17/f benefits help

Aarons_mummy

When I done my apprentiship 4years ago I earned the same and paid £150 a month rent, bought my own food, toiletries etc paid £180 driving lessons and managed to have weekly nights out etc.

It can be done and is by many other people. I think you just have to get on with it and learn to budget effectively.

dseventy

therobbie wrote: »

I'm not claiming JSA, no, but it's not so much about me.

Isn't it about you as well as we are looking at household income? What income do you have and how are you supporting yourself?

As ONW says the ~£50 JSA would help and you might actually get a job and can support your gf? Thats what being a couple is?

Am I way off the mark and being too sensible here?

D70

therobbie

dseventy wrote: »

Isn't it about you as well as we are looking at household income? What income do you have and how are you supporting yourself?

As ONW says the ~£50 JSA would help and you might actually get a job and can support your gf? Thats what being a couple is?

Am I way off the mark and being too sensible here?

D70

This thread was specifically about what my girlfriend (individually) is entitled to. Like previously stated, I know what I'm entitled to & I'll sort myself out and sort us both out, as a couple, but thank you for your concern.

Also, thanks for any constructive answers.

ska_lover

Is she not prepared to get an evening job etc to supplement her income?

nannytone_2

but your girlfriend isnt an individual. you live together as a couple, and so are expected to support each other financially!
her wage from her apprenticeship is already more than any benefit entitlement she may have.

Fiddlestick

therobbie wrote: »

£95 a week seems difficult to live on, even when staying somewhere virtually rent free.

That's plenty!

bambammy

At my old job, there use to be quite a few young people claiming WTC. Would she be entitled to WTC ?
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/wtc1.pdf

Doom_and_Gloom

bambammy - you have to be 25 to claim WTC unless you have a child/children and/or are disabled.

As it is £95/week is a good amount for someone that doesn't have their own place (a couple get just over £100 on JSA and have to pay bills and other living expenses out of it, sans housing, so she isn't that bad off at all - a person her age, if they could get JSA, as a single person would get just over £50/week on JSA).
OP you say the keep is low, how low is low? £10/£15/£20/£25... per week or what?
£27/week for the tram. I don't know how trams work but can you do what you do with bus tickets and buy a weekly or 4 weekly pass? They work out cheaper if this is possible.
The thing is even if the keep is £30/week (which by the sounds of it it is less) and her travel is £27/week that still means she has £38/week left over which is quite a lot of money - £152/4weeks! What is she spending this on? Does she buy her own food? Does she spend without thinking? Is she paying your keep as well? Or is there another reason? I really don't understand how she can be struggeling.

As for you OP you need to get an income somehow. By the sounds of it you are not claiming JSA - you would have to claim with your girlfriend as a couple and although she is not earning over the amount she would be working 'too many hours' so I'm not sure if you could. However it still stands that you are not 'paying your way' in the house hold you live in.

therobbie

Our 'rent' will be determined on our income, but it would be more than reasonable. I guess I was a little eager to discount £95 a week. I think I was probably just comparing it to minimum wage, rather than thinking how far £95 a week will actually go.

Personally, I have a claim in for ESA & DLA, so as an individual & as a couple, we'll be fine both in the short term & long term (when both getting a proper wage). I guess I made it sound like I wasn't going to claim anything, but I just meant, I knew what I was entitled to & had it covered.

So I was just asking what my girlfriend is entitled to, whilst working an apprenticeship.

Again, thanks all constructive advice, it's cleared stuff up.