Variable Hours and Income Support/Housing Benefit

spidermagicat

Hi,

I'm on a zero hours contract. I usually work 3 shifts a week totalling 21 hours.

This gives me just under £150/week. As I understand it that's above the threshold for Income Support.

At the moment housing benefit has been stopped. This is while they calculate my entitlement. They have all my weekly payslips so it should be right. Does anyone know what it should be? My rent is monthly but comes to £65 each week.

My main problem is what happens when I'm only given 2 shifts or 1 as is happening over the next 2 weeks.

Can I make a claim for working 14 hours and getting £100 or perhaps more relevant 7 hours and getting £50. Do I have to make a new claim each time.

I can live on what I have, just about. But I'm trying to pay down debts so any help I can get is needed.

tomtontom

Your post does not make much sense. What are your household circumstances, do you live with anyone and do they work?

Housing_Benefit_Officer

spidermagicat wrote: »

Hi,

I'm on a zero hours contract. I usually work 3 shifts a week totalling 21 hours.

This gives me just under £150/week. As I understand it that's above the threshold for Income Support.

At the moment housing benefit has been stopped. This is while they calculate my entitlement. They have all my weekly payslips so it should be right. Does anyone know what it should be? My rent is monthly but comes to £65 each week.

My main problem is what happens when I'm only given 2 shifts or 1 as is happening over the next 2 weeks.

Can I make a claim for working 14 hours and getting £100 or perhaps more relevant 7 hours and getting £50. Do I have to make a new claim each time.

I can live on what I have, just about. But I'm trying to pay down debts so any help I can get is needed.

It would be unlikely that the local benefits office would recalculate your earnings every week depending how much you earn. More than likely they will recalculate every 5 weeks or 2 months. You will need to speak to them and ask if they want wage slips every week or every 5 weeks.

confuseddaughter_2

You mention Income Support. If because of your income/hours you go over the maximum limit, then the claim will close down, not just be suspended. Same with any means tested benefit, you have to make a new claim. Obviously it would be easier if they did just suspend it but they don't. In my mum's case, she won't hear about a renewal of her Attendance award before the old one runs out. She is a part of a Pension Credit claim that is basically paid on the strength of an Attendance award being in place. Until a new award is made, the Pension Credit claim will not exist. When the new award is made which will be backdated to the date of the old one finishing, the Pension Credit award can only be backdated 3 months max.
Substitute Pension Credit for Income Support and you will see that you could well be chasing new claims every time you go over the limits.

pmlindyloo

confuseddaughter wrote: »

You mention Income Support. If because of your income/hours you go over the maximum limit, then the claim will close down, not just be suspended. Same with any means tested benefit, you have to make a new claim. Obviously it would be easier if they did just suspend it but they don't. In my mum's case, she won't hear about a renewal of her Attendance award before the old one runs out. She is a part of a Pension Credit claim that is basically paid on the strength of an Attendance award being in place. Until a new award is made, the Pension Credit claim will not exist. When the new award is made which will be backdated to the date of the old one finishing, the Pension Credit award can only be backdated 3 months max.
Substitute Pension Credit for Income Support and you will see that you could well be chasing new claims every time you go over the limits.

I do think your mum's case is slightly different. She is only getting Pension Credit because of her AA award. If the AA award is stopped then she is no longer entitled to PC.

In the case of housing benefit they are used to zero hours contracts and as Housingbenefitofficer says councils have a formula for working out your HB depending on whether you are paid weekly or monthly.

See here for example.
http://www.eaststaffsbc.gov.uk/Housing/Homelessness/Pages/FinancialDifficulties.aspx

I do not know about Income Support. The OP needs to tell us why the IS is being paid - single parent/sickness/?

The sooner zero hour contracts are done away with the better. It completely messes up benefits. (just my opinion!)

confuseddaughter_2

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I do think your mum's case is slightly different. She is only getting Pension Credit because of her AA award. If the AA award is stopped then she is no longer entitled to PC.

In the case of housing benefit they are used to zero hours contracts and as Housingbenefitofficer says councils have a formula for working out your HB depending on whether you are paid weekly or monthly.

See here for example.
http://www.eaststaffsbc.gov.uk/Housing/Homelessness/Pages/FinancialDifficulties.aspx

I do not know about Income Support. The OP needs to tell us why the IS is being paid - single parent/sickness/?

The sooner zero hour contracts are done away with the better. It completely messes up benefits. (just my opinion!)

Thankyou I am aware of mum's situation. What I was attempting to explain that like Pension Credit, Income Support has the same rules about entitlement. If you become ineligible for Income Support because you break the income rules, the IS claim ceases as would Pension Credit if the income rules (earn too much) are broken.


So in this case, if the income exceeds the Income Support award in any week, the award/claim is closed down. You have to make a new claim with all of the delays and faffing about that that entails.

mikey_bach

spidermagicat wrote: »

Hi,

This gives me just under £150/week. As I understand it that's above the threshold for Income Support.


My main problem is what happens when I'm only given 2 shifts or 1 as is happening over the next 2 weeks.

Can I make a claim for working 14 hours and getting

I can live on what I have, just about. But I'm trying to pay down debts so any help I can get is needed.

You would still not be entitled to I.S even with just two shifts, if you had condition of entitlement, eg child under five, single parent the disregard would be £20 on your wages so £80 to be taken into account, that amount is over the personal allowance which is £72.50 , if over twenty five.

If you got zero hours and made a claim then as soon as you got two shifts again then your claim would close. Could you not get another part time job to go along side it, and maybe claim WTCs ?