Housing Benefit question

borderline

I'm being made redundant at work. I'll be getting a lump sum of about £16,000.
I understand that if you have more than £16,000 in savings you don't get any housing benefit. After receiving this cash I'll have little more than £16,000.
My questions is... I've been looking at jobs and it seems that if I'm lucky to get anything it will be near minimum wage which will be a real struggle to pay for my rent (and no, I don't live somewhere expensive, just a tiny studio, so I cannot really get anything cheaper).
If I had left next to nothing after paying my rent... would I get any help in housing or council tax benefits?:(

zzzLazyDaisy

You are expected to use your redundancy money to supplement your wages until the amount drops below the limit for receiving means tested benefits.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Once your capital drops below £16,000 then make a claim.

borderline

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

You are expected to use your redundancy money to supplement your wages until the amount drops below the limit for receiving means tested benefits.

so I would have to apply when my money runs out, right?
jeez.. life is hard:( How can they expect people to live in London on minimum wage? even some decent jobs pay just about minimum wage.. it's ridiculous

Poppie68

borderline wrote: »

so I would have to apply when my money runs out, right?
jeez.. life is hard:( How can they expect people to live in London on minimum wage? even some decent jobs pay just about minimum wage.. it's ridiculous

You have minimum wage plus £16000 to live on.

dodger1

borderline wrote: »

so I would have to apply when my money runs out, right?
jeez.. life is hard:( How can they expect people to live in London on minimum wage? even some decent jobs pay just about minimum wage.. it's ridiculous

Did you bother to read post 3 ?

princessdon

Tax credits currently don't take capital into account so if eligible you can still claim this.

borderline

dodger1 wrote: »

Did you bother to read post 3 ?

yes I did bother to read it... it was posted before I finished typing mine

lippy1923

Can you try looking for jobs outside of London, if you can't afford to stay there?

borderline

lippy1923 wrote: »

Can you try looking for jobs outside of London, if you can't afford to stay there?

That's not really an option for me.
I hope the situation improves sooner rather than later and more jobs become available that pay a decent wage
I mean, on this job that I'm being made redundant from I'm getting £20,500... all similar jobs being advertised out there are on the range of £16-£18K and I thought my salary was already low:(

GreyQueen

borderline wrote: »

I'm being made redundant at work. I'll be getting a lump sum of about £16,000.
I understand that if you have more than £16,000 in savings you don't get any housing benefit. After receiving this cash I'll have little more than £16,000.
My questions is... I've been looking at jobs and it seems that if I'm lucky to get anything it will be near minimum wage which will be a real struggle to pay for my rent (and no, I don't live somewhere expensive, just a tiny studio, so I cannot really get anything cheaper).
If I had left next to nothing after paying my rent... would I get any help in housing or council tax benefits?:(

You'll be expected to spend down your capital on meeting your rent, council tax and other costs, until it falls below the threshold of eligibility for means-tested HB/CTB.

For a working age person that is £6,000. Between £6,000.01 and £16,000 they will have to calculate that you get £1 per week income in interest for every £250 (or part thereof) in capital.

Eg, £7,000 capital = benefit entitlement minus £4 per week, £8,000 capital = entitlement minus £5 per week. The cut-off for any entitlement is £16k.

Hopefully, you'll regain employment sooner rather than later and be able to preserve your redundancy payment and other savings intact.

Regarding whether you'd get any help if housing costs left you on the breadline when in work, you'd have to try applying and see. The only people who would get maximum support would be those on income support/ income-based JSA and similar very low levels.

Plenty of people have had to relocate from or commute into a place, due to wages in that area not being adequate to fund even the most modest home, such as your own, inside it.