Utterly lost in benefits - Any advice?

Cash-Strapped.T32

Hi, hoping to get some advice please.

I've had a fairy turbulent 18 months or so, and my situation has changed radically.
I know I'm going to have to look at claiming some sort of benefits, but I'm utterly lost in the myriad online calculators, .pdfs from the council with tables, exclusions and odd little rules that I struggle to keep in my head..

If I could lay out my circumstances I'd appreciate it massively if anyone could help point me towards what I ought to expect to be able to expect help with, and what I can't. Thank you.


Circumstances in a nutshell; I'm now 31 & single, with no dependants or anything else particularly special about me. I do have a chronic illness (Crohn's) but I'm able to keep it in remission so it hasn't effected me to any great degree for a few years.

* May 2012; Laid off from moderately paid job (£1200 p/month takehome) as senior site admin for a large company.

* Jun-2012 to Sep-2012; Used redundancy (£2,500) & savings to support myself. No other income. (I know, stupid but I thought I'd only be off work for a short while & I didn't feel right claiming when I had money)

* Sep-2012; Started claim for contributions-based JSA still looking for work.
Moved out of my rented accommodation back into the family home (temporarily) while looking for work.

* Jan-2013; Switched over to income-based JSA (basic rate).

* March-2013; Got a temporary job (4 month contract), earning apx £800 p/month. This lasted until -

* July-2013; Temp job ended. Restarted JSA claim (for as it turned out just one month).

* August-2013; Started a new full time job, low wage, £13,500 p/year before tax, I estimate apx £900 p.month takehome but I haven't had my first wage yet. That's due 5th of Sep.


So there it is. I've just started a new full time job having come off JSA, and now I have to find my own place & make a new start from scratch.

* My employment-earnings for tax year 12-13 will consist of the final month as site-admin (apx £1K per month wage, but not my redundancy as it was only £2K). And also 1x month of the temporary job, another £800.

* The rest of the time for tax yr 12-13 my earnings consisted of basic rate JSA (I'm single, no dependants or any other benefit), less the period when I was claiming nothing (June to September).

* Earnings for tax-yr 13-14 so far consist of 3x months at £800 p/month and the rest on basic rate JSA up till August - at which point it will be apx £900 per month until next April (assuming I'm not let go during my probation or any other worse case scenario).


* The family are now needing to downsize as is perfectly reasonable (it helped me out massively being able to live at the old house for a while), and I'm in the position of having to move out sharpish, I'm talking within 2 or 3 weeks.



Because I'm single & under 35 I understand that housing benefit would only be a shared-rate, but even so, with an on-paper income of £13.500 per year (even though I don't have any of it yet ) the calculations I've done show there's no help there - I'm not eligible for housing benefit of any kind, going by the online calculators I've looked at.
Does that sound correct given my circumstances?

As to tax-credits, my feeling is that I will be eligible for WTCs due to my unusually low income for tax year 12-13, which would give me some top-up income for a short while up till May 2014, but beyond that, I'd receive no extra help as I will be earning over £13k.
Is this assumption correct?





In the Chesterfield area where I live & work, the minimum rents in the private sector appear to be around £400, council tax (for singles) another £67 p/month on top, plus obviously utilities such as water, electric & gas which I'm pencilling-in at about £50 p/month each (hopefully less but I have to use a working figure for working all this out).
Other basic expenses such as fuel, servicing, food, household etc.. will mean I'm running at a defecit given my income, I'd be spending about £1000 per month but only bringing in £900, and I'm cutting those expenses really fine (like £25 p/week on food for example, £10 mobile, that kind of thing).

If I took out a place at £400 p/month I could just about

Dunroamin

Are those rental prices for flat shares or for a whole flat?

I can't really see why you think you'd be running at a deficit when you'll have so much more income than you do on JSA.

pmlindyloo

Bit harsh Dunroamin - OP is trying to sort things - not moaning.

Yes, I think you are right. You might receive some working tax credits based on last year's income. Ring and ask for an application form but do tell them about this year's income and ask for some advice. You don't want an overpayment.

Now for some options:

1. Consider a house share - there are many 30 something people still house sharing - my daughter does and she has a lot of fun. It means bills are shared and will work out much cheaper than a place of your own. Try Gumtree.
2. Consider a 2 bed place and get a lodger - or do you know someone who would share with you? (this is the best option if you have a friend in the same position.)
3. Get a 1 bed place (if you hate sharing )and get a part time job - supermarket at the weekend - pub/restaurant in the evenings.
4. Get on the internet/join a dating agency and find a very rich gorgeous man (only kidding!)

The one problem you might have is finding a landlord when you have only just started a job - would your parents act as a guarantor? A real pain I know but some LAs/LLs make it very tough.

Good luck - hope you have time to save for the deposit/one month's rent in advance or some kind person to help financially.

925dancer

Salary calculator: http://www.listentotaxman.com/index.php

Your take home will be £1000 pcm

If you rent through an agency they will likely look for you to be earning 2.5-3 times the annual rent.

You may have little option than to move into a shared house or stay put until you climb back up the salary ladder.

I fully sympathise being 31 and single myself!

jacques_chirac

Chesterfield has plenty of cheap rentals if you're not too picky - you should be able to get a studio for £75 a week, a house share for even less. Look in your local paper (or just have a walk around) for direct lets (from the landlord, not using an agency), they tend to be cheaper.

