Feed a family of four for £20 a week challenge

Eager_Elephant

Ladyluck1 wrote: »

There was a huge sign in the benefits office saying that's why as they've been cut a huge amount of money
I'm on the Isle of Wight so yes still England.
They did however say They had over paid me as DH worked a few Sunday's. But their calculations were wrong.
I took all his payslips in and they still say they are correct? So now even when he doesn't do Sunday's or overtime were still getting the same amount!
Why can't it just work like tax credis where they base it on last years income? It's so confusing
Eta; yes they have changed council tax benefit to something else and we're now not entitled to that either!

I promise you that councils who need to save money won't cut HB as they receive subsidies from the Government to cover the cost of the HB they pay out so although they pay it out they get it back again so no change to budget.


Once you have done extra hours they will either count the wage just for that month and then use the next months wage slip to assess again or they will take an average of 2 wage slips which might be why you still think it is wrong.


Also the Overpayment will be taken back weekly from your award - usually for someone who works they will take back over £20pw to clear the Overpayment. Maybe once it is paid you will go back up to the old rate.


I agree that HB would be easier done yearly but then any Overpayments would be huge whereas at the moment they try to catch it earlier.


People who do variable hours will always end up with an Overpayment because you are not paid for the hours you do until you have done them but the income has to be input for the period it covers so when you are paid at the end of January for the month of Jan they will input it from 1/1/15 but if they have already made a payment to you for HB and you should have got less then you have an Overpayment.
It can also work the other way as well and you end up with an underpayment.


It won't be worth your husband doing overtime because once they have assessed him on basic wage and you have your award based on that when he does extra - for every £1 he earns more than the initial assessment you lose 65p from your HB and 20p from your council tax benefit so you only gain 15p in every pound so for someone on minimum wage they are working overtime at 97.5p per hour so not actually worth it.


They also won't allow some deductions so if he pays into a pension only 50% of this is allowed as a deduction.


Have they got your applicable amounts right? This is the figure they deduct from your income to work out your entitlement - it should be approx. £113pw as you are a couple, £68pw for each child and a family element plus anything extra if someone is disabled.


If you want any help PM me, always happy to help.

Ladyluck1

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

I promise you that councils who need to save money won't cut HB as they receive subsidies from the Government to cover the cost of the HB they pay out so although they pay it out they get it back again so no change to budget.


Once you have done extra hours they will either count the wage just for that month and then use the next months wage slip to assess again or they will take an average of 2 wage slips which might be why you still think it is wrong.


Also the Overpayment will be taken back weekly from your award - usually for someone who works they will take back over £20pw to clear the Overpayment. Maybe once it is paid you will go back up to the old rate.


I agree that HB would be easier done yearly but then any Overpayments would be huge whereas at the moment they try to catch it earlier.


People who do variable hours will always end up with an Overpayment because you are not paid for the hours you do until you have done them but the income has to be input for the period it covers so when you are paid at the end of January for the month of Jan they will input it from 1/1/15 but if they have already made a payment to you for HB and you should have got less then you have an Overpayment.
It can also work the other way as well and you end up with an underpayment.


It won't be worth your husband doing overtime because once they have assessed him on basic wage and you have your award based on that when he does extra - for every £1 he earns more than the initial assessment you lose 65p from your HB and 20p from your council tax benefit so you only gain 15p in every pound so for someone on minimum wage they are working overtime at 97.5p per hour so not actually worth it.


They also won't allow some deductions so if he pays into a pension only 50% of this is allowed as a deduction.


Have they got your applicable amounts right? This is the figure they deduct from your income to work out your entitlement - it should be approx. £113pw as you are a couple, £68pw for each child and a family element plus anything extra if someone is disabled.


If you want any help PM me, always happy to help.

Thankyou!

I think I'm going to make an appointment and take all our paperwork in again.

He doesn't do overtime often but he did before Christmas as they were busy, also sometimes he's scheduled for a Sunday (often he does no Sunday's but in October he did 4!) and gets paid time and a half.

It's very confusing. They don't send you paperwork that's easy to understand either!

Eager_Elephant

Ladyluck1 wrote: »

Thankyou!

I think I'm going to make an appointment and take all our paperwork in again.

He doesn't do overtime often but he did before Christmas as they were busy, also sometimes he's scheduled for a Sunday (often he does no Sunday's but in October he did 4!) and gets paid time and a half.

