Robbing Peter to pay Paul?

welshcakes

Naively until a call to the jobcentre today, I wasn't aware that I could claim something called CTC now that I am on JSA.

I've just read up on the Inland Revenue site however alarm bells rang when it stated that if I do claim CTC (we have three children), our IS and JSA go down. So my question is, is there any point in claiming CTC when it's simply going to get taken off our benefits?

Apparently IS and JSA does not take into account any children therefore it is just meant for the individuals receiving it. How come, if I have read the Inland Rvenue blurb correctly, can CTC which is meant for the children element be allowed to reduce the benefits for the adults?

Am I just being thick on this?

bonnie_2

you can claim ctc when your working as well had you not known this.

Scarlett1

welshcakes if your IS pays the child element then if you claim CTC it will go down, you will then receive IS for yourself only, so all you are doing is sitting on the other side of the seesaw, you will be no worse off or any better off

welshcakes

Ah, now I understand. Well the jobcentre lady said there has never been any child element in our IS claim so big thank you Scarlett, I'll apply online today

highland

Welshcakes you can't apply online anymore, think you can get the jobcentre to do a claim for you & they put it straight on the computer, so its much quicker than waiting for a form to come out.