You should be able to manage fine on that income in that area.

Cash-Strapped.T32

Thanks for the replies, and apologies, forum problems have cut off the bottom of the first post, and won't allow me to edit in order to fill in the rest...


It's a 1-bed flat, the smallest & cheapest I can find.
While I don't use my illness for anything to my benefit (I don't moan about transport, working hours, claim I can't do manual work etc..) I'm absolutely not comfortable sharing toilet & kitchen facilities with strangers as I do have certain needs in those areas for reasons that might be a bit disgusting to go into on a family forum.
£400 p/month is the cheapest possible I could find with that one requirement in mind.


The reason I think I'll be running a deficit is because I've added up the incoming & outgoings in excel & come up at a negative number.

**EDIT** Excuse the copy/paste from excel, it doesn't format very nicely here
Expense p/month Amount (£) Notes
Mandatory Bills
Rent £400.00 per calander month
Council tax £60.68 per 4-week (£728.11 p/a)
Rates £50.00 estimate
Electricity £50.00 estimate
Gas/Heating £50.00 estimate
Internet/Phone £30.00 ADSL + line rental
Mobile £10.00 Current
Contents insurance £40.00 Total guess

Regular Bills
Food Shopping £100.00 4x £25 p/week
Petrol £60.00 4x £15 p/week

Vehicle service inc MOTs tax & parking £20.00
Insurance £10 (£120/12 month)

Household Sundries £80.00 4x £20 p/week inc clothes, hair, toiletries etc

Emergencies £20.00


Total £980.68
Income; £900



As I say, I've used some rough figures to work with, the utilities & insurance for instance (I don't even know if I need to have buildings insurance, since it's rented I think probably not).

I might well be able to push some of these known figures down, at £340 p/year running a small motorbike is cheaper than the equivalent daily public transport c

Cash-Strapped.T32

925dancer wrote: »

Salary calculator: http://www.listentotaxman.com/index.php

Wow, nice one - when I ran the same calc on my old tax code (the only one I had available from my last job) I had only £900 (give or take a couple of quid) take home - that's a £100 increase in just 3 posts!

Chesterfield has plenty of cheap rentals if you're not too picky - you should be able to get a studio for £75 a week, a house share for even less. Look in your local paper (or just have a walk around) for direct lets (from the landlord, not using an agency), they tend to be cheaper.

Cheers, I'll definitely look into that - brining down those outgoings is as important as upping the incoming for sure.

Ps: Again apologies on the formatting of the above post, the forum keeps giving me a "blocked" error & a link to the webmaster whenever I try to edit a post, and the copy/paste from excel didn't format very well..

jacques_chirac

Your contents insurance should be less than £10 a month.

I pay £70 a month for electricity and gas for a two bed house (and I work from home), so yours should be a fair bit less. For water I pay £15 a month.

You can get internet + landline for £18 a month.

Summary - you will not be in deficit

comeandgo

Why are you paying council tax and rates?

Edit - is it water rates? We dont have that as separate in Scotland, hence my ignorance -

Dunroamin

Cash-Strapped.T32 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, and apologies, forum problems have cut off the bottom of the first post, and won't allow me to edit in order to fill in the rest...


It's a 1-bed flat, the smallest & cheapest I can find.
While I don't use my illness for anything to my benefit (I don't moan about transport, working hours, claim I can't do manual work etc..) I'm absolutely not comfortable sharing toilet & kitchen facilities with strangers as I do have certain needs in those areas for reasons that might be a bit disgusting to go into on a family forum.
£400 p/month is the cheapest possible I could find with that one requirement in mind.


The reason I think I'll be running a deficit is because I've added up the incoming & outgoings in excel & come up at a negative number.

**EDIT** Excuse the copy/paste from excel, it doesn't format very nicely here
Expense p/month Amount (£) Notes
Mandatory Bills
Rent £400.00 per calander month
Council tax £60.68 per 4-week (£728.11 p/a)
Rates £50.00 estimate
Electricity £50.00 estimate
Gas/Heating £50.00 estimate
Internet/Phone £30.00 ADSL + line rental
Mobile £10.00 Current
Contents insurance £40.00 Total guess

Regular Bills
Food Shopping £100.00 4x £25 p/week
Petrol £60.00 4x £15 p/week

Vehicle service inc MOTs tax & parking £20.00
Insurance £10 (£120/12 month)

Household Sundries £80.00 4x £20 p/week inc clothes, hair, toiletries etc

Emergencies £20.00


Total £980.68
Income; £900



As I say, I've used some rough figures to work with, the utilities & insurance for instance (I don't even know if I need to have buildings insurance, since it's rented I think probably not).

I might well be able to push some of these known figures down, at £340 p/year running a small motorbike is cheaper than the equivalent daily public transport c

But, apart from the rent and CT, why are your outgoings so much more then they are now, that's what I don't understand. At present they're all covered by JSA so, if you add the rent and CT on top (and a bit extra for utilities which will be higher if you live alone) that shold cover you.

I don't mean to appear harsh but I'm just a bit puzzled.

ETA

There seems to be lots of flats in Chesterfield for far less than you're expecting.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/Chesterfield.html?sortType=1&minBedrooms=1&maxBedrooms=1

jacques_chirac

comeandgo wrote: »

Why are you paying council tax and rates?

Edit - is it water rates? We dont have that as separate in Scotland, hence my ignorance -

Water rates