What Benefits will i be entitled to?

chloe123_2

Im 20 years old, and have recently found out that i am expecting a baby in march. I have been looking for a job for a few months now since quitting my previous job due to mistreatment.....but now that bump is really starting to show, i know alot of jobs are out of the question. I am in the process of moving into my partners mums house, and as i will have to pay her rent, i have just applied for jobseekers allowance in order to be able to make a contribution to the household. My partner has a decent job, but its just not enough to cover all the living costs aswell as everything the baby will need. Id just like to know what kind of beefits are available to me? I'm still looking for jobs, and would like to work if i can, but im at the point where i could really use some help too. If anyone has any ideas id be really grateful

MrsManda

Fill in your details on the direct.gov benefits advisor HERE
and also the benefits search at entitledto.com HERE as a guide to what you may be entitled to.

McKneff

Presumably you are going to live as a couple in his mothers house.

Child Benefit is of course payable, probably JSA but not sure about anything else as he is in full time work

Oldernotwiser

Are you not claiming JSA because you've been sanctioned?

Once the baby is born you can claim CB and possibly Child Tax Credit.

BassistMike

You must be careful about claiming JSA if you live with other people who work. When I was made redundant from my last job, (at 21 years old!) I found it incredibly hard to find absolutely any kind of work.

Once I had almost totally eaten into my remaining money, I decided I would have to bite the bullet and get on the JSA. As I live with my girlfriend, they told me I couldn't claim for myself (just because I slept in the same room as her), but we could BOTH claim. As my girlfriend works, she would have to quit her job to do this of course. Essentially I was left ineligible for any kind of support from the state.

Visibly irritated by this, the nice chap behind the desk in the job centre (unofficially) told me that I could claim, as long as I could prove we didn't share a room in the house. So all I had to do was set up a camp bed and move all my property and clothes into our spare room, and people would come and inspect it to see if I was lying.

Thankfully though, I didn't need to claim because in the nick of time I found a new job, so then had to move everything back into my room!:rotfl:

The benefit trap is an incredibly illogical and nasty one for so many good people, this government needs to sort it out, and start penalising those who abuse the system, rather than those who absolutely need help.

Oldernotwiser

BassistMike wrote: »

You must be careful about claiming JSA if you live with other people who work. When I was made redundant from my last job, (at 21 years old!) I found it incredibly hard to find absolutely any kind of work.

Once I had almost totally eaten into my remaining money, I decided I would have to bite the bullet and get on the JSA. As I live with my girlfriend, they told me I couldn't claim for myself (just because I slept in the same room as her), but we could BOTH claim. As my girlfriend works, she would have to quit her job to do this of course. Essentially I was left ineligible for any kind of support from the state.

Visibly irritated by this, the nice chap behind the desk in the job centre (unofficially) told me that I could claim, as long as I could prove we didn't share a room in the house. So all I had to do was set up a camp bed and move all my property and clothes into our spare room, and people would come and inspect it to see if I was lying.

Thankfully though, I didn't need to claim because in the nick of time I found a new job, so then had to move everything back into my room!:rotfl:

The benefit trap is an incredibly illogical and nasty one for so many good people, this government needs to sort it out, and start penalising those who abuse the system, rather than those who absolutely need help.

What a load of old codswallop!

BassistMike

What is? My post, or the fact the state (officially) refused to support me to find work when I was in absolute dire need, just because I lived with my girlfriend?

healy

BassistMike wrote: »

You must be careful about claiming JSA if you live with other people who work. When I was made redundant from my last job, (at 21 years old!) I found it incredibly hard to find absolutely any kind of work.

Once I had almost totally eaten into my remaining money, I decided I would have to bite the bullet and get on the JSA. As I live with my girlfriend, they told me I couldn't claim for myself (just because I slept in the same room as her), but we could BOTH claim. As my girlfriend works, she would have to quit her job to do this of course. Essentially I was left ineligible for any kind of support from the state.

Visibly irritated by this, the nice chap behind the desk in the job centre (unofficially) told me that I could claim, as long as I could prove we didn't share a room in the house. So all I had to do was set up a camp bed and move all my property and clothes into our spare room, and people would come and inspect it to see if I was lying.

Thankfully though, I didn't need to claim because in the nick of time I found a new job, so then had to move everything back into my room!:rotfl:

The benefit trap is an incredibly illogical and nasty one for so many good people, this government needs to sort it out, and start penalising those who abuse the system, rather than those who absolutely need help.

I cannot see anything wrong with couples supporting each other in times of need, I thought that was what couples are supposed to do.

I am surprised you received that advice from the Job Centre, but in any case it is incorrect.

MrsManda

BassistMike wrote: »

What is? My post, or the fact the state (officially) refused to support me to find work when I was in absolute dire need, just because I lived with my girlfriend?

You lived as a couple therefore you were considered to have a joint income. This does not mean in order for you to claim JSA your GF would have had to give up her job.
What it means is if you did not qualify for JSA on the basis of National Insurance contributions you'd have to claim for income assessed JSA which would take into consideration your gf's income.

If neither you nor your GF worked, were living together and both wanted to claim JSA then this would have to be a joint claim rather than you claiming separately.

BassistMike

OK, I'm just sharing my experience, and that is pretty much exactly what I was told by a job centre employee. My girlfriend works part time and they were trying to get me to put in a joint claim, but of course, as per the job seeker's agreement, she would need to look for other work which she wasn't prepared to do as she's happy doing what she's doing!

Yes, it does seem wrong to me as well, but that's just what I got told by both the chap behind the desk, and his pushy superior. There's so much red tape, it's ridiculous - perhaps there was some other circumstance that stopped me from being able to claim without me moving my stuff into the spare room.

Thankfully, I've not had a lot of first hand experience with the benefits system.

Oldernotwiser

BassistMike wrote: »

What is? My post, or the fact the state (officially) refused to support me to find work when I was in absolute dire need, just because I lived with my girlfriend?

All of it, but especially the bit about suggesting you pretend to sleep in the spare room and that would stop your being assessed as a couple!