Young parent advice please

RitchieC

Hello everyone

Please take the time to read through this post as I desperately need help with regards to being a young parent.

Purpose of the thread:
- To help my sister (22 weeks' pregnant, 18 years' old) rent a flat with her boyfriend (20 years' old).
- To gather information on what financial options are available given their current situation.

Story:
My sister has recently announced that she is going to have a baby. I am currently getting as much advice as possible as I believe that she will struggle. Any advice would be appreciated more than you know.

Key information about the situation:

• Sister (age 18) and boyfriend (age 20);
• Currently living in Somerset with parents - rental prices of a 1 bed flat around £350-400 pcm;
• No option to live with parents following the birth (expected in the 3rd week of January, 2016);
• Boyfriend currently working occasionally as a contractor (making around £300 pw when he is contracting);
• Sister unemployed and struggling to be accepted back into education;
• Currently 22 weeks' pregnant with a baby girl;
• Boyfriend can drive, sister can't;
• Cannot get a guarantor for a flat;
• Has little money to start with (although I will help them if they need a start on a flat).

If anyone has any advice on what benefits or advice is available for them, please let me know. I really appreciate the time that anyone has taken to read this and respond.


All the best

Ritchie

tomtontom

Your council may have a rent deposit scheme, she should call them and ask.

Boyfriend needs to focus on working permanently, not occasionally.

RitchieC

blondebubbles wrote: »

Whilst waiting on a reply from others, has she tried a benefit calculator?

(link removed from quote as I am a new user)

Once baby is born they'd get approx £83.50 per week tax credits and £20.70 per week child benefit.

Tax credits figure is based on earning £300 per week (£15,600 for the year). If their combined income for last year/expect income for this year is any more or less then that will alter the tax credits due.

Thank you very much, blondebubbles. I had a look at the child benefit and came to the same. Was unsure about the tax credits but that is nice to know.

I really appreciate your response.

RitchieC

tomtontom wrote: »

Your council may have a rent deposit scheme, she should call them and ask.

Boyfriend needs to focus on working permanently, not occasionally.

I haven't heard of a rent deposit scheme before. I will find get the local number and give them a call.

The difficulty with working permanently is that there is nothing special in the home town, he would be on a relatively low wage. Of course, this has to be compared with his total annual income.

I will look further into this and see what works best for him. Permanent seems like a better option for their situation.

Thank you for the help.