Lone Parent working part time - Income Support query

MsShorty

Could someone please confirm if I have got this right.

Lone parent working 15 hours per week at £5.50 per hour.

Can they claim Income Support as a lone parent and still keep £20 of their Income Support

or

Does the fact that their wages are more than the Income Support payment mean that they cannot claim Income Support??

Bit confused!!

Also, I presume that if they up their hours to 16 per week, they would not claim Income Support and claim WTC instead??

Any advice appreciated.

pmlindyloo

A useful site here:

http://www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect/moneyandlegal/otherbenefits/Pages/IncomeSupport.aspx

Also, if you put the different scenarios into www.turn2us.org.uk the benefit checker will give you a good idea of the entitlement.

kingfisherblue

Is the lone parent under 21? If not, £5.50 an hour is below the legal minimum wage.

Caz3121

MsShorty wrote: »

Can they claim Income Support as a lone parent and still keep £20 of their Income Support

The £20 is disregarded income and the rest is deducted £ for £. So if earning £82.50, £62.50 will be deducted from the IS

MsShorty

kingfisherblue wrote: »

Is the lone parent under 21? If not, £5.50 an hour is below the legal minimum wage.

Yes. She is 20 years old. The NMW was the first thing I checked out when she told me about the job.

MsShorty

Caz3121 wrote: »

The £20 is disregarded income and the rest is deducted £ for £. So if earning £82.50, £62.50 will be deducted from the IS

Thank you for putting it in clear english for me. Managed to get my head round it now.

Thanks for your help.

Spendless

What happens if the lone parent has a child over 7 (or whatever the age is for parent being moved to JS instead). A friend was told she could only keep £5 as she was on JS rather than IS due to age of child, but I don't know if she was given correct advice?

Caz3121

For most people a single £5 weekly disregard applies to all their earnings.
The disregard for couples in income-based JSA is £10, as a whole.
Some people, such as lone parents or those in special occupations (such as part-time firefighters, members of the territorial or reserve forces, lifeboat men and some coastguards) benefit from a £20 disregard in income-based JSA.

so if your friend is a lone parent the disregard is £20