Housing Benefit and JSA not enough D:

*Chattie*

are you three a tag team trying to catch users out?

now that is odd

Oldernotwiser

*Chattie* wrote: »

are you three a tag team trying to catch users out?

now that is odd

The only thing odd is your post!

amistoso

*Chattie* wrote: »

are you three a tag team trying to catch users out?

now that is odd

No, it just helps if you have all the info, otherwise you can't give the appropriate advice. The OP hasn't been back to clarify.
Nice of you to join in just to say that though

Pepzofio

The figures quoted don't add up either... OP, you seem to be saying that you are receiving HB but using it to cover living expenses rather than rent. As you are getting full CTB then presumably full HB is also being paid - let's assume £59/wk shared rate LHA - plus at least £53.45/wk JSA, so at least £112.45/wk income. Confirmed outgoings are:

Rent = £78.50/wk (does this includes gas/elec, water etc?)
Food = £10/wk
Mobile = £10/wk

Leaving £13.45/wk (more if you are over 25) for sundries like toiletries and occasional travel - ok this is probably tight and I'm sure you'd eat into your rent fairly easily if you weren't careful, but I don't see how you can have been unable to pay any of it...?

Marisco

This is getting confusing!!!! :eek: OP, could you post exactly what money you have coming in (including HB and CT and anything else) in order for us to give you correct advice based on incomings/outgoings. Are you a full time student, mature student, part time or what? What grants are available to you if any? Bit more info please.

beautifylife

I'd like to offer some help that I have been given on this site and pass it on to save you some time.

Take a look at this thread I started I currently live on a VERY low budget and some of these ideas might help you with how to cope over winter. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3486361 also check out a thread I ran, eating for £10 per week. Just do a search and it should bring it up.

The information there is practical and easy to apply immediately.

If you need help with bills you can also apply to charities, call Turn2us - just google for the number, they can put in your details and recommend who to contact for help, and it does take time to get help it won't be instant it could help. Also consider calling the companies explain your position and negotiate some time. It can be very scary and panic can set in and then we get paralyzed by fear.

I know I've been there. Take one step at a time, you can't do everything at once your brain just melts down, start by doing something you feel you can do. Maybe it's making a phone call, or listing down your incoming and outgoings.

Asking for help is the first step and that takes courage, that is a step in a good direction. One thing to just be aware of is that you are going through some rapid change. You'll be out of your comfort zone and it will require that you think differently and do things that may feel difficult. Once accepted it is easier. Consider that you will learn new skills and how to deal with pressure and challenges in the future - these are real positives and life skills and it will help you help others with more compassion.

Always think, how can I get some value from this experience. You have a choice, you have that power. So dealing with things is about practical steps, information, making choices, being courageous and determined and being clear about what you need, and of course taking action.

Also you'll need to keep your spirits up, when things are tight some days can be good others more challenging. If you have fears about anything - get advice, be armed with the necessary information. If you have a legal contract for your tenancy check how much notice the landlord would need to give you before you have to vacate. CAB is a good source of free information, and if they can't help they can advise who can.

Then you can start to form a plan with all the help and you can take back some control. People are reaching out to help.

If I think of anything else I'll add.

I believe you can sort this out, if you set your mind and decide.

Warm wishes I hope all goes well.

moseymoose

first of all I need to clarify what I've said. I am no longer a registered student at the college since my sponsorship ended and so did my enrollment at the college, so in the eyes of the government, despite my intention to complete my course by whatever means necessary, Im unemployed. I could not prove that I am a student, only that I was a student and have an incomplete course thats due to expire. I don't have a student agreement, or a student card and I'm not attending classes at college. I see lecturers directly for help and I hand in assignments and occasionally I have to pay to rit an exam, which costs £20.

Also, £340 was one of the cheapest shares I could find in the whole Tyne and Wear area in range of the college, most being about £300-400. As they were all contracts and not shares, the rent isn't shared between others, that amount it payed soley for myself, and I have my own sperate 6 month contract from my flatmate who pays the same rent with his own. The council knows about my flatshare, but because I have my own contract, I'm solely responsible for my rent.

