)

What benefits can I get?
Is it better to transfer one of the kids to me to help my claim? But make the difference up to ex missus that she would be losing and keep the extra.



Hope the above makes sense!

Any help before I have to start my claim next week would be most helpful.

mclaren_2

You will get Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) which entitles you to i think £55 per week (or about that) and that lasts 12 weeks and then you go back to see them and if you still have no job, you have to go back and they will put you in to a training course.

Thats all you will get - unless medically unfit to work, asylum seeker, disabled, etc.. then you will get others but if you can work, then you will get JSA and help by your local office to get a job and to get your CV spruced up

ilikewatchingtv

mclaren wrote:

You will get Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) which entitles you to i think £55 per week (or about that) and that lasts 12 weeks and then you go back to see them and if you still have no job, you have to go back and they will put you in to a training course.

Thats all you will get - unless medically unfit to work, asylum seeker, disabled, etc.. then you will get others but if you can work, then you will get JSA and help by your local office to get a job and to get your CV spruced up

Hmm, - I dont agree with most of this! - In particular I believe that a person seeking assylum in the uk is normally paid about 75% of normal income support (If paid by central government) or 70% (if paid by NASS), however I don't know a great deal about benefits, and would be interested to see your proof.

To the OP, if you are able to demonstrate that you are actively seeking employment you may be entitled to Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), - either contribution or income based, depending on your circumstances. If you recieve income based JSA and are liable for paying a mortgage then you may also be entitled to help with your mortgage interest payments after a set period of time. You may also be entitled to recieve council tax benefit from your local authority depending on your circumstances.
If responsibility for one of your children was transferred to you, you may be entitled to claim Income Support (IS) instead of JSA (this means that as a lone parent you would no longer have to actively seek work), you would also be able to claim Child Tax Credits for the child (IS is a purely means tested benefit, - there is no contributions based version, so if you don't satisfy the means tested conditions you will not be entitled to IS).
Although I'm no expert, I believe that in order to transfer responsibility for a child from your ex-partner to yourself, your ex-partner would have to give up her claim to child benefit for the child, and you could then apply for it instead. Beware, - only consider doing this if the child will actually be coming to live with you for the majority of the time, and you will be taking full legal responsibility for the child, the DWP aren't stupid, and often see people trying to defraud them in this way, so you can expect your case to be looked at carefully if you take this course of action.
Remember that if you make a claim to an income based benefit you may also be entitled to other help, such as free prescriptions, etc.
Contact your local jobcentre to make the claim ASAP, - your claim will normally be dated from the first day you contact them - you are highly unlikely to get any part of your claim back-dated.
Depending on whereabouts in the country you live, you may have to claim in one of 3 different ways: either by completing a clerical form, by telephoning a contact centre, or by a combination of both. If you have to claim by phoning the contact centre you can use a phone at the jobcentre to do this for free, otherwise you will be given an 0845 number to call.
If you are claiming JSA you will be allowed to choose which jobcentre you use, if you are claiming IS you will be told which you must attend.

Astaroth

Have to admit that I have never heard of people considering trading kids to maximise their benefits payout.

lucym

"under existing law while child benefit for an individual child cannot be shared, if there are two children or more children and the care is shared, the parents can be given the entitlement to CB that is the best approximation to the share of care and cost. Eg one CB each if there are two children and care is broadly half, one CB to one parents and two to the other if the care is 1:3 etc."

http://www.fnf.org.uk/benefits.htm

ilikewatchingtv

Astaroth wrote:

Have to admit that I have never heard of people considering trading kids to maximise their benefits payout.

Through my job I regularly encounter estranged couples who take responsibility for one child each in order that they can both recieve Income Support without having to actively seek work - something which I personally find morally questionable, though my employer doesn't pay me to make moral judgements, - just to administer benefits.
The OP should however remember that if he does take responsibility for one of his children whilst claiming an income based benefit it is likely that the CSA will become involved in the case as his ex-partner will become a "non resident parent".

Bossyboots

You can also receive child benefit as a non-resident parent, provided that money goes towards the children. Therefore, I would have thought the OP should simply get the CB for one child transferred to his name to help with the costs of having them at the weekends.

While it is not unusual for couples to share responsibility for their children, the idea of actually moving a child from home to another for the reasons given is, I agree, morally questionnable.

Fran

I would say that as you have 3 children for 2 days that is equivalent to 6 (child) days per week and I think it's unfair that anyone should have the expense of looking after children and be denied Child Benefit or Child Tax Credits because the present system doesn't recognise (or rather allow) these days that you do care for your children.

However as your ex has just been made redundant she is not likely to give up Child Benefit for any of them without a fight as she has less income now. If you put in a duplicate claim you wouldn't get it as the child lives with her for the majority of the week.

You could ask her for a contribution towards your expenses while looking after the children every weekend, presumably this is convenient for her as she can spend time with her partner. It's going to depend on the relationship you have with her.

crutches

Astaroth wrote:

Have to admit that I have never heard of people considering trading kids to maximise their benefits payout.

i've come across parents advised of the regs for this by the DSS,particularly seperating couples with 2 children(claim for one each).

Fran

ilikewatchingtv wrote:

.......... your ex-partner would have to give up her claim to child benefit for the child, and you could then apply for it instead. Beware, - only consider doing this if the child will actually be coming to live with you for the majority of the time, and you will be taking full legal responsibility for the child, the DWP aren't stupid, and often see people trying to defraud them in this way.................

I don't see it as "trying to defraud" if a person who looks after children for 6 child days (3 children for 2 days a week) wants to receive the same equivalent help as every family with children in the UK.

Assuming the OP was married to ex or has Parental Responsibility, then they have "full legal responsibility" for the child anyway.

ilikewatchingtv

Fran wrote:

I don't see it as "trying to defraud" if a person who looks after children for 6 child days (3 children for 2 days a week) wants to receive the same equivalent help as every family with children in the UK.

Assuming the OP was married to ex or has Parental Responsibility, then they have "full legal responsibility" for the child anyway.

I didn't mean to suggest that the OP was trying to fraudulently claim any money, - I was merely pointing out that situations like this are often fraudulent (i.e. one half of an estranged couple says a child lives with them when this isn't true, in order to claim extra money, or in order to avoid having to actively seek work), and therefore the OP should expect his application to be looked at closely if he chose to do this.