What benefits are available for volunteers?

lucifersangel87

Hi all,

My girlfriend volunteers at a church on the outskirts of London. She is a volunteer youth worker.

The thing is that the church pay her expenses and one of the congregation pay to put her up at their house. They give her £216/month allowance for 'social life', which usually gets spent on petrol and food within a week.

The issue has now arisen that I don't feel it is right to stay the night with her at someone else's place when they are putting her up for free. So she comes and stays at my flat-share 4 days a week, on her evenings off.

My landlord has put the rent up by £100/month and put in an electricity and gas meter to offset her staying around so often, but now I can't afford to live.

Firstly - are there any benefits that my girlfriend could be eligible for? And secondly - Any ideas what we can do aside from stop seeing each other?

ps. My flat is 25 miles away from her host's place.

Thanks,

Martin

kingfisherblue

Is there any reason your girlfriend does not have paid work? Could she look for paid work?

Volunteering is often carried out alongside a job, and as a youth worker, I would imagine that most of her volunteering is in the evenings, meaning that she could apply for paid employment in the daytime. If she had a paid job, she could contribute to your expenses that are incurred by her staying over.

duchy

She could get a job

As a youth worker she might find work in a school ofr example.
What are her long term career goals ?

Frankly if volunteering isn't enough to keep her then she needs to be looking at something else either alongside or instead of volunteering. Does she have the right to work in the UK ?

pmlindyloo

lucifersangel87 wrote: »

Hi all,

My girlfriend volunteers at a church on the outskirts of London. She is a volunteer youth worker. Volunteers are not paid - at the most they would get petrol/travel expenses.


The thing is that the church pay her expenses what expenses do you mean? and one of the congregation pay to put her up at their house. Do you mean that she is lodging with them but she doesn't pay any rent? They give her £216/month allowance for 'social life', which usually gets spent on petrol and food within a week. Who gives her this money - the church or the people she is lodging with?

The issue has now arisen that I don't feel it is right to stay the night with her at someone else's place when they are putting her up for free. Is it free or is it in lieu of wages for the job?So she comes and stays at my flat-share 4 days a week, on her evenings off.

My landlord has put the rent up by £100/month and put in an electricity and gas meter to offset her staying around so often, but now I can't afford to live. Are you on a assured short term tenancy/shared house? Need to know what sort of agreement you have for your accommodation? Did you agree to the rent rise?

Firstly - are there any benefits that my girlfriend could be eligible for? And secondly - Any ideas what we can do aside from stop seeing each other?

ps. My flat is 25 miles away from her host's place.

Thanks,

Martin

Please answer my questions, if you can.

First, I do not think that your girl friend is a volunteer. She seems to be 'paid' by having her accommodation covered and having expenses - all seems a little strange to me

So, what benefits can she apply for?

To apply for JSA she would have be actively seeking work - I presume since she has a job (how many hours) then she is not actively seeking work, so no JSA.

HB - she does not pay rent so she would not be eligible for Housing Benefit - ditto Council Tax benefit.

As regards what you can do I suggest:

1. If she wants to carry on as a youth worker for the church then she needs to put this on a proper footing. She gets paid a salary, she pays for her lodgings. She might then be entitled to some help with HB and CTB.
2. She gives up her job and finds another or applies for JSA while she is looking. If she then lives with you your total household income would be taken into account if she applied for any income based benefits.


Sorry, not to be much help but means tested benefits are depenent on many things - income, savings, age, how many hours you work, where you are living etc

If you can give us a few more details about both of you then we might be able to help more.

One last question ! Has your girl friend got a contract?