will i be entitled to housing benefit?

nuts1

I took my rent increase letter to the council for my housing benefit and received a letter back saying my new entitlement was zero. I rang them today to find out why(my son is 19 but classed as a minor as he is in full time education til june) and they explained there had been a mix up and my son had been classed as a non dependant. This set me thinking as to what would happen when my son leaves college in june. I will lose my child tax credit and child benefit, but will i also lose my housing benefit? I am on a gross wage of £10,140 and if i lose my housing benefit, i will be left with £7.12 to live on and thats before i've bought food!
Can someone give me a clue as to what i would be entitled to? I know i can still get WTC, but it will be less than i am getting at the moment.

McKneff

i would thinkif your son left college he would be expected to contribute to the family finances by working and paying board and lodge.

Could you do more hours or look for a better paid job.

dmg24

Do you work full time? How much is your total income including tax credits?

nuts1

I work 30 hours a weeek. My son will be out job hunting the day after he finishes college, however, the chances of him getting a job straight away are slim, so i cant rely on him paying his way immediately. At the moment i take home around £680 every 4 weeks and get £227 WTC although i know this will drop once he leaves college.
If i get another job i have to give 12 weeks notice at the job i'm in now because i've been there for so long, and no potential new employer is going to wait that long for me to start! Any extra hours i do will reduce my WTC even more, so i wouldnt be any better off!

dmg24

You seem to be putting barriers in your way that are easy overcome. I am sure that you could negotiate a lower notice period for your current role (12 weeks is excessive for a low paid role). Higher hours reducing your benefit entitlement is common sense, but surely you do not want to be dependent on benefits for the rest of your life?

nuts1

I dont want to be dependant on benefits at all! It is in my contract that i have to give 12 weeks notice. I love my job, i have worked there for the past 12 years, but if a better paid job came along i would snap it up. I am looking at the benefits side as a short term thing. I'm in debt management at the moment and only have 2 years til i'm debt free.
I am unskilled and jobs around here are few and far between. At least in the job i'm in, its fairly secure and if i was to be made redundant, at least i would get a redundancy payment. I'm not a scrounger, and have worked all of my adult life. I just need to know if i would be entitled to housing benefit, just so i have enough to live on until my son gets a job!

dmg24

https://www.entitledto.co.uk

missmontana

Your son will be able to claim JSA as soon as he leaves education, will your council tax not go up too as he is now an adult?

daimonde

theres a chance the HB/CTB folks used the highest level of income for your son when he was entered as a non-dependent.

this will have given you a higher deduction against your benefits than is likely to be accurate and can have a huge impact.

BUT its only a chance they did this, i know a lot of officers at my LA do that to prevent overpayments when they dont know a non-deps income situation when reaching key ages.

have a look at the award notice for a non-dependent deduction to be sure, if you're not sure, let us know what it is.

sammyjammy

missmontana wrote: »

Your son will be able to claim JSA as soon as he leaves education, will your council tax not go up too as he is now an adult?

Child benefit and tax credits will be payable until the end of August and so the OPs son will only be able to claim JSA from Spetember onwards.

nuts1

I had a letter from child benefit last month saying the last payment would be in May. I'll ring them and find out.