Cant Afford Rent - Been refused twice

Benefits_Bod

I wouldn't quite express it in the terms DX2 has , but it does cover the point.

If the advice / information given within the thread (or any thread for that matter) was never going to be acted upon, there doesn't seem to have been a purpose in posting in the first instance.

Further, posters offer advice in their own time and, in some cases, it takes considerable effort to post due to personal circumstances (e.g. health, family responsibilities). One or two posters work within the benefits system and offer advice voluntarily and free of charge, eating into their personal time. If that time is spent trying to assist someone who doesn't want or need the advice, that same time cannot then be used to help someone who can make positive use of that help.

Speaking personally, there are numerous threads and posts that I *could* positively contribute to but due to time constraints and personal circumstances I can't. So, I have to limit the amount of advice and information given and *try* to offer help where it is likely to be most useful. In turn, when someone turns round and effectively says "well, we probably won't do anything" (for whatever reason), it is just a touch frustrating....

For that reason, I won't be contributing further to this particular thread.

thorsoak

timeless wrote: »

cant really blame them considering the past 3 years.. and the fact the systems that are supposed to help us just arent helping, and most of that is in relation to other issues other than housing.

There is a very old saying "the Lord helps those that help themselves"......

What would you have "The System" do - give money to everyone who says "I need it"? Unless your mother (and your father) are prepared to shift themselves and claim, they will never know just what their entitlement might be.

timeless

no offence, but in retrospect of trying, the only thing we havent tried is tax credits.. my farther and l have put in the time to try and sort things out when he has been up to it.

but when your pushed from one person to the next and the buck is passed and while l do understand and agree with your perspective of "one can only get help by first helping themselves" it does seem that regardless of any previous advice we have acted on through the CAB or other places just seems to get us back to square one trying to figure out what else we can do, while l will continue to push mum to making the call ultimately its her who has to make it... and l can only do so much.

on another note l have managed to get hold of our local housing section tho we are awaiting to be given a meeting with a housing officer over the next few.

still as a final note, all it feels like recently is that when it comes to benefits all they want to do is get ppl off them regardless of the amount of work there is (at least several jobs lve applied for recently have told me they never had any to begin with, says allot of the job centre considering they advertised them).

AnxiousMum

All tax credits take is a simple phone call to get the ball rolling - there is no passing from pillar to post, just a phone call, fill out the form you receive accurately, and mail it back. If you refer to the various agencies - well housing can't do tax credits and vice versa - so of course you have to go from one to another.

Possibly you yourself could call tax credits, and then pass the phone to your mum.....might prompt her along a little?

DX2

Benefits_Bod wrote: »

I wouldn't quite express it in the terms DX2 has , but it does cover the point.

Direct hit, saves flaffing about.

timeless

while thats true, thats exactly how the systems been treating us.. l didnt actually mention up till a few weeks back we had random letters from the job centre stating they owed us random amounts we never saw and kept following up and hit brick walls..

lve also found others who are still allowed to claim who are earning more than my mother does (my sister was allowed to claim half her rent and shes a private tenant, her bf also earns more than we do, not married but from the way most are treated these days they consider it as so) so lm puzzled as to why others seem to be able to claim the same things we used to when we arent allowed and earn less.

debrag

I've never heard of it being called 'mobile carer' before, usually 'home care' or 'community care' At the agency I worked at people worked 7am to 10pm some 6 or 7 days a week to pay the bills. While you may be paid above the min wage per hour it doesn't work like that with how you are paid. I'd find I was out most of the day but only really paid for a few hours as those were the hours I was at a clients home. I'd also get about half the cost of a monthly bus pass.

Can you mother no find a home to work at? Thats what I'm not doing and it's much better.

timeless

thats pretty much like mum gets paid, most days she has a 6 hour lunch time gap between calls, in retrospect while she loves the job she does a good 400/500miles a week and the travel hardly covers it the car she uses just drinks fuel however we cant afford to get a more economical car and the one we nearly had a chance of getting was too much to afford out of £250 a week £150 of that is spent on keeping the care fueled up while the remainder goes towards food and bills to keep the household running.. only occasionally does she clear 300 in a week but even then there is usually something else that happens which requires the reminder of what she has..

like this week we were sprung a Tax fine from 2007 which we had no idea about, and now have to pay 100 which is money we dont even have to spare, and another bill of 100 at the end of the month which goes to Consumer Credit Services who are helping us reclaim PPI for mis-sold insurance, tried claiming on it twice but both times they made it so hard to claim or turned us down even tho we should have got it according to our solicitors.

jewelly

I must say I feel sorry for your Mother, effectively financially supporting you and your Dad. I've done the same job as her in the past, and it was hard. She can claim travel expenses back from the Inland Revenue if the company don't pay travel expenses. Over 400 miles a week seems insane. As another poster suggested, could she get a job in a care home nearby to reduce those costs? It also avoids the time spent travelling and gaps in between calls, and well as being a regular amount of pay each week.
Also, i think there was a misunderstanding re the info you were given about carers and HB/CTB from the CAB. I believe you would have to be caring for someone in your own home for this to apply.

Good luck in sorting something out. It sounds incredibly stressful.

Could you get a similar job and double the income to the household? There always seems to be carers jobs advertised as the elderly population has increased.

Oldernotwiser

jewelly wrote: »

I must say I feel sorry for your Mother, effectively financially supporting you and your Dad. I've done the same job as her in the past, and it was hard. She can claim travel expenses back from the Inland Revenue if the company don't pay travel expenses. .

I'm afraid she can't. She can claim tax relief on any mileage (up to 40p per mile) but she can't claim the actual travel expenses though her tax.