my situation, IS, HB and student, advice ?

specialkthefirst

helllo
i am so nervous to post, and im not even sure what to say but here it goes

currantly i am living in a private rented house payed for by HB which is £800 per month

i am a part time student even though i go to college 2 days a week and one day a week at placement

i have a 2 year old son, currantly getting income support as by myself

i have recently met someone new, he works full time. i dont want to be snooping around and people thinking i am doing benefit fraud because he comes round to my house and things so i think its best in that respect he moves in...

however obviosuly i can not work at the moment as i am studying and looking after 2 year old the other days of the week (my mum looks after him when im at college)

if new bf moves in i will obviosly loose all my income in benefits and he will have to support us, but i am so worried that his income will not be enough to cover the rent, council tax, bills and everything, and on top of that he will have to support my son. it is alot to ask, but it has to be done if we want to be together

i just dont know what is best
has anyone got any advice or suggesions

thanks for reading. i am feeling sick with worry and anxious about the whole situation. i dont know what is for the best

x

FBaby

specialkthefirst wrote: »

i have recently met someone new, x

How recent? Are you sure you are committed enough to take on that step? I think the step from living together to getting married is closer than meeting eachother to moving in together, especially when a child is involved. The having to rely on his salary is going to be a significant pressure on your relationship. You need to be completely certain, both you and him, that you are prepared to do it with all the implications that come to it. On a pragmatic note, depending on his salary, you might be entitled to tax credits and HB as a couple.You really need to seat down and go through all this before you make the move.

BigAunty

You can enter his salary details into the Turn2us online benefit calculator and it will detail the reduction in benefits you will get. The child support you receive from your ex will not impact anything, they are received on top of benefits. Most HB claimants, for example, are actually in employment.

You can also download the MSE budget planner and that way you can figure out how much your two households save when they combine, a 'before' and 'after' analysis for you both (perhaps savings on rent and council tax for him, less energy, telecoms, tv, insurance, water bills, cheaper grocery shopping, perhaps less travel costs if he lives away, etc). Most claimants focus on loss of benefits, not savings that come from only having one set of bills when living together.

As per the previous poster, don't rush things. Perhaps you would be better off postponing such a big decision for a couple of years when you have finished college, are ready to take up employment and will lose your income support for JSA anyway.

Nobody on benefits needs to accelerate a relationship just out of worry that they may encounter benefit compliance investigations! That's such a daft notion. I will find the link to the 'living together' as man and wife DWP document so you understand what they look out for to determine if a person should be supporting their partner. If he's maintaining separate digs, isn't staying over the majority of the time, etc, then what's the worry?


EDIT

OP, the DWP's guidelines are here

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dmgch11.pdf

specialkthefirst

thank you so much for your replys, they are really helpfull. im reading through that link now you posted

i met him a few months ago... i am just scared because since meeting him i have recieved some annoyomus letters in the post threatning to report me to benefits for having a partner. its getting too much and trying to study as well : ( i know i have nothing to hide as im not doing anything wrong but im worried sick.

BigAunty

specialkthefirst wrote: »

...... i am just scared because since meeting him i have recieved some annoyomus letters in the post threatning to report me to benefits for having a partner. ...

On a personal level, moving in a partner after only a few months seems very, very premature - you barely know the guy. Go to the couples moneysaving forum to have a chat about your next step, if you want to discuss your relationship and get other opinions.

Who, exactly, suggested that he move in - you or him? I really can't see why fear of a benefits investigation is the main prompt for considering moving in together, that's why I'm curious whether there are any other reasons and who is the instigator of the decision.

Most couples with a benefit dependency issue do the opposite of what you are considering! They are at pains to try and separate their households on a financial and residential level, in order to make sure there are no grounds for suspicion by the local council or DWP.

Don't let this petty harassment (the notes) drive your relationship. I'm assuming that there is a nosey neighbour, two faced friend or hostile ex somewhere in the mix.

The DWP have a fraud hotline so you can also assume that you've been dobbed in but remember that the DWP or local council are the ones that have to prove this to be true and produce evidence - no cohabitation means there is no proof. Compliance teams are used to malicious baseless reports of fraud submitted by disgruntled people.

If the notes are malicious, contact the police.

enabledebra

You are allowed to have a boyfriend without being seen as a couple for benefits purposes. In fact you can only be classed as a couple if he is living with you. Don't believe any rubbish about a boyfriend staying over a few nights a week making you a couple. As others say, forget the odd notes/letters, the benefit departments won't just take that as the truth and if he has his own tenancy/mortgage they are unlikely to decide you are living together.

