Help regarding income and benefits please

dippy3103

xx1991xx wrote: »

And Dippy3103 it's not 65p to the £1 for me as I am under 25 years of age. (according to my housing office anyway)

Wasn't aware of a different taper for under 25's.

dippy3103

PS I'm looking at continuing to work full time & study. It can be done

Caz3121

xx1991xx wrote: »

sorry I forgot to add that I'm a full time student, studying with the open university (double modules). This is the reason I can only work 12 hours as they recommend 35-40 hours per week study for double modular for the course I am studying.

I don't get any maintenance loans or grants. The student loan covers course fee's only and I do not see any of this money.


I understand I could pick up more hours of work at the weekend, but like I stated above this wouldn't help me financially unless I worked full time (which is not possible at the moment).

Hope this makes sense and thankyou for your comments

You have the choice. Stay as you are working 12 hours per week as a personal choice and accept you have £20 left each month or change something.
There are not additional benefits because you do not want to work more hours.
I studied full time whilst working full time, paying a mortgage and bringing up family - I had a job that was shift work so worked the shifts around my classes (received nothing except child benefit)
So for the first 10 additional hours you may be no better off financially if you say your HB reduces £ for £ but once you are working over that you are actually up, 35 hours per week in paid employment should have you £80+ per week better off

someone once said to me - "light a candle, don't complain about the dark"

dippy3103

Have you declared your full time student status to the council?

Housing_Benefit_Officer

xx1991xx wrote: »

And Dippy3103 it's not 65p to the £1 for me as I am under 25 years of age. (according to my housing office anyway)

There is only one taper - 65p - so Dippy3103 is correct.

dippy3103

That's fortunate- increasing your hours is an option after all. It's lighting that candle..

BillJones

xx1991xx wrote: »

sorry I forgot to add that I'm a full time student, studying with the open university (double modules). This is the reason I can only work 12 hours as they recommend 35-40 hours per week study for double modular for the course I am studying.

Plenty of people (me, for example) work 60-70 hours per week, for decades on end. Is there a medical reason why you don't feel able to manage much over 50?

BigAunty

Are you paying towards your HB due to your income or are you under occupying your property by having a spare bedroom and therefore get your HB capped because of this?

I second all the previous posts that say you should manage your time better. As you have no entitlement to more benefits or student income (unless you get a loan with the Open Uni?), then you must increase your income otherwise your subsistence living will continue and your debts will increase.

Reduce your modules to single ones and even with a National Minimum Wage job, you will take home close to £200 a week. You can model the impact of your increased wages on your benefits on the Turn2us online benefit calculator and also what would happen if you retained your current work from home employment and worked an extra 35 hours on top which is doable.

Your poverty is caused by prioritising your study time and only devoting less than 2 hours a day to paid employment.