advice on claiming income support

confused54321

I'm a stay at home mum and my husband has just been offered a new job down south (we live in Scotland). We currently have our house up for sale for over a year now but to no avail so we all can't make a quick move. If my husband accept this job he would have to move (alone) first and I would have to stay here with the children for as long as it takes to sell the house. If he does move he will have to rent somewhere and this would make it impossible for him to continue to support us (pay mortgage and bills etc) so would I be able to claim benefits for this temporary but possibly long term seperation, or not? If it was to all work out it could be a great thing for us to move but with housing market the way it is I'm not sure how long we would have to be seperated for. We would just like to know our options regarding benefits (if there are any) and we have never claimed for anything before. Thanks in advance

Vader123

As you are a couple any means tested benefits would assess his income. You can't claim to be single just because he is working away, sorry.

Vader

darkblue_2

It's a good question. You could mess around with www.entitledto.co.uk and see what would be the case. Otherwise you can phone the jobcenter and ask. You don't have to give your name and details - just say it's a general enquiry.

AsknAnswer2

You couldn't claim income support no, not unless you were a lone parent or a carer for someone on mid or high rate of DLA. your husband living away from you in these circumstances would not qualify you as a lone parent.

The easiest way to put it is that you will be entitled to the same in that situation as you are currently entitled to now.

confused54321

Thanks for everyones quick replies. From the sounds of things I won't be able to claim any benefits which is unfortunate but kind of what I expected. Thanks again

darkblue_2

What about renting out your current property and hoping the market picks up? Obviously it can be tricky to get tenants, and you don't have control over what they're doing to your house - so you'd have to pick wisely and trust them - but they may be able to pay your mortgage on it and some extra to cover the cost of your rented home down south?

confused54321

Thanks darkblue, I never even considered that but it's a good idea This job offer has came out of the blue (we only found out yesterday) so we are just trying to get our head round it and decide what is the best thing to do. Career wise it would be great for my hubby but we just don't have any spare income for us to live apart so that's not feisable (sp?) Anyway, I'm going to have a look into the renting idea, thanks again

darkblue wrote: »

What about renting out your current property and hoping the market picks up? Obviously it can be tricky to get tenants, and you don't have control over what they're doing to your house - so you'd have to pick wisely and trust them - but they may be able to pay your mortgage on it and some extra to cover the cost of your rented home down south?