Mara69

You really are jumping the gun. You owe it to your child to be absolutely sure this man is a suitable father figure and husband. You really can't be moving people in willy nilly without truly knowing them first - 'recently met someone new' does not indicate a long time.

You are perfectly within your rights to have a boyfriend - who takes you out, buys you little treats and so on. You simply can't move him in and keep claiming benefits. Therefore, be sensible. Don't let him stay overnight, don't let him pay towards bills, have him continue to live wherever he is living and take it slowly.

Too many young girls are quick to jump from one relationship into another without really knowing the person they are hooking up with. Then they end up with several kids by several different men, none of whom want to know or contribute to the children they have fathered or worse, a child that has been beaten or killed by their new partner. Your child should come before a new relationship.

Dunroamin

specialkthefirst wrote: »

i have recently met someone new, he works full time. i dont want to be snooping around and people thinking i am doing benefit fraud because he comes round to my house and things so i think its best in that respect he moves in...


x

This doesn't sound like a particularly good reason to move someone in with you so early in the relationship and with all the financial problems it will cause. Why not just enjoy this stage of things without rushing to move things on so quickly?

PippaGirl_2

A neighbour lost her benefits (and has to repay some) based on the fact her bf stayed over 3 nights a week. It was a fairly new relationship, possibly 3 months old. Just saying as posters here seem to think that won't affect DWP/LA decisions but it obviously can do.

BigAunty

PippaGirl wrote: »

A neighbour lost her benefits (and has to repay some) based on the fact her bf stayed over 3 nights a week. It was a fairly new relationship, possibly 3 months old. Just saying as posters here seem to think that won't affect DWP/LA decisions but it obviously can do.

It's a good point. The link to the DWP document shows how complex the analysis can be to determine if a couple are co-habiting.

Certainly there is a myth that x amount of nights over prevents them being classed as a couple for benefit purposes when there is no such fixed rule - there was a thread on here recently by a poster about a lone parent in her street whose partner stayed at his parents 4 nights per week, both believing (wrongly) that it protected her benefits.

The weirdest aspect of the original thread is that because someone has pointed the finger at them, they think 'oh, well, if others believe he lives here, and if the DWP may believe he lives there, well he might as well move in' which is the strangest of motives for such a serious step.

A policeman who analysed the Tia Sharpe case said that drifters, homeless and under employed and/or criminal men often target vulnerable lone parents because they are their meal ticket, the lone parents get social housing when they can't and the women don't like to live alone. It's a weird kind of thing - men targetting women who are considered by many social measures to be in poverty because they see them as having a better income and a roof over their head, but there you go..

I'm not remotely saying that the OP is vulnerable or that her partner is mercenary at all (she's not a social housing tenant, he's in employment, etc), just that lone parents have to think much harder about who is the right person to complete their family and take on fatherly responsibilities because it is so much harder in that kind of situation and there are men that do it for the wrong motives.

And those notes threatening to report her bother me - who actually tells a claimant that they are going to be dobbed in when it's a quick, simple, confidential process to report benefit fraud online or via the hotline on an anonymous basis?!. This is someone clearly enjoying sticking the knife in, it's odd,most people suspecting fraud would not alert their target in case they inadvertently reveal their identity or the claimant changes their behaviour to thwart the investigation! Peculiar.

zzzLazyDaisy

PippaGirl wrote: »

A neighbour lost her benefits (and has to repay some) based on the fact her bf stayed over 3 nights a week. It was a fairly new relationship, possibly 3 months old. Just saying as posters here seem to think that won't affect DWP/LA decisions but it obviously can do.

If your neighbour lost her benefits in that situation there was more to it than you are aware of.

When looking at whether a couple is living as man and wife for benefits purposes the DWP take into account a whole range of factors.

But if the man can show that he is supporting a home elsewhere - paying rent, council tax, utility bills. If he can show that his employer has that address as him home address, and he is registered on the electoral role there, and probably with a doctor as well. In addition that they have separate bank accounts at separate addresses, then he is unlikely to be viewed as living with the woman on benefits.

On the other hand, if there is a wardrobe full of men's clothes in her bedroom at her house, and men's toiletries in the bathroom, and various items of male paraphernalia scattered around the house.... and/or if there are payments going into her bank account from him, then it is much more likely that they will be seen to be a couple even though he also has a house somewhere else.

Similarly if he is between homes, or living with parents or couch surfing with friends and unable to produce evidence of a permanent separate address, then that definitely would not help as it would be almost impossible to prove that the man was not living there.

But just staying overnight 3 nights a week, on its own, would not result in someone losing their benefits.