Single dad needs help

easyian

i am a single dad who works full time ,i have three children 8 - 10 - 12 i look after them 3 days a week and i rent privately i also pay £300 to my kids mother for maintanance i have spoken to the tax credits people and they have advised that im not entitled to any help CAN ANYBODY HELP ME PLEASE :mad:

Morgan_Ree

Only one household at a time can claim the tax credits. No doubt the mum is already doing this.

Considering you have the kids almost half the week have you asked their mum to split the tax credits/child benefit with you?

easyian

thanks for your response i have asked her but she says she needs it because she works part time and her wages pay the mortgage :mad:

tinkerbell28

I'd go through the CSA to see if you can get that maintenance reduced as you have care of them half the time, yet she gets all the help with TC and CB AND fulltime maintenance too.

easyian

tinkerbell28 wrote: »

I'd go through the CSA to see if you can get that maintenance reduced as you have care of them half the time, yet she gets all the help with TC and CB AND fulltime maintenance too.

thanks for your help if i did go through the csa i would be about £60 better off ,i just think that as a single father we should get more help with housing,bills etc

Morgan_Ree

easyian wrote: »

thanks for your help if i did go through the csa i would be about £60 better off ,i just think that as a single father we should get more help with housing,bills etc

There's nothing stopping you applying for HB/LHA
Worst they can say is no

Victoriajayne

Can't help you regarding tax credits, but regarding maintenance, as already stated above, I would suggest going through the CSA - and if you can, increase the time spent caring for your children so it's classed as shared care, i.e. they stay overnight 7 nights every fortnight.

If classed as shared care, and assuming your net pay is over £200 a week, this would bring the maintenance payments down to (net pay x 12.5%)-£21 ... based on net pay of £300 a week, you'd have to pay £16.50 a week, increasing by £12.50 for every extra £100 of wages.

If she'll only let them stay 3 nights a week, based on net pay of £300 a week, it works out as {(net pay x 25%) x 4/7}, so you'd be paying £42.86 a week, increasing by £14.29 for every extra £100 of wages.

Oldernotwiser

Morgan_Ree wrote: »

There's nothing stopping you applying for HB/LHA
Worst they can say is no

However, I think you'll find that the OP can only claim for the 1 bed rate as the children do not live with him.

karenx

You may get working tax credits depending on your income. And as said LHA but at the 1 bedroom rate as you dont have any parental responsobility for the children.
Def speak to the CSA though and make them aware how often you have the children as it should reduce your maintenance payments if they dont have the correct info already