Help please regarding husband's redundancy

Hippymam

Hi, I'm hoping someone on here is going to be able to help me.

My husband has been made redundant and will receive a small redundancy payout (less than £2k). We have a 10 month old son and I work part time, earning approx £40 a week. There is no possibility of increasing my hours where I work now. Obviously my husband is applying for jobs but has not been successful so far. I am also looking for jobs but have not found anything either. His redundancy payment will not last long and we have no other savings so I am getting pretty scared about what will happen if we can't find jobs quickly.

Would we be entitled to any help with the rent and council tax?

Thanks in advance (please be nice, this is my first time posting on this board and I don't have a clue about benefits etc)

sniggings

Yes, you can have savings and still claim benefits.

I think the amounts are £6000 and go up to £16,000 for ESA so no problem in claiming, the soner the better as JSA is very hard to get back dated but housing benefit may be back dated which is not as hard to do.

xylophone

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/index.htm

pickpocketlocket

He needs to claim JSA, LHA and CTB. You should also inform Tax Credits of your change in circumstances.

princessdon

sniggings wrote: »

Yes, you can have savings and still claim benefits.

I think the amounts are £6000 and go up to £16,000 for ESA so no problem in claiming, the soner the better as JSA is very hard to get back dated but housing benefit may be back dated which is not as hard to do.

what has ESA got to do with it?



You claim for JSA - the amount you earn will be deducted (less an allowance). He claims and you get added to his claim.

You will get help with housing (how much and what depends on your circumstances).

Eg are you in social housing or private rent? If you are in private rent you would get 2 bedroom allowance (this may not be all your rent). You would need to check your council's allowance.

You will get Council Tax benefit.

I assume you are already getting Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits? If so, inform them he isn't working as a change in circumstances.

You also get help with things like Healthy Start Vouchers too.


All of the above is assuming you don't have savings or a home you don't live in over £6K.

sniggings

princessdon wrote: »

what has ESA got to do with it?

.

I don't know! maybe just showing the OP that savings are not a bar to benefits and anyone else reading the thread may find it useful...oh I did know after all.

princessdon

sniggings wrote: »

I don't know! maybe just showing the OP that savings are not a bar to benefits and anyone else reading the thread may find it useful...oh I did know after all.

oh Ok - I thought JSA would have been more relevant


Are the rules the same? Does things like the support v wrag not diferentiate the amount's required?

sniggings

princessdon wrote: »

oh Ok - I thought JSA would have been more relevant


Are the rules the same? Does things like the support v wrag not diferentiate the amount's required?

Not sure but I claimed when I had £16.000 in the bank and still got full ESA, it was the contribution based ESA, but I have a feeling income based ESA is still £16.000

benefitbaby

princessdon wrote: »

All of the above is assuming you don't have savings or a home you don't live in over £6K.

Just to clarify, the value of the house in which you live is disregarded as capital whilst you live in it. If it is rented HB may apply as others have noted, if it is mortgaged then SMI (support for mortgage interest) may be payable - this is a payment linked to JSA (or IS, ESA as appropriate) it is payable direct to a mortgage lender towards the interest.

Your husband may be entitled to contribution-based jobseekers (CJSA) if sufficient NI contributions have been paid, this may be topped up by income-based JSA (IJSA) if you have less than the law says you need.

If you qualify for any amount of IJSA (even just one £) then you will qualify for full CTB, free prescriptions, dentist etc.

Means tested benefits like IJSA can be claimed if you have savings up to £16,000 (however there are reductions if your savings are between £6k - £16k). Savings over £16k = no means-tested benefits.

Hippymam

Thank you all for your responses

Currently we receive child benefit only. I have a very small part time job earning £40 a week and will continue to do this job whilst looking for other work.

Am I right in thinking that LHA is like housing benefit? So we will qualify for that. And council tax benefit too? My husband is ringing the job centre first thing Monday morning so he will get jsa? Would we as a family get income support whilst we are looking for work?

Sorry for all the questions. I really don't have a clue about any of this and am worried sick

pmlindyloo

Hippymam wrote: »

Thank you all for your responses

Currently we receive child benefit only. I have a very small part time job earning £40 a week and will continue to do this job whilst looking for other work.

Am I right in thinking that LHA is like housing benefit? So we will qualify for that. And council tax benefit too? My husband is ringing the job centre first thing Monday morning so he will get jsa? Would we as a family get income support whilst we are looking for work?

Sorry for all the questions. I really don't have a clue about any of this and am worried sick

To summarise what has been said.

Your husband applies for JSA as a joint claim as you are both looking for work.

You will be entitled to Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit.

You can apply for Child Tax Credits.

You already get Child benefit.

These are the benefits that you are entitled to.

At the moment don't worry about anything else. Just apply for the above in bold.