claiming income support

mar1by

Hi,

I am a disabled parent on DLA. My husband is a nurse and he will be going abroad to do aid work. He is not paid and will only get his living costs covered as it is volunteer aid for humanitarian crisis.

While he is away am I able to claim income support? I have a 2 year old and two older children.

I would really appreciate any feedback and information.

Kind regards

Dunroamin

mar1by wrote: »

Hi,

I am a disabled parent on DLA. My husband is a nurse and he will be going abroad to do aid work. He is not paid and will only get his living costs covered as it is volunteer aid for humanitarian crisis.

While he is away am I able to claim income support? I have a 2 year old and two older children.

I would really appreciate any feedback and information.

Kind regards

How does he propose to support his family if he's not earning anything - or are you, in fact, separating?

oldhand

mar1by wrote: »

Hi,

I am a disabled parent on DLA. My husband is a nurse and he will be going abroad to do aid work. He is not paid and will only get his living costs covered as it is volunteer aid for humanitarian crisis.

While he is away am I able to claim income support? I have a 2 year old and two older children.

I would really appreciate any feedback and information.

Kind regards

I appreciate your husbands humanitarian concerns for others but should he really be going abroad to help others while leaving a disabled wife and three children to fend for themselves?

Caz3121

did you discuss this as a family and work out how you are going to be able to survive financially without his income before the decision was made?.
I don't believe voluntary work will count for working tax credits so, if you currently receive this, it will stop leaving only child tax credits

mar1by

We are still together but he will be abroad. Yes we did discuss it and I fully support his humanitarian work. Even for me claiming benefits would be a temporary measure as I am training to be a counsellor and would work as soon as I am qualified. I just wanted to know in the interim if I am able to claim income support if he is abroad and I have no other income?

I don't believe in living on benefits. We have both always worked when we can. I just need to finish my training. I would really appreciate if someone who has knowledge of the benefits system could respond.

fabforty

mar1by wrote: »

We are still together but he will be abroad. Yes we did discuss it and I fully support his humanitarian work. Even for me claiming benefits would be a temporary measure as I am training to be a counsellor and would work as soon as I am qualified. I just wanted to know in the interim if I am able to claim income support if he is abroad and I have no other income?

I don't believe in living on benefits. We have both always worked when we can. I just need to finish my training. I would really appreciate if someone who has knowledge of the benefits system could respond.

Unless you already have a counselling job lined up, your expectations on this front are unrealistic. I am a fully qualified self-employed counsellor. I make a reasonable living but that didn't happen overnight and I still only do it part-time (in addition to my full-time job). It takes time to build up a viable practice - chances are your husband will have returned by then.
His aims are admirable, but this is irresponsible.

If you are not entitled to benefits under these circumstances, will your husband still be going? Could you study part-time while working to support your family.

mar1by

Thanks for your reply. I do have a counselling job lined up for when I qualify.

princessdon

How long will he be overseas for without a return home in weeks/months?

xylophone

Doesn't charity begin at home?

mar1by

He will be abroad for a full year without return. We will visit him instead when possible. I'd really appreciate it if people could not judge and just answer the question if possible.

This is something we feel passionately about and a joint decision. I am just exploring my options at the moment. If my 2 year old was at school I would get a job and study part-time, but I can't afford childcare and train. I just want to know if I will be able to claim income support for the interim. If not, I need to explore other options and this is something we would discuss. Nothing is set in stone. We are still discussing and exploring our options.

paddedjohn

Got to be a wind up this one.