Tax credits, would I be entitled ?

minicooper212

Hi everyone,

I'm currently unemployed and I have been looking for work since May. I was made redundant from a job in admin paying just over £20,000 a year.
After sending loads and loads of applications for similar jobs and no luck, I started applying for jobs in retail, supermarkets etc..
I might be getting a job at one of these stores that I applied to, the problem is that they only pay minimum wage, not even £7 an hour which means I would be left with about £50 to live on to pay bills and eat after paying my rent.
Would I be entitled to tax credit? I looked at two calculations sites and one told me I would be entitled to about £52 while the other told me I wasn't entitled to anything...
I'm a single person (no kids) 44 years old in private rented accommodation (London). I'm not entitled to housing benefits because with my redundancy money I have over £16,000 in savings (which obviously sooner rather than later this money will be gone)
I'm on contributions based JSA
Taking a job like that is a pay cut of about £7000 a year of what I was getting before:eek:

would I be entitled to any help in tax credits? Is it even worth it to take this job? My fear is that once I'm on a job like that perhaps I wouldn't be available for interviews if a better job came along:(

thanks !

nannytone_2

in your ciecumstances, you would need to be working at least 30 hours a week to qualify for working tax credits.

once your savings fall below 6k you will start to get help with housing and council tax if your income is low enough

minicooper212

nannytone wrote: »

in your ciecumstances, you would need to be working at least 30 hours a week to qualify for working tax credits.

once your savings fall below 6k you will start to get help with housing and council tax if your income is low enough

Yes, the job would be full time 40 hours a week

princessdon

Tax credits in part use last years income, so you get a zero award then tell them it dropped this year more than the disregard and you get this years award. On £7ph with no income since may you should get some WTC.

minicooper212

princessdon wrote: »

Tax credits in part use last years income, so you get a zero award then tell them it dropped this year more than the disregard and you get this years award. On £7ph with no income since may you should get some WTC.

what's the disregard?
why would I get a zero award? wouldn't they be able to see straight away my drop in wages?
Sorry, I don't know how these things works, never claimed a penny before

princessdon

minicooper212 wrote: »

what's the disregard?
why would I get a zero award? wouldn't they be able to see straight away my drop in wages?
Sorry, I don't know how these things works, never claimed a penny before

Just ring tax credits - it's just the way they work using last year, you may be able to clear it up with 1 call.