Scared-income support no tax credits

lonelymumof2

Hi,

I'm new to this site but I'm beyond desperate so someone recommended I try posting on here.

I have 2 children 4 and 5 and am a lone parent. I get Income Support of £131 a fortnight and Child Benefit of £33.20 a week. I get Housing & Council Tax Benefit too.

I am NOT receiving ANYTHING from Tax Credits due to a long ongoing appeal (VERY long story-my solicitor is fab and on it constantly! But still likely to be a while).

So completely disregarding the whole tax credits problem am I entitled to any extra help from Income Support re my two children?

As you can see I'm surviving on very little and without my parents we'd literally be homeless and have no food etc.

please help me :-(

karenx

why are you not getting tax credits?a?
I don't think you would get extra income support, its a set rate at which you are getting the maximum
you can keep £20 per week of child maintenance also while on income support, that's an extra £80 per month

bunny999

contact CSA

skint-student-nurse

have you applied for a crisis loan or community care grant? try www.direct.gov.uk and look under benefits, or check www.entitledto.co.uk to see if it offers any suggestions. are you not getting tax credits due a previous overpayment?

tr82

A Crisis Loan would only cover a one off emergency, not ongoing need. I can't see a CCG application going anywhere either. Income Support won't be able to offer any assistance for the children, it's the Child Tax Credit which needs to be (very) urgently sorted out. Can only suggest the OP gets their MP involved too.

lonelymumof2

my ex and I split last June. Since then I've mysteriously been reported for tax credit fraud-they told them I had no children!!! My tax credits stopped last july so as u can c it's taking forever to sort out! They've now acknowledge i DO have children BUT are insisting on going through every single year i claimed and every penny which is taking ages. My solicitor is excellent and has been relentless in pestering them and is trying to get MP involved.

(I was also reported for housing benefit fraud and money was suspended just 2 weeks after I finally got it-took nearly 3 months to get it in the first place! My solicitor spent entire day on phone to housing benefits explaining situation and got it resolved so i'm now getting it again but even though i get max doesn't cover my rent in full.)

Some people are telling me Income Support should be making up temporary shortfall re not getting tax credits but this is what i'm trying to find out for definite cos local job centre useless).

I got a community care grant but they only gave me a fifth of what i asked for which covered my moving costs and nothing else.

CSA have only just got organised despite me putting in claim last october (got sick of ex mucking me about as he doesn't think he should have to pay maintenance for his children!) but not getting first payment til March. They're also only backdating it til 1st January despite me initiating claim last october!

I'm REALLY struggling and would be in real trouble if it wasn't for my parents but they're retired pensioners so they don't really have money to spare.

Surely there's something else i can get? I just want what i'm entitled to - couldn't care less about me it's my children i need the money for.

healy

lonelymumof2 wrote: »

my ex and I split last June. Since then I've mysteriously been reported for tax credit fraud-they told them I had no children!!! My tax credits stopped last july so as u can c it's taking forever to sort out! They've now acknowledge i DO have children BUT are insisting on going through every single year i claimed and every penny which is taking ages. My solicitor is excellent and has been relentless in pestering them and is trying to get MP involved.

(I was also reported for housing benefit fraud and money was suspended just 2 weeks after I finally got it-took nearly 3 months to get it in the first place! My solicitor spent entire day on phone to housing benefits explaining situation and got it resolved so i'm now getting it again but even though i get max doesn't cover my rent in full.)

Some people are telling me Income Support should be making up temporary shortfall re not getting tax credits but this is what i'm trying to find out for definite cos local job centre useless).

I got a community care grant but they only gave me a fifth of what i asked for which covered my moving costs and nothing else.

CSA have only just got organised despite me putting in claim last october (got sick of ex mucking me about as he doesn't think he should have to pay maintenance for his children!) but not getting first payment til March. They're also only backdating it til 1st January despite me initiating claim last october!

I'm REALLY struggling and would be in real trouble if it wasn't for my parents but they're retired pensioners so they don't really have money to spare.

Surely there's something else i can get? I just want what i'm entitled to - couldn't care less about me it's my children i need the money for.

Income Support will not make up the shortfall because you are not receiving tax credits, I do not know where anyone got this idea from. The tax credits are separate from the IS claim.

tr82 knows what he is talking about so I would take his word for it. I do know that when an MP becomes involved that the case tends to become urgent as far as the Civil Service are concerned so this is your best bet.

leemack

if they agree you have responsibility for children now then they should be paying you now. Was your tax credts claim suspended or ended? If it was ended have you tried making a new claim. I don't have much experience of tax credits fraud cases but certainly in other benefits the claim is ended and the claimant then has to make a new claim for ongoing benefit, not sure if this will work with tax credits as they are are a law unto themselves!

Fran

lonelymumof2 wrote: »

My solicitor is excellent and has been relentless in pestering them and is trying to get MP involved.

It sounds like your solicitor is crap, not excellent, as they haven't sorted it out! You can get your MP involved yourself, contact them now!

As someone has mentioned, can you make a new claim? Are you paying for a solicitor because you can get free advice from Citizens Advice and they will negotiate on your behalf too?

Income Support will not "make up shortfall", it's Tax Credits that need sorting out. IS is for you and is a fixed amount and Child Tax Credits are for the children.

I got a community care grant but they only gave me a fifth of what i asked for which covered my moving costs and nothing else.

You can ask them to look at their decision again and they might increase the amount (I suppose this will depend on how long ago this was.)

Surely there's something else i can get? I just want what i'm entitled to - couldn't care less about me it's my children i need the money for.

I would get on to Citizens Advice and your MP to sort out Tax Credits.

(Find and) Write to your MP.