How much i need to live on

djshadyshea

just a quick question. Can benefits take nearly half of my fortnightly money? i am a single dad of 3 girls and today have checked my bank and found that for 2 weeks i have got £63.54 to live of this cant be right surely. Shea very concerned parent :mad:

seven-day-weekend

Why have they taken half your money? I don't know what you mean.

Marisco

djshadyshea wrote: »

just a quick question. Can benefits take nearly half of my fortnightly money? i am a single dad of 3 girls and today have checked my bank and found that for 2 weeks i have got £63.54 to live of this cant be right surely. Shea very concerned parent :mad:

We need a bit more detail dj, i.e is the benefit unemployment benefit? Do you get CB? Are you paying back crisis loans? Do the girls live with you? If not , do you pay CSA etc, etc?

Muttleythefrog

Yeah op.... nobody can advise here. If they are 'taking half your fortnightly money' then we need you to tell us what benefit(s) you get and the DWP explanation of what they're paying you (and why they're not paying you full amount of x).

djshadyshea

well apparently they are taking £11.76 water out of my income support as well as social fund loans. the question really was can they do this by law and leave me with well under what the law states you have to live off. yes my girls live with me and have done so since april last year

jct66

I think they can, yes, had it done to me when my electric bill became unaffordable, I had direct fuel set up, which is where the dss decide on how much you can pay towards your bill, they took £35 a fornight from me, which left me with only £68 a week to live off, in your case you get CTC towards your childrens living costs.

seven-day-weekend

Paying your water bill is surely part of 'living on', isn't it? So you have one less bill to pay and benefit reduced accordingly. You don't need so much to live on if you have one less bill to pay.

HappyMJ

djshadyshea wrote: »

well apparently they are taking £11.76 water out of my income support as well as social fund loans. the question really was can they do this by law and leave me with well under what the law states you have to live off. yes my girls live with me and have done so since april last year

£11.76 isn't that much. It's for current usage and arrears. You didn't mention the social loan repayments. The payments are normally 10% of the total of your income support, child benefit and child tax credits. The maximum loan is 104 weeks and £1,500 so they, assuming as you mention they are taking a lot, I'm also assuming you had the maximum amount at one point so will be repaying £28.85 per fortnightly benefit payment. That's normal.

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

I get £216.10 IB every fortnight & last week I was horrified when I only received £101.96.

I phoned up to query what had happened & they said they were taking £57.07 p/w for a crisis loan I had last May.

It was the first i'd heard & I was suprised that they could take over half your money like that but luckily they agreed & gave me some of it back.

I am now only paying £27 p/w which is much more manageable.

If you are struggling phone Recovery on 0845 8500293 to see if you can arrange smaller payments.

ETA £11.76 doesn't seem like alot unless you are paying other loans too.

Hammyman

djshadyshea wrote: »

just a quick question. Can benefits take nearly half of my fortnightly money? i am a single dad of 3 girls and today have checked my bank and found that for 2 weeks i have got £63.54 to live of this cant be right surely. Shea very concerned parent :mad:

Rubbish. You don't have £63.45 a fortnight to live off. You have £63.45 plus £94.20 child benefit plus £294.80 Child Tax Credit so you actually have £452.45 a fortnight or £226.22 a week or to live off and you don't probably even have rent or council tax to pay.

So if you're skint, the only reason is because you are useless with your money. £226 a week is more than enough to feed and clothe one adult and three kids and to keep them in a warm house and to pay for things like internet and Sky TV.

krisskross

Breast_Cancer_Survivor wrote: »

I get £216.10 IB every fortnight & last week I was horrified when I only received £101.96.

I phoned up to query what had happened & they said they were taking £57.07 p/w for a crisis loan I had last May.

It was the first i'd heard & I was suprised that they could take over half your money like that but luckily they agreed & gave me some of it back.

I am now only paying £27 p/w which is much more manageable.

If you are struggling phone Recovery on 0845 8500293 to see if you can arrange smaller payments.

ETA £11.76 doesn't seem like alot unless you are paying other loans too.

I wish I had the same income and outgoings as you and could still get an interest free loan.