Benefits help please!

murtle1981

Hi folks, happy New Year to you all. Havent been on here for a while so please bear with me..
Im in need of some advice for my Mum.
She lost her home and job (the home came with the job), a week before Christmas.
She went to stay with a relative over the festive period but due to their circumstances also changing, she has had to come to stay with us so i need advice on how her staying here will affect our benefits etc. So heres a breakdown of what benefits/income we all receive;

My partner and I get Income Support, Child Tax and Child Benefit. My partner receives Middle rate care DLA and I get carers allowance. We are also in receipt of Housing/Council Tax benefit.

my Mum currently lives solely off 2 pensions (mineworkers pension and Surrey county council pension) totalling £277 per month. She needs to sign on JSA as she is still of working age (57 years old).

Taking the 2 pensions into account, how much JSA would she be entitled to each week?

Will her staying here have any great effect on our benefits or housing/council tax benefit?

If anyone could do some calculations for me, that would be great.

Thanks in advance

princessdon

She will get contribution based JSA if she has the contributions.

If she hasn't found work when this ends then I think her income will be too high as it is more than £71 pw.

barnaby-bear

murtle1981 wrote: »

Hi folks, happy New Year to you all. Havent been on here for a while so please bear with me..
Im in need of some advice for my Mum.
She lost her home and job (the home came with the job), a week before Christmas.
She went to stay with a relative over the festive period but due to their circumstances also changing, she has had to come to stay with us so i need advice on how her staying here will affect our benefits etc. So heres a breakdown of what benefits/income we all receive;

My partner and I get Income Support, Child Tax and Child Benefit. My partner receives Middle rate care DLA and I get carers allowance. We are also in receipt of Housing/Council Tax benefit.

my Mum currently lives solely off 2 pensions (mineworkers pension and Surrey county council pension) totalling £277 per month. She needs to sign on JSA as she is still of working age (57 years old).

Taking the 2 pensions into account, how much JSA would she be entitled to each week?

Will her staying here have any great effect on our benefits or housing/council tax benefit?

If anyone could do some calculations for me, that would be great.

Thanks in advance

There is often a category regarding tied housing that gives priority to those who lose their home in this way so she might be entitled and prioritised for social housing and housing benefit to pay for it. The priority is often many points e.g. http://www.gha.org.uk/content/default.asp?page=s73 so if she wants her own place she maybe best declaring as homeless now.

murtle1981

Thanks for that guys. I had a feeling she would get contribution based JSA but wasnt sure how much a week??? Im trying to find out as my Mum can be a bit awkward so if she thinks the amount she will get isnt worth signing on for, she wont bother signing on, trust me! Any idea how much she may get per week?

On the housing front, we are starting the ball rolling with regards to getting her on the council housing list and are pursuing every other avenue there is. Weve seen some lovely and pretty cheap flats to rent but Mum has no money, no savings, nothing so no chance of her being able to afford bonds, rent in advance etc. Ive got 3 young children, 2 girls age 4 and 10 and a boy of 6 and ive had to squash them all into the back bedroom so she can have the little room at the front which used to be my sons...to be quite honest, its driving me mad as theres not enough room in there to swing a cat!
Its hard for me and my partner too as I havent lived with my Mum for years and its like our 2 worlds have collided rather than come together lol. But all I can do is bite my tounge. Love her to bits but shes driving us bonkers!

sammyjammy

princessdon wrote: »

She will get £71 pw for 6 mos regardless of savings in jsa. If she needs rental costs they will look at her income, and whilst she won't get jsa at the pension level she may get housing costs or council tax benefits.

Regarding you benefits yes as she isn't on income related they take some if her income into account via a none dependant deduction.

Can she look at housing?

If she is in receipt of £277 pensions each month this will be taken into account with contributions JSA, anything over £50 a week will be deducted from her weekly payment. If she makes a claim it will now be based on the tax years 10/11 and 11/12 was she working in these two years?

princessdon

sammyjammy wrote: »

If she is in receipt of £277 pensions each month this will be taken into account with contributions JSA, anything over £50 a week will be deducted from her weekly payment. If she makes a claim it will now be based on the tax years 10/11 and 11/12 was she working in these two years?

You are right for some reason I had it in my head that savings were the issue - think I'm over tired - ill delete my post

murtle1981

sammyjammy wrote: »

If she is in receipt of £277 pensions each month this will be taken into account with contributions JSA, anything over £50 a week will be deducted from her weekly payment. If she makes a claim it will now be based on the tax years 10/11 and 11/12 was she working in these two years?

Hi sammy,
yes my Mum was working for those 2 years.

murtle1981

im guessing we will have some rent/council tax to pay if Mum gets contribution based JSA then???
Shouldnt be a lot as we will still get housing/council tax benefit and Mum said she will pay the difference.

BigAunty

barnaby-bear wrote: »

There is often a category regarding tied housing that gives priority to those who lose their home in this way so she might be entitled and prioritised for social housing and housing benefit to pay for it. The priority is often many points e.g. http://www.gha.org.uk/content/default.asp?page=s73 so if she wants her own place she maybe best declaring as homeless now.

It's not clear to me if the OP is in England or not - she mentions a Surrey pension and you have provided a link to a Scottish housing association.

Note that in England, there is no longer an obligation for the local council to offer social housing to the homeless - this requirement disappeared a few months ago due to the localism act. All a local council has to do in England for those now registering as homeless is offer them a suitable 2 year tenancy in private accommodation and they only have to make a single offer.

See the Shelter England or Scotland website to understand the local council's obligations.

BigAunty

murtle1981 wrote: »

...Weve seen some lovely and pretty cheap flats to rent but Mum has no money, no savings, nothing so no chance of her being able to afford bonds, rent in advance etc. ..

Many local councils operate deposit guarantee schemes for those in housing need/low incomes which pays the deposit to willing landlords. See your local council website.

Also, I believe there is a DWP loan that also helps with rent in advance - I think it might be a budgeting loan but it would be helpful if another poster confirmed this.

However, the main problem is that many private landlords are reluctant to rent their properties to benefit claimants.

RAS

At present mum is a short-term visitor so her presence should not affect yuor benefits.

If this becomes longer term (possibly if she start to claim contributions based JSA) then she becomes a non-dependent adult and needs to make small contributions to your household costs. These non-dependent adult contributions should be listed the Council web-site.