single mum moving back to uk with a 9 year old

jamiechannon

hi,
I have been living abroad but my marriage has broken down and am having to move back to the uk with my 9 year old son. Can anyone tell me how much child benefit and child tax credit i would recieve. Also i hope to get a job asap but would i get working tax credit ? many thanks in advance from a worried mum

paddedjohn

welcome back, go straight to your local benefits office and get the ball rolling asap as the paperwork could take some time, and good luck finding a job.

Kimitatsu

You can get an idea of what you are entitled to on www.entitledto.co.uk (it comes up as turn2us but this is the right web addy!)

Do you have a property to come back to? If not you need to make a homeless persons application as soon as you get back to the UK, with your local council.

You can apply for benefits by phone, there are phones available in the job centre if you dont have one, and there are lone parent advisers there, if you can get an appointment with them then they will help fast track your application.

Working tax credit will be paid only for employment over 16 hours a week and up to a maximum of about £17,000 (not sure of the exact figure off the top of my head!) although if you work more than 30 hours a week there is a small bonus. Child Tax credit will help out with childcare costs for a registered provider as well.

Good luck

Oldernotwiser

You will have to pass the Habitual Residency Test before you are able to claim benefits. They will look at things like whether you own property abroad, whether you have a UK bank account and where you are living.

You cannot claim WTC until you are actually working and you will have to claim JSA rather than IS if you pass the test.