WTC in your first year of qualifying - do you have to wait until next year?

borderline

blondebubbles wrote: »

Sorry misread your post. The wtc limit for this year is £13000. It's not about how much of a reduction you have for example, someone earning £50000 one year, drops to £15000. They still wouldn't get it as they are still over the limit.

There is also a disregard if your income decreases of £2500

I see, so there is not even point to try to apply even if you are left with only £100 to live on after rent and bills are paid

I realised that if I was on JSA and got housing and council tax benefits I'd be better off than working on this low wage job that I have because I don't qualify to any benefits at the moment

zagfles

borderline wrote: »

I see, so there is not even point to try to apply even if you are left with only £100 to live on after rent and bills are paid

I realised that if I was on JSA and got housing and council tax benefits I'd be better off than working on this low wage job that I have because I don't qualify to any benefits at the moment

Why do you think you'd be better off on JSA? Unless you've got a mortgage or have high travel to work expenses it's very unlikely. You'd have far less than £100pw after bills.

borderline

zagfles wrote: »

Why do you think you'd be better off on JSA? Unless you've got a mortgage or have high travel to work expenses it's very unlikely. You'd have far less than £100pw after bills.

because after I pay my rent, bills and transport, on my low wages I’m left with about £100 to last a month.
If I didn’t have a job and I was on JSA and qualified for Housing benefits, then I wouldn’t have to pay for HB and CT plus I would get £71 week. So to me, it seems that one can be better off not working unfortunately

jacques_chirac

borderline wrote: »

because after I pay my rent, bills and transport, on my low wages I’m left with about £100 to last a month.
If I didn’t have a job and I was on JSA and qualified for Housing benefits, then I wouldn’t have to pay for HB and CT plus I would get £71 week. So to me, it seems that one can be better off not working unfortunately

Most people have to top up their rent - HB does not cover the full amount. Also in many areas those on JSA have to pay towards council tax.

zagfles

borderline wrote: »

because after I pay my rent, bills and transport, on my low wages I’m left with about £100 to last a month.
If I didn’t have a job and I was on JSA and qualified for Housing benefits, then I wouldn’t have to pay for HB and CT plus I would get £71 week. So to me, it seems that one can be better off not working unfortunately

Have you checked if you can get HB/LHA now? You don't have to be out of work. You'll still have all your other bills to pay out of JSA except perhaps transport costs.

M.Johnson_2

Icequeen99 wrote: »

But you need to be careful if you go down the estimate route instead of waiting until after the end of the year to confirm actual figures. If your estimate turns out to be too low, you could be overpaid.

IQ

Hense the huge numbers of people having to repay loads of TC.

borderline

zagfles wrote: »

Have you checked if you can get HB/LHA now? You don't have to be out of work. You'll still have all your other bills to pay out of JSA except perhaps transport costs.

no, I can’t get HB (yet) because at the moment I have over £16,000 in savings thanks to a redundancy payment

zagfles

borderline wrote: »

no, I can’t get HB (yet) because at the moment I have over £16,000 in savings thanks to a redundancy payment

You wouldn't get it if you were jobless either then.

lovinituk

borderline wrote: »

no, I can’t get HB (yet) because at the moment I have over £16,000 in savings thanks to a redundancy payment

So live off your redundancy money until your income improves! That's exactly what I had to do after I was made redundant and decided to start my own business.

Nada666

borderline wrote: »

because after I pay my rent, bills and transport, on my low wages I’m left with about £100 to last a month.
If I didn’t have a job and I was on JSA and qualified for Housing benefits, then I wouldn’t have to pay for HB and CT plus I would get £71 week. So to me, it seems that one can be better off not working unfortunately

But you would then receive some housing benefit (not much for single person, true, but something (the fact that you are too rich to claim is irrelevant.). What bills do you mean? Most of them are also due to those on JSA. Water, energy, tv, internet. Transport is usually optional - most can walk to work.

£16,000 divided by £200 per month is more than six years - if you haven't progressed within six years then the problem is with you not elsewhere.