Big decrease in HB/CTB after having baby?

alanamyles

I've recently given birth to my third child, and yesterday was called out of the blue by my housing office who explained my HB and CTC had been overpaid and that I'd need to make arrangements to clear the debt and begin paying a much higher amount than previously.

I'm self employed, earning very little and previous to having my third I'd received full HB and CTB entitlement. I had voluntarily paid NIC which has enabled me stop working for a while and receive a lower rate of MA. Baby was six weeks premature and the MA kicked in literally two days before he was born (though I'd been poorly and unable to work for several weeks prior).

Anyway, I'd assumed because of my low income that my HB and CTB would remain pretty much the same after baby was born. However, it seems they've both now been reduced by about 1/3. Before baby, I'd been paying £14 pw towards my rent (with the rest paid through HB), though have now been informed I'll need to start paying £37.

I'm assuming this is because my CTC and WTC have increased because I have a third child, but this increase is only about £43 pw. With the increase in the amounts I need to pay for rent and council tax, I'll only have a few pounds per week more for baby. Is this right?

The letters regarding benefit entitlement I've received so far confuse me even more. There are sections missing which explain the complete details as to why my allowance has been reviewed (twice in the past month, only 6 weeks after the last review!).

One section details "the amount the law says you need to live on" which totals £67.50. I believe this is a single person's allowance, and there is nothing on there to disregard any income in regards to my three children - should there be a disregard for them?

I would have thought there'd be a graduated decrease in HB and CTB depending on the number of children and the related increase in CTC and CB. But this supposes that with two children I'd receive a full allowance while with a third child my benefits would be reduced dramatically.

On Friday I have an appointment with my housing officer, though I'd prefer to be prepared in advance if anyone can offer advice as the reduced HB and CTB just doesn't seem right to me. I'm not sure if there's been a mistake, or if my assumptions were just incorrect. In either case I'm going to struggle somewhat unless entitled to a little more HB than this!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help

DaisyFlower

Could you return to work early than planned? If you are s/e you can at least work to your own schedule.

You dont mention an income from another adult in the house so you also need to factor in maintainance from the father/fathers.

dippy-cat

One section details "the amount the law says you need to live on" which totals £67.50. I believe this is a single person's allowance, and there is nothing on there to disregard any income in regards to my three children - should there be a disregard for them?

This section on my HB letters says;
How much the law says you need to live on

For you £67.50
Because you have a dependant child or young person £62.33
Because you have at least 1 child or young person £17.40


Hope you get it sorted, do you have any previous HB letters to compare it with?

alanamyles

DaisyFlower wrote: »

Could you return to work early than planned? If you are s/e you can at least work to your own schedule.

You dont mention an income from another adult in the house so you also need to factor in maintainance from the father/fathers.

I do plan to return to work ASAP - TBH I'd hoped to continue working and have only a month or so off work, but had been rather poorly and figured it best to claim MA in order to have the break I needed to get better. I'm planning to be able to work just after Xmas (rather than wait til almost march when the MA ends).

This is linked with the situation with baby's dad - very complicated as he lives abroad. Technically we are a couple but aren't living together yet (planned for spring next year, would have been sooner except for my illness as the kids and I are moving over there). I've been completely open about this with TC, HB etc to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong as regards benefits, and would like to be working again asap to save for the move. My older children's dad has managed to avoid CS, though of course I have appealed (he refuses to pay and somehow manages to hide his significant income).

This section on my HB letters says;
How much the law says you need to live on

For you £67.50
Because you have a dependant child or young person £62.33
Because you have at least 1 child or young person £17.40

Thanks Dippy-Cat, this proved really useful. On previous letters it says this:

For you £67.50
Because you have a dependant child or young person £124.66
Because you have at least 1 child or young person £17.40

And I've just discovered there should be a disregard of £62.33 for each child, not simply a single discount for 1+ children. So *hopefully* there'll be an additional £62.33 disregard which would go towards a higher payable rate of benefit. Still less than I've received up to now but much more than the reduced rate which had freaked me out until now!

Thanks both for your help!

MamaMoo_2

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