Having to take career leave

hitthefan

Hi everyone just looking for some advice.

I currently work 21 hours a week employed my partner works 35 self employed.

I have 3 children. Currently looked after by a family member whilst I work. Unfortunately my family member is now unable to look after the children for a period of 3-6 months due to ill health.

I was hoping I would be able to work from home but unfortunately HR have said no. So I will be taking career/Parental leave until I am able to go back to work.

We currently receive child tax credits of £39 a week and aren't in receipt of any other benefits. From using the entitled to calculator it seems we would be entitled to more tax credits and housing benefit.

I called tax credits today to inform them of the change but they said to wait until I was actually no longer working to report the change.

My question is how long does it take to amend tax credits and will they stop whilst they recalculate my claim?

How accurate is the entitled to calculator? I put in my amended earnings for the year taking into account 6 months unpaid. My partners income and working hours will remain the same.

On top of this my landlady has also decided to sell her house so I also need to find somewhere else to live with the added stress of claiming housing benefit. She has already sent the claim for possession to the court so we are waiting on our possession order. I have approached the council but they can do no more than offer me a bond scheme if I can find a place which is proving difficult!

Any advice anyone can give would be really useful.

Thanks for reading

H x

Caz3121

hitthefan wrote: »

How accurate is the entitled to calculator? I put in my amended earnings for the year taking into account 6 months unpaid. My partners income and working hours will remain the same.

Tax credits ignore the first £2.5k of a decrease so if your award was based on £30k and your income will now be £25k which you give them as an estimate, they will adjust the award to be based on an income of £27.5k
Note, if they do this and you end up going back to work sooner and your income will be higher, you will have an overpayment so may be best to estimate best case scenario...eg back to work after 3 months then update your income if it turns out to be longer....best to have them owe you money than vice versa

hitthefan

Oh yes I didn't think of that. I am hoping for 3 months so will estimate income based on that. Thank you

[Deleted User]

If you have children, and your LL is obtaining a possession order, the council will have to offer you a bit more help than just a bond scheme. However, their help could mean B&B so if you can, its best to find another private rental. I know this isn't easy though.

The council do what is called 'Gatekeeping'.., i.e. will not tell you all they can do in the hope that you will find another option based on their information.

You could try phoning Shelter for advice. But as I have said, even if the council do have to help, it won't be an easy process.

BigAunty

hitthefan wrote: »

On top of this my landlady has also decided to sell her house so I also need to find somewhere else to live with the added stress of claiming housing benefit. She has already sent the claim for possession to the court so we are waiting on our possession order. I have approached the council but they can do no more than offer me a bond scheme if I can find a place which is proving difficult!

See the Shelter section on homelessness which explains a council's obligations. Homelessness is defined as having no more than 28 days security of tenure, I believe.

As per the previous post, councils are notorious for trying to put off accepting homelessness applications through 'gate keeping'. The Shelter website will tell you what they are actually supposed to be doing.

For example, Crisis performed a mystery shopping exercise in London a few years ago to check how single homeless people were treated by council homeless departments. From memory, around 90% of the applicants were fobbed off rather than having an application form processed. Some of those posing as homeless for this research exercise couldn't even get past the receptionist. One of them was badly treated by a housing officer and then discovered the member of staff had given a false name....