£13/week left over is still not very much, it is in the terms of food, but my travel cost to college is £4 so even if i go once a week that leaves me with £9 and then what if I needed toilet roll, washing powder, some toothpaste or razor, or a slightly more expensive item of food such as some meat. It wouldn't be enough, I need a job thats for certain, but I've been looking since I left the door sales job. But the thing is, even with a job, it's going to be tricky, because I can't take a job that will keep me at work on a tuesday or thursday after 3:30pm because my examinations are at and after 4pm on an evening at college and that would defeat the object of being here.

If it wasnt for needing to be here to physically attend college to do exams then I would inform my landlord I couldnt afford to stay and that I will move out to my grandparents. My career is more important than anything else, if I can finish my course, I can ask for a very good salary for a job thats in demand at the moment, or re-obtain a sponsorship paying £600 a month.

Marisco

I'm sorry but I'm still confused!!!! You're a student, but your not, and your in a flat share but your not?????? I have put up a link that shows cheap shares. Which college are you attending? As all the places in the link are within easy access, even Fenham is only a bus ride away, and if you're fit they are all within walking distance! Unless you are in Sunderland Uni! If you are not a student, then you should be getting HB, CT and JSA if you are unemployed.

Jemma-T

moseymoose wrote: »

I feel that first I should explain my situation. Because my college course expired that I was on a sponsorship for, which I can't get back on so I have to fund myself to finish the course. But because I live 200 miles for the college and I only have a limited amount of time to get my coursework done, I found a job and moved up to Newcastle upon Tyne, which is a few miles from the college, the job was in sales and was 100% commission, and I started the job almost completely broke after finding a flat share and paying up £640 bond and 1st months rent in advance. The job was long winded, was incredibly strenuous, and involved 14 hour days, I had to pay for my own travel and I was on what was called a 6 day trial period.
Because my money was so limited the amount of money I was forking out to travel to different postcodes for door to door sales with no wage meant that I had to get my grandparents to send me money just so that I could eat. During the trial they asked me to get a passport photo done for my ID badge, which was going to be £5, I didn't have that much money so as a final straw I went back to the flat and didn't return, and I don't regret my decision because I would have hated every minute of the job, and with it being so demanding I would never be able to get to college during open hours to submit work and attend remedial sessions and examinations.

Soon after I look desperately for work in all the nearby coffee shops, bars and restaurants to no avail, and then applied for JSA, Housing and Council Tax Benefit, unaware of how the system works etc. I thought that Housing Benefit would pay my rent for what it was to keep me housed. But it doesn't, and this is my problem.

I'm coming up to my second month of not paying my rent having moved in on the 12th July, due to the fact that even though I'm on housing benefit, it doesn't cover my living expenses and at the moment, I'm actually spending into the benefit to keep myself afloat. My rent is only £340, and I'm supposed to have 100% council tax benefit so I don't have to pay it. When I take into account my mobile phone bill, which is my sole source of communication with potential employers and with the Job Centre at an average cost of £40 a month, and my food expenses of roughly £10 a week, not to mention that this week I need my hair cut, and I've run out of shampoo and conditioner, and that I also need to commute to college this week to hand in work it puts me back to the exact same position I was before the last weeks benefit came in. I hardly live beyond my means, I even stay at my friends house a couple of days in the week out of his charity so that I spend less on food. I just don't understand how people can get by on the amount the government give to the unemployed who are renting a property.

My landlady hasn't mentioned anything about my missed payments, and I'm not reminding her because there's nothing I can do about it, but eventually I am sure she will notice and I will only have enough to pay £340 rent probably mid way through next month, and then that will put me again at the depth of my overdraft and will take me nearly 6 weeks to get the money from the benefit after expenses to live to pay the rent again. There isn't a chance in hell that I can pay the 2 months I'm outstanding, only next months.

How do you get by in a situation like this? and how do you guys on JSA and HB pay your bills?

moseymoose wrote:

and my food expenses of roughly £10 a week

You must be very thin.

I'm not sure why you didn't think through all these things before you moved. You'll have to go home and just post any work from there and sort yourself out. Or get a job and probably still struggle.

Go home if you can.

debrag

You have exams every week? Get a bar job and request the evenings of when you need to.
Where did you live when you were a FT student?
Why did you have to leave?