It's very confusing. They don't send you paperwork that's easy to understand either!

The HB departments seem to employ people who can't explain things in a way that normal people understand and they say as little as possible so the claimant thinks its them that has it wrong and accepts the explanation they have been given.


I agree the paperwork can be confusing but to make sure you are never bamboozled again make it your mission to learn what it all means and then you will never be out of pocket.
I only know what they all mean as it is my job to decipher them for claimants and make sure they get what they are entitled to.



It's a nightmare when it is part of the shift pattern because as I say he is working for a pittance once the tax man and then HB/CTB have had their share!!


The paperwork you get should list the income they are using and then they disregard certain things like Child Benefit and part of the earnings if he does other 30hrs per week.
Then it should list your premiums which I mentioned before.


You then deduct the premiums from the income (after disregards) and that amount is your excess income.


You take the excess income and times it by 65% which gives you an amount to take off the maximum rent (set for each council area each April) they will help you with and the rest is what you get in Housing Benefit.


Same rules apply for council tax except you times the excess income by 20%.

Fruball

Any chance we can keep this on topic please? Feeding your family for £20 a week is not the place to discuss HB or CT benefit etc and it means people have to search to find the information they are looking for.

Thanks

Eager_Elephant

Fruball wrote: »

Any chance we can keep this on topic please? Feeding your family for £20 a week is not the place to discuss HB or CT benefit etc and it means people have to search to find the information they are looking for.

Thanks

Sorry to go slightly off topic but I thought it was allowed as ladyluck posted to say she was struggling as her HB had been cut.


I just wanted to make sure she was getting everything she was entitled to.


It might also help others who come by the thread who have had benefits cut as they will hopefully understand how HB/CTB works.


I won't post again about HB - sorry.

Butterfly_Brain

Back on topic:

DD said to me today "Mum please make me a peach cobbler like you used to when we were little, it has been ages since you made it and it is my fave apart from D&DD's apple braid

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=367959

It was a dessert that I used to do with a tin of peaches with a scone topping served with custard, and so cheap, cheap, cheap to make.

[FONT=&quot]Scone topping [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]makes 9[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]50g unsalted butter 17p[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]200g self-raising flour 6p[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1 tablespoon sugar 5p[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]pinch salt [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]125ml milk 28p[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Total cost for scones 56p[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Plus a tin of peaches 35p[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Preheat the oven to 200 C / Gas 6. Line a baking sheet with parchment.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Rub the butter into the flour, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and salt.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Make a well in the centre of the mix and stir in the milk. Stir until the mixture is even and the dough comes together.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Turn out onto a floured surface and cut into nine circles. [/FONT]
Take a tin of pears and pour into an oven proof dish, cover with the scones
[FONT=&quot]Brush all over with milk [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Bake for 15 minutes until golden and cooked through.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold with custard or ice cream[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]I used to do them in individual ramekins so I only needed four scones, the rest of the scones were spread with strawberry jam and went into lunch boxes the next day.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
Total cost : 91p

Bobarella

nursemaggie wrote: »

This looks like this is why my housing benefit has been cut buy half. I can only pay out of my savings and when they run out we will be homeless. They have also stopped DS housing benefit all together.

Have they cut housing benefit to under 25s?

god so sorry to hear that. When did this happen?

BHB

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold with custard or ice cream[/FONT]

Custard - definitely custard

NewShadow

As a less elegant solution, I like the recipe Black Saturn posted a few years back (but with less sugar). It's more rough and ready as far as deserts go, but it's hot, sweet, and awesome with custard.

1 cup SR flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup [strike]flour[/strike] sugar
chopped fruit (apples/pears/rhubarb are good, berries are nice but a bit soggy)

Pour the batter over the fruit and bake until set and golden (I make a double batch in my grand remoska pan - 30cm and it takes c.25 minutes).

Butterfly_Brain

NewShadow wrote: »

As a less elegant solution, I like the recipe Black Saturn posted a few years back (but with less sugar). It's more rough and ready as far as deserts go, but it's hot, sweet, and awesome with custard.

1 cup SR flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
chopped fruit (apples/pears/rhubarb are good, berries are nice but a bit soggy)

Pour the batter over the fruit and bake until set and golden (I make a double batch in my grand remoska pan - 30cm and it takes c.25 minutes).

That is a clafouti and my lot don't care for it much.

They love yorkshire puddings and jam though