Child Maintainance no longer affects Income Support??

sparklinglime

For what its worth, I don't agree with this change at all.

I'm on income support and have been now for six years (I'm considered to be a carer for my son with special needs). Up to the point where I left my husband I'd worked for 22 years, and had been married for 20.

Doesn't make me feel better about my situation.

I won't benefit from this change as the father of my children avoids paying CSA, but when I left The Git six years ago, he was paying almost £500 a month maintenance. I was given £10 a week of this (which makes a huge difference) and then I felt we were less of a burden on the tax payer.

I think this will - as some posts here suggest - increase anomisity towards lone-parents.

The vast majority of lone-parents are those who end up in the situation I have, and have, for most of their working life contributed to the tax system. There are very few who work the system, yet they are the ones the media focus on.

emsywoo123

I sense this thread veering towards benefit bashing............:eek:

sparklinglime

emsywoo123 wrote: »

I sense this thread veering towards benefit bashing............:eek:

I hope it doesn't. As I hate being bashed. I go through life feeling guilty as it is.

I certainly don't mean to come across as benefit bashing in my post...

moomoomama27

CTC is completly different to maintenance and income support so I dont see how it can be related?

I think this will make non working single parents want to not work even more!
My friend is due to get £750 a month maintenance now ontop of £64 IS, £94 CTC and full housing! So thats £1382 roughly per month with no rent or council tax to pay, free school meals etc. And will probably still be able to earn £20 per week so another £80-£100 to add onto that total again!

Surly the government will soon see thats not right and put a limit on maintenance again!!

It's madness, surely the government will see how wrong this is! I thought the whole point of CM was to offset the benefits that single parents were getting from tax payers! How can it be right that some women/men may recieve an additional £500 plus on top of MEANS tested benefits!??

Ludicrous, and I was a single parent!

So much for encouraging people out to work!

SuziQ

moonflower wrote: »

My Ex has just been made redundant and I will not recieve any CSA payments at all I am very worried.

Can I claim for IS and will it take long for them to reply after I claim.

Please help

You can if you fit the criteria:
Who can get Income Support


It's for people who all the following apply to:

• are between age 16 and the age they can get Pension Credit
• have a low income
• work less than 16 hours a week
• aren't in full-time study (but there are some exceptions)
• don't get Jobseeker's Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance
• don't have savings above £16,000
• live in Great Britain

You may get Income Support if you are one of the following:

• a lone parent
• on parental or paternity leave
• a carer
• a refugee learning English who arrived less than a year ago

Young people in relevant education may also get Income Support. Generally this means full-time education up to GCE A-level or Scottish Certificate of Education (Higher level). This might apply if you:

• are a lone parent
• don't live with a parent or someone acting as a parent
• are at serious risk of abuse or violence
• are a refugee learning English

You can get Income Support as well as some other benefits.

There are rules about age of children as well which can mean you may need to apply for JSA instead of your children are over a certain age.

ETS I didn't see the other 2 pages so I'm sorry for duplicating this information.

nannytone_2

i don't 'bash' anyone receiving benefit for the most part. no one can tell what their future holds and we all have times of hardship(well most of us) all im saying is that benefits are for those times and are (should be) a temperory measure and not a way of life. i know personally of too many people that use benefits as a norm and their eyes pop out of their heads at the mention of work. most single parents are happy with the new ruling and dont take advantage, but too many are too comfortable in the position they are in. you could say C M is for the benefit of the kids, and it should be. but in reality who seperates their incomes? it all goes into one big pot and the money is used as needed. is the extra money coming in just going to b used excluively for the child its meant for? of course not. im not saying that single parents should be living hand to mouth, but surely you n eed to have incentives. reward the single parent that tries to better themselves rather than the one who has an ex that pays!

lauren_1

CM disregardation does mean that the CM can be used wholey on the child/ren. Many a NRP has moaned that their money has been used for household or non child related means and quite rightly, why would i want my money to be spent on anything but my child.

I have been on IS for 6 months now, 6 months out of 10 years working isnt that bad,Yet i feel like the scum of the earth for it.

looby75

moomoomama27 wrote: »

It's madness, surely the government will see how wrong this is! I thought the whole point of CM was to offset the benefits that single parents were getting from tax payers! How can it be right that some women/men may recieve an additional £500 plus on top of MEANS tested benefits!??

Ludicrous, and I was a single parent!

So much for encouraging people out to work!

I lol when I hear all these people complaining about all these PWC that will be getting £500+ extra on top of their benefits. I remember reading somewhere a while back the the average maintenance payment was less than £120 per month thats less than £30 a week, approx £10 more than what lone parents are allowed to keep now.

Now I'm not saying I totally agree with a full disregard but I do think, like in many benefits threads, the reality of the situation is getting a bit bypassed.

moomoomama27

looby75 wrote: »

I lol when I hear all these people complaining about all these PWC that will be getting £500+ extra on top of their benefits. I remember reading somewhere a while back the the average maintenance payment was less than £120 per month thats less than £30 a week, approx £10 more than what lone parents are allowed to keep now.

Now I'm not saying I totally agree with a full disregard but I do think, like in many benefits threads, the reality of the situation is getting a bit bypassed.

But then whats the point of IS being a means tested benefit! I thought the whole point of IS was to provide a safety net for people who couldn't work, so they could pay their bills and eat. Mark my word this new system will be abused to kingdom come! Also give another stigma to the honest single parents out there!

looby75

moomoomama27 wrote: »

But then whats the point of IS being a means tested benefit! I thought the whole point of IS was to provide a safety net for people who couldn't work, so they could pay their bills and eat. Mark my word this new system will be abused to kingdom come! Also give another stigma to the honest single parents out there!

So the government can say how much they are doing to cut child poverty

Yet again the single mothers will get blamed for it though....so to put it bluntly I'm going to use the extra money to treat the kids and pay for extras for them while I can. I'm starting a course soon and hope it will lead to work (they have a high success rate and there is a waiting list for the course because of that) so I won't have the "extra" for long anyway all being well.