Need some urgent advice about Benefits and Money

Housing_Benefit_Officer

If she works 35 miles away that means she is driving 70 miles per day - probably costing 20 pence per mile in petrol = £14 in petrol per day. How many days per week does she work? If she works 4 days per week then her petrol expenses per month are going to be close to £250 on average. If she could find a job closer to home she would save a small fortune in petrol.

Your calculation of £130 per month for travel expenses seems woefully inadequate if she does a 70 mile round trip to and from work every day - unless she drives a super fuel efficient car.

dancingfairy

You need to be focussing on the priorities such as food and keeping a roof over your head, not credit cards and loans. Is the loan secured on anything such as the car? If not then I suggest getting some advice on the debts and making token payments due to your situation as that 100 a month will really help you.
How much are the debts in total? If they are under 15000 then you may find that a DRO is suitable for you. It costs 90 pounds and is like a mini bankruptcy and will wipe your debts. Obviously you still have to get your costs under control going forward but this should make a huge difference. Why not phone National Debtline or StepChange or your local CAB for help?
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CuriouslyGeorge

She works 2 days per week as she does 11 and a half hour shifts so it is £130 a month for travel expenses it is probably actually nearer £100.

BigAunty

With just one adult working part-time in a couple and running a car, the likelihood of financial struggle is high and the risk of debt higher still.

Download the MSE budget planner and work through the site to identify where you can slash outgoings.

ESA is a benefit designed for those too ill to work - see the Direct Gov website for info. I believe it is time limited for those households that have alternative sources of income.

Look at the Debt management advice section of the Direct Gov website and post a SOA on the Debt free management board (they will tell you how to do this). That way you will receive free expert advice. You don't seem to think the £100 per month debt is a major factor in your hardship but it represents more than 10% of your net income swallowed up this way so is not insubstantial.

We recently had a post from a guy receiving DLA/ESA moving in with his boyfriend and his mother who earned £100 a week and complained bitterly about how they could not make ends meet despite having virtually no rent to pay at his MIL. It eventually, after many posts, transpired that he paid over 50% of his benefit income to service debts while his partner paid nearly 90% of his employment income to pay off a TV, telephone and credit card debts. Debts are pernicious and overwhelm people, snowballing with huge momentum.

You have not answered how much higher your rent is compared to the 1 bedroom LHA rate which is fair enough. But this is how it works, for example - if you live in a property that costs £500 per month when the maximum local housing allowance rate you qualify is £350, for example, then that £150 difference will always be ignored in the calculations and you will always have to find this sum through other means. Whatever the difference is between the LHA rate and your rent is simply something that you have to suffer - yes, you might get DHP but its only ever temporary and some councils give it on the expectation that the claimant moves to a cheaper property at the end of their current tenancy.

Social housing is scarce and demand is high. However, virtually anyone can apply to go on the waiting lists and those with sickness/disability can be awarded higher points. Consider applying for social housing - don't ask, don't get, despite the fact its hard to get a decent tenancy you may as well try. If you could halve your rent this way and take control of your energy bills rather than relying one ones in a shared building being split, this would take the pressure off.

See if your local council run a private tenancy deposit scheme. Some do for those in housing need and low income but the criteria is different from place to place, for example, some will only supply it to those on certain types of benefits. Make an enquiry.

CuriouslyGeorge

Hi, thanks for the replies, the LHA works out at around £425 per month so that would leave a £500 shortfall, why we were only awarded £41 per week with no council tax is baffling but we have appealed, although that could take along time.

I still don't know if I am entitled to contribution based ESA? I know this can be claimed for a year regardless of the income of you're partner but I don't think I would get it because I very much doubt I have made enough contributions.

I will however apply for PIP.

We will definitely put ourselves down on housing registers and look into the deposit schemes as well.

I will also post regarding the debts as well.

Thank you.

BigAunty

CuriouslyGeorge wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the replies, the LHA works out at around £425 per month so that would leave a £500 shortfall, why we were only awarded £41 per week with no council tax is baffling but we have appealed, although that could take along time.

.

Okay, so if the LHA is £425 and the rent is £500 a month, that leaves you with a sum of £17 or so a week that you simply have to bear yourselves (unless you get DHP, good luck with your application). LHA rates are allegedly based on the bottom third of average local market rents, meaning a third of properties should be affordable to those on low incomes/benefits but people often dispute how they work out LHA rates and say only a tiny percentage of properties fall within the band.

The Turn2us online benefit calculator has a good reputation for accuracy so that might be another way to double check the situation with council tax. I've have come across situations before that I've modelled on this calclator where the household is due maximum sums of child tax credits, a large sum of working tax credits, nearly all their rent covered by housing benefit and unexpectedly for me, not a single penny off their council tax. Perhaps your partner's salary is considered too high for any discount, perhaps its a mistake by the councils calculations.

RAS

Has your partner told the COuncil that you have moved in and stopped claiming Single Person's Allowance?

Note that each Council now decided how much CTB peopel on low income get; some insist that everyone pays 15%.

CuriouslyGeorge

Hi, yes she informed the council straight away as soon as I moved in.

chrisbythesea

To get conts based ESA you would have had to paid contributions in the previous two tax years.
You need to either increase you income and /or cut your outgoings. Running a car on a small income just doesn't make sense.

CuriouslyGeorge

Without the car my partner would not be able to travel to work as the train costs more and buses are no good as she starts work at 5am in the morning when she works.