Benefit Advice Pregnant daughter

leveller2911

supertomsk wrote: »

This isn't a forum for opinions its about advice.

My advice would be to open a dictionary and look up the meaning of the word "Forum"............

Oh never mind I will save you thr trouble as you probably wouldn't bother. The word "Forum" means "A place for debate".

As far as I'm aware people are debating..;) HTH

princessdon

If grandma claims - then it's same household

Also grandma only gets lower rate of CB and CTC.

Mum would get IS, higher rate child benefits and her college support EMA can be higher as she is on IS.

There doesn't appear any reason for gran to claim unless they are worried that mum could not handle her own finances.

powerful_Rogue

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

Any maintenance received would be disregarded in full for benefit purposes.

No wonder this countries in the mess its in.

princessdon

Tiglath wrote: »

Really? So if a hypothetical father did pay say £1000/week, the mother would still potentially be able to claim benefits?

Yes, of I split up from my hubby I would get a fortune on benefits plus over £1500 pm in maintenance.

Many disagree, but it is the way it is and no benefit reforms plan to change this.

pmlindyloo

princessdon wrote: »

It is financially better for the mother (not grandma) to claim income support and SSMG, once qualifying then CTC and CB when born over the grandma claiming.

Make sure she also claims care to learn support the college can help.

I think you will need to get some specialist help with this.

If your niece's college course is full time then I am not sure what help/benefits as a student she would be entitled to before the baby is born.

If she claims any benefit (like ESA/Income Support) before the baby is born then certainly your sister should inform tax credits as I do not believe she will still be eligible to claim child tax credits then nor CB. Then your niece could claim the SSMG in her own right.

If your niece is not entitled to any benefits before the baby is born then your sister can continue getting the CTC and CB for her.

xylophone

Not really. If the father is going to support them financially, then why would she need to claim benefits?

It would appear that benefits are not affected by child maintenance payments?

http://www.cmoptions.org/en/maintenance/benefits.asp

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/teenager-pregnant.aspx#close

http://www.brightknowledge.org/knowledge-bank/money/student-finance/financial-support-for-families-and-student-parents

The OP's sister could seek advice from a Benefits Adviser at CAB?

powerful_Rogue

xylophone wrote: »

It would appear that benefits are not affected by child maintenance payments?

http://www.cmoptions.org/en/maintenance/benefits.asp

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/teenager-pregnant.aspx#close

http://www.brightknowledge.org/knowledge-bank/money/student-finance/financial-support-for-families-and-student-parents

The OP's sister could seek advice from a Benefits Adviser at CAB?

So it seems, but you would hope peoples morals would take over if the father was paying a reasonable amount of money and look after the child themselves, rather then relying on the state.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Tiglath wrote: »

Really? So if a hypothetical father did pay say £1000/week, the mother would still potentially be able to claim benefits?

Yes it is disregarded in full. Big thaks to the previous Labour Government. One of the last things they did before being kicked out of office.

23 March 2010 – Extra help for families in poverty

Money paid to parents to support their children will no longer be taken into account when calculating benefit entitlement – meaning more money going direct to supporting the child. From April, income from child maintenance payments will be completely disregarded from benefit calculations.

Currently, parents are allowed to keep the first £20 of child maintenance per week before their benefits are reduced. Once the full disregard is introduced, the income from child maintenance will not affect benefits at all.

The disregard and earlier changes to child maintenance are expected to lift 100,000 more children out of poverty.

Secretary of State Yvette Cooper said:

"We want to do more to help families to get by during the recession. This will mean that money meant for children actually goes to the children. And it will help families sort out their own extra payments too whenever they can, without getting tied up in benefit changes.

"This is one more step in our fight against child poverty as we move towards enshrining our commitment to eradicating child poverty by 2020 in legislation."

Chief Executive of single parent charity Gingerbread Fiona Weir said:

"Gingerbread welcomes the Government’s decision to allow children in the poorest families to receive the full value of any child maintenance paid by their non-resident parent. In everyday terms, it will mean that every penny paid in maintenance goes to the child and is expected to lift thousands more children out of poverty.

"Child maintenance makes a real difference to children’s lives, helping to pay for basics such as shoes and nutritious food, and for important extras such as school trips."

The full disregard will encourage both parents to set up an effective maintenance arrangement and the non-resident parent to pay maintenance because all of the money will go to the children rather than the state.

Notes to Editors:
1.Parents with care in receipt of benefit are currently allowed to keep the first £20 of child maintenance per week, ‘the disregard’, before their benefits are reduced. From 12 April 2010 a full child maintenance disregard is being introduced, which means they can keep all the maintenance, which is paid without it affecting their benefits, unless it increases their savings to over £6,000.
2.This will affect parents with care who receive income related benefits including:
Job Seekers Allowance IB (income based)
Income Support
Employment Support Allowance IB (income based)
3.How it could work. Sample Case study:
Ann and Ian lived together with their daughter Emma. They split up and Ann started claiming Income Support for herself and Tax Credits for Emma.

Ian and Ann agreed that he should pay £30 per week maintenance directly to Ann, and she informed Jobcentre Plus.

Jobcentre Plus currently disregard the first £20 of the maintenance Ann receives so her benefit is reduced by £10.

After April 12th the maintenance Ian pays will be fully disregarded from the amount of benefits Ann receives. The introduction of the full disregard means Ann will receive the full amount of her benefits and will still receive the £30 per week maintenance directly from Ian.

Ann receives in total an extra £10 per week.

4.Parents with the care of children who are receiving benefits but do not have child maintenance arrangements in place are encouraged to contact the Child Maintenance Options service for information and support on the range of choices available. The service can be accessed online at Child Maintenance Options - Information and Support on Child Maintenance or calling the free phone number 0800 988 0988
Media Enquiries: 0203 267 5136
Out of hours: 07659 108 883
Website: DWP Homepage - Department for Work and Pensions

Dunroamin

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

So it seems, but you would hope peoples morals would take over if the father was paying a reasonable amount of money and look after the child themselves, rather then relying on the state.

And you've been a member of MSE for 7 years?:rotfl::rotfl:

chrisgrandma

this is a hard one as by law as the daughter will be still in college she is still classed as a dependant.and no all that maintanance would not count as everything woud be taken off her as you are only allowed to keep £10 a week maintanence when in receipt of benefits.