60 year old widow needs some advice to survive

banner188

It seems crazy that the council wouldn't pay a bit more housing benefit to keep the OP out of valuable social housing.

oliveoil99

starrystarry wrote: »

By the sounds of things there isn't anything else you're entitled to but the good folk on here will come up with loads of good advice re increasing your income if you give them a chance.

Angelsmomma's suggestion was a good one. Or could you take on a paper round?

I would have to fight the OAP that already does it. lol

oliveoil99

viv0147 wrote: »

I am amazed no one has mentioned pension credit from the age of 60 you qualify! Which will give you a guaranteed income of £143 a week

Some else mentioned this to me so rang the pension-credit help-line a very curt reply of no pension credit until you receive notification of your state pension she then used the calculator and said I have just under 2yrs to wait.

oliveoil99

viv0147 wrote: »

I am amazed no one has mentioned pension credit from the age of 60 you qualify! Which will give you a guaranteed income of £143 a week

Had this mentioned to me so rang pension-credit help line was given a curt reply no pension-credit until you receive state-pension then using the calculator will not be for another just under 2yrs when I will be just over 62.

oliveoil99

starrystarry wrote: »

I get the impression that the OP isn't interested in any of these ideas for earning extra money, she's been quite negative about all of them. I think she was hoping someone would be able to suggest a way of claiming further benefits. Hence posting on this board rather than the jobseeking or increase your income boards.

'She' is a person and does not need your judgemental attitude, do you get off on reading other people's threads make you feel better does it?

xylophone

http://www.gumtree.com/housekeeping-cleaning-jobs/bradford
anything here?

Dunroamin

oliveoil99 wrote: »

'She' is a person and does not need your judgemental attitude, do you get off on reading other people's threads make you feel better does it?

I'm afraid that you have come over as very negative on this thread, despite people feeling a great deal of sympathy for your situation.

Perhaps something to bear in mind with your future job applications?

Caroline_a

Unfortunately I have to agree with Dunroamin, OP you are quite negative. If you are looking for housekeeping jobs and, as you say, your particular area isn't a wealthy one, try looking in the papers and also the more wealthy areas. I know Bradford quite well, and you would probably have more luck with areas such as Bingley. From what I remember, the bus links are really good in Bradford too, so you wouldn't have much of a problem getting to different sides of the city.

It seems from what most people have said that your options are either move to a cheaper property or to find a job. You need to be more positive in your outlook - I am not much younger than you and have been made redundant 3 times in the past 18 months - but I've never been out of work because I have forced myself to stay positive and have applied for anything and everything that is advertised!

i wish you luck, but remember we make our own destiny for the most part - look on this as an opportunity to progress with your life, not to fall back on retirements and benefits!

sleepless_saver

princessdon wrote: »

Including the CT relief?

I work it out (but I am not the best at this) that she is getting less than she should.

For £21 she is losing £13 plus the CT relief - I thought it was at a rate of 65% for every £100?

If OP's bereavement allowance is exactly £70 and pension exactly £22 then the taper is 65% of £21 which is £13.65, so her LHA would be £80.77-£13.65=£67.12?

The CT taper is 20%, but not enough info to work that out.

oliveoil99

marybelle01 wrote: »

£109 per week is an awfully lot for a property in a poor area of Bradford. I'm in a not "rich" but not "poor" area of Bradford - I suppose what you'd describe as "working class respectable", lovely area, quiet, no trouble, rarely any crime, and for that rent you would get a large 3/4 bedroom terrace. The large 3 bed terrace down the road from me is £380pcm (I know the family who live there and they told me) and the two bed back to back on the next street down (and a really nice one too!) is £350pcm. You are paying £472pcm and for that I would expect it to be an enormous and wonderful property in a poor area of town - or in a very nice area indeed.

From what you say here you are paying rent well over the market rate for Bradford - is moving out of the question because there are many landlords, even some estate agencies in the city, who take benefit claimants. With the amount of property to rent in the city, they would never find tenants if they didn't, and your age would definitely be in your favour here - whilst I suppose it isn't impossible that you throw wild, drug and alcohol fuelled parties every night, it's probably unlikely And certainly wouldn't be expected.

The land/lord has not put the rent up for the last 5yrs and it is the going rate for the street it's a 2 bedroomed bungalow with a garage and alot of ground space.