Are we entitled to any benefits

Bergy100

Hi all, first post, hoping for some advice on benefit entitlements in my scenario.

Unfortunatley my wife has been given notice of redundancy. She works part time. Working full time is not an option for her currently as we have young kids.

The rub for us is we are currently in the process of selling our house (started before we got the news) which will leave us with around £20K after the sale. Our plan had been to secure a rental property with a view to investing the 20K in a new property at an appropriate time.

Basically, does pursuing this path preclude my wife from claiming any benefits such as JSA/Income Support and Child Tax credits? Will the fact we jointly have this money make a difference. At this stage I'm assuming yes.

Also, if we stopped the sale and did not have the £6K limit, would my wife qualify as I currently work full time 37.5 hours a week and on another thread it seemed to suggest that you cannot get JSA if your partner works full time?

Thanks in advance

princessdon

If you earn over £110 a week all she would get is cont based JSA anyway.

You get that no matter how much savings

Bergy100

princessdon wrote: »

If you earn over £110 a week all she would get is cont based JSA anyway.

You get that no matter how much savings

Ok, thanks, what is the deal with cont based JSA? What about Child Tax credits, we used to get those until the Tories lowered the threshold.

nannytone_2

i would depend of sje jas ,ade enough NI contributions in the right years.

the years 09/10 and 10/11 are the qualifying years at the moment.

if she has the contributions, she will get conts based JSA for 6 months.
child tax credits would depend on your total household income.
income support is out because its only for lone parents and carers ( caring for a disabled person... not just your own choldren)

p00hsticks

If she's made sufficient NI contributions in tax years 2009-10 and 2010-11, she'll be entitled to contributions based JSA for six months regardless of her savings and/or your income providing she's looking for work.

Bergy100

p00hsticks wrote: »

If she's made sufficient NI contributions in tax years 2009-10 and 2010-11, she'll be entitled to contributions based JSA for six months regardless of her savings and/or your income providing she's looking for work.

Ok, do you have any idea how much this is worth - is it the £70 odd pounds a week I read on the website? Also, does this still apply if you are looking for part time work?

Thanks for the replies - it gives me something to go on though she took 1 years maternity leave on stat in 10-11 so I'm wondering now if we'll qualify for that.

Basically it appears that as I'm in full time employment she'd be entitled to nothing (after six months) even if we have no savings. Fantastic.

nannytone_2

with 2 kids, you can earn up to 32k a year and still get some ctc.

princessdon

If she claimed Mat Benefits then she gets her credits.

Yes it's only £71 Pw (shocking I know when you contribute and It's wrong IMO) but it's the way it is.

Re Tax Credits - they work on the year - so personally if she has some redundancy I'd hold off. You'll get what is owed at some point (even if next year) so give it a few mos and see if she gets work. If not a nice payment later on in year. Better that than spend and have to pay it back. Just my opinion though

yes it applies to part time work (although technically the JC say 16 hours is Full time anyway)

Torry_Quine

Bergy100 wrote: »

Ok, do you have any idea how much this is worth - is it the £70 odd pounds a week I read on the website? Also, does this still apply if you are looking for part time work?

Thanks for the replies - it gives me something to go on though she took 1 years maternity leave on stat in 10-11 so I'm wondering now if we'll qualify for that.

Basically it appears that as I'm in full time employment she'd be entitled to nothing (after six months) even if we have no savings. Fantastic.

JSA is £71 per week as you say but you have to be looking for 'full-time' work. As you say she may not have enough contributions

princessdon

Torry_Quine wrote: »

JSA is £71 per week as you say but you have to be looking for 'full-time' work. As you say she may not have enough contributions

Full time work is 16 hours a week or more though - not 37.5 hours a week.

Bergy100

princessdon wrote: »

If she claimed Mat Benefits then she gets her credits.

Yes it's only £71 Pw (shocking I know when you contribute and It's wrong IMO) but it's the way it is.

The money is shocking but that's not surprising. What is outrageous is that my full time employment status negatively affects my partners entitlements given she has worked for nearly 20 years and paid her dues throughout that time.