housing benefit ?

janey70

hi wonder if someone can help i have 2 girls aged 19 and 14 i am a single parent work part time 16hrs a week mininum wage at the moment i get help from tax credits etc also help with rent and council tax but today i got a letter from housing benefit saying i now have to pay full rent and £17 a week council tax ? it just says change in circumstances on letter and is only allowing for 1 child my 14 yr old my other daughter is just starting college again so i still can get help with her from wtc and family allowance for another year and thought this should be same with housing benefit and council tax ? and even if i did just have one child surley i wouldnt have to pay full hb would i? im so worried how im going to afford this making me ill and cant contact them till monday so got whole weekend thinking about it :mad: any one help plzzzzzzzzzz ?

Sam____2

Sounds like a mistake Janey, try not to worry too much and call them first thing Monday morning


eta, put your circumstances through the entitled2 web site, should give you an answer regarding your current circumstances.

janey70

thanks sam used entilted2 before never works out right for me the letter i think is because my daughter has just turned 19 last tuesday so presuming they think she is a non dependent but disgusted at expecting me to pay full rent and c/t even with 1 child be intrested to know if anyone has a 19 yr old in full time education who gets help with rent etc as well ?

Duncombe

Janey - is there a reason you only work 16 hours a week? Are you in receipt of any disability benefits? Would you be able to work in a full time job given that one of your children is 19, and the other is 14?

Also, its not really disgusting to assume you should be paying your own rent and CT is it?

janey70

i work as a cleaner and got this job when i first became single mum thats just my hours and always thought that i would not be any better off working full time as would lose all my wtc and benefits ?

Indie_Kid

Tax credits are taken into account for LHA / HB & CTB.

dmg24

janey70 wrote: »

i work as a cleaner and got this job when i first became single mum thats just my hours and always thought that i would not be any better off working full time as would lose all my wtc and benefits ?

Would it not give you a sense of pride/ self respect to be self sufficient?

janey70

be more degrading if i sat on my backside all day claming benefits wouldnt it ? at least i work and provide for my children and pay towards my rent and council tax dont get it all free !

Duncombe

janey70 wrote: »

i work as a cleaner and got this job when i first became single mum thats just my hours and always thought that i would not be any better off working full time as would lose all my wtc and benefits ?

Ok, if we ignore the obvious problems with this....

You will soon loose all benefits associated with your oldest daughter, and your other daughter is 14 - not long until you loose those too, particularly if she decides to finish education at the earliest opportunity.

There are lots and lots of benefits to working FT, mostly the huge increase in wage. Benefits are not designed to be a lifestyle choice as you appear to have made them.

When you no longer have any dependents, you will loose CTC and CB and your WTC unless you up your hours to 30 per week. You will also see a reduction in your HB and CTB as you will only be seen as 'needing' to support yourself. You won't be able to claim JSA as you have a job so by upping your hours now, you're planning for the future.

In addition, the benefit system is changing and you might find your tax credits / other benefits reduce sooner rather than later.

Thats just the financial aspect. As DMG says, would it not give you a sense of pride and/or self respect to be less reliant on state benefits? You'd also be teaching your daughters a valuable lesson about supporting themselves...

janey70

my daughter does have a weekend job , when i first started working nearly 3 years ago the more hours i did more i had to pay so in end if i did 18 or more hours would be no better off than i was doing 16 i was working for nothing i have been thinking about doing more hours but dont no how many hours full time is ? and with one child still in school and me on minium wage would i really be a lot better off this is the whole point of getting people out to work by making them better off than claming benefits

McKneff

janey70 wrote: »

be more degrading if i sat on my backside all day claming benefits wouldnt it ? at least i work and provide for my children and pay towards my rent and council tax dont get it all free !

Ther's no 'at least' about it. You dont work and provide for your children.
You partly provide for your children. We do the rest as taxpayers.

You need to be looking for a full time job or another part time one.

Up to the age of 60 last year I worked full time, i am disabled and probably would have been better off on benefits but i chose to be responsible for me and mine. I now work 3 days a week, even though I am an old age pensioner.