Refused free school meals

*Rainbow*Warrior*

Please can someone advise me? My daughter is 16 and has just started at 6th form college. The local authority told me that to qualify for free meals we need to prove 3 things:

1 - We earn less than 16k
2 - We receive Child Tax Credits
3 - We do not receive Working Tax Credit

My husband was made redundant last year, so our only income is from my part time job (about 8k), plus Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit. I went through a lot of hassle to get an updated award notice from Tax Credits (it's a nightmare trying to get through to them, and even when you do they sometimes send out the wrong info so it's taken ages).

I've finally got the award notice and sent it to the local authority and NOW they tell me they assess us based on LAST YEAR's income so we don't qualify because my husband was working then.

So if he gets a job next year and we don't need the money, this presumably means we will qualify for help next year as it's based on this years income - but we can't get help right now when we actually need it???

Sorry to rant but I am furious about this. Firstly I'm annoyed that we don't qualify and I can't see how that is fair when we need the help now. Secondly I am annoyed that the local authority have put me to all this trouble getting the info and only now telling me it's based on last year's income. So they have given me incorrect info and put me to a lot of trouble and distress as a result, and I have emailed back to log a complaint about that.

I just wondered if anyone can advise me about the assessment (is it really correct that they base it on last years income?) or about how local authorities will deal with complaints? Even if we don't qualify I feel I have been messed around.

I don't know anything about local authority complaints procedures. Can anyone help please?

HappyMJ

Are you on an income based benefit such as job seekers allowance. Most people get contribution based JSA for 6 months which does not qualify you for free school meals.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

He was on contribution based, which only lasts 6 months. I only mentioned the JSA in order to say we don't get it and that means we have very little income, i wasn't saying I thought getting JSA would entitle us to free meals (if you see what I mean).

We don't get any other help as we 'officially' have savings. In fact, it's not really our money. We lost my dad a few months ago and he put money into my account before we lost him. In my mind, it's not really our money, it belongs to my Mum, but at the moment it's all we've got and I am having to use that to pay our bills each month.

HappyMJ

*Rainbow*Warrior* wrote: »

He was on contribution based, which only lasts 6 months. I only mentioned the JSA in order to say we don't get it and that means we have very little income, i wasn't saying I thought getting JSA would entitle us to free meals (if you see what I mean).

We don't get any other help as we 'officially' have savings. In fact, it's not really our money. We lost my dad a few months ago and he put money into my account before we lost him. In my mind, it's not really our money, it belongs to my Mum, but at the moment it's all we've got and I am having to use that to pay our bills each month.

I don't think you did mention it in your OP....or you mean you did mention it to the local authority.

Do your savings disqualify you from income based JSA? He should still be able to get a small payment of JSA and he should be signing on anyway to get credit of National Insurance. If he gets a small payment that automatically qualifies you to free school meals.

If the savings aren't yours then give them back. It makes it very confusing holding savings for others as the DWP/HMRC/Council will all assume it's yours and you get nothing. If you gave them back would they all consider you deprived yourself of capital to gain a benefit?

andrewmp

If you work there's no way of getting free school meals from what I can see.

Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income, as assessed by the Inland Revenue that does not exceed £16,190

Anyone on under £16,190 with a child (as assessed by the inland revenue) would be entitled to WTC so it cancels out anyone who works and receives Child Tax Credit.

densol_2

My sons was based on last years income and got the bursary this year.

My older son could not get it last year as his was based on the year before that when I was working ( on very high money ) so we did not qualify despite only earning £9,000 in the claiming year.

I don't remember a rule about not getting working tax credits though - it was just the income being under £17500 per year

*Rainbow*Warrior*

blondebubbles wrote: »

Everything I've read only mentions annual income. It doesn't seem to mention if that means last year, this year or the income that tax credits use to calculate your claim.

Could the council direct you to any guidance that confirms its last years income?

They just sent me an email today saying assessments are based on the previous years income. What I'm annoyed about is that I have been in email correspondence with this person for a while now and I've told her our situation, so I think she should have told me at the outset that it was based on last years income. She didn't, she said I had to prove the 3 things listed - which i have now proved.

HappyMJ wrote: »

I don't think you did mention it in your OP....or you mean you did mention it to the local authority.

Do your savings disqualify you from income based JSA? He should still be able to get a small payment of JSA and he should be signing on anyway to get credit of National Insurance. If he gets a small payment that automatically qualifies you to free school meals.

If the savings aren't yours then give them back. It makes it very confusing holding savings for others as the DWP/HMRC/Council will all assume it's yours and you get nothing. If you gave them back would they all consider you deprived yourself of capital to gain a benefit?

Sorry, I got confused when someone asked me about JSA so I thought I must have mentioned it here, just me being confused because I'm feeling a bit emotional about this at the moment.

Yes he still signs on to get his NI stamp but we don't get any money from them.

Yes, I believe they would consider we had deliberately deprived ourselves of the money. I thought about moving it a few months ago but we figured they would look back at the bank accounts and see we had moved the money. We've accepted that because of this money we don't qualify for JSA but I was led to believe that it would not stop us getting free school meals. They have given her a bus pass to get to and from college, so I'm not sure why meals are assessed differently.

andrewmp wrote: »

If you work there's no way of getting free school meals from what I can see.

Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income, as assessed by the Inland Revenue that does not exceed £16,190

Anyone on under £16,190 with a child (as assessed by the inland revenue) would be entitled to WTC so it cancels out anyone who works and receives Child Tax Credit.

According to the local authority all I had to prove was that we earn less than 16K (I only earn 8k), that we are in receipt of Child Tax Credit and that we are NOT in receipt of Working Tax Credit. I have spoken to Tax Credits and they confirm if you earn less than 16k you don't qualify for Working Tax Credit.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

Could your daughter do a Saturday job to help out? It would give her some money as you know what teenagers are like, going out with their friends etc.

She's quite keen to get a Saturday job actually, but hasn't been able to find one yet.

blondebubbles wrote: »

sorry but that's incorrect.

If you don't qualify for WTC it must be that you don't work the required number of hours, not because you earn less than 16,000.

I'm only telling you what the local authority told me, And I only work 20 hours,anyway.

HappyMJ

*Rainbow*Warrior* wrote: »

According to the local authority all I had to prove was that we earn less than 16K (I only earn 8k), that we are in receipt of Child Tax Credit and that we are NOT in receipt of Working Tax Credit. I have spoken to Tax Credits and they confirm if you earn less than 16k you don't qualify for Working Tax Credit.

You can be self employed have tens of thousands in the bank working enough hours earning absolutely no profit at all and get the full amount of working tax credits. Universal Credits are closing that loophole that many have discovered and taking advantage of.

HappyMJ

*Rainbow*Warrior* wrote: »

She's quite keen to get a Saturday job actually, but hasn't been able to find one yet.



I'm only telling you what the local authority told me, And I only work 20 hours,anyway.

Does your husband do any work at all? Just 4 more hours and you do qualify for working tax credits. You need to do 24 hours between you and one of you must be on 16 hours or more.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

HappyMJ wrote: »

Does your husband do any work at all? Just 4 more hours and you do qualify for working tax credits. You need to do 24 hours between you and one of you must be on 16 hours or more.

No. He is hoping to start self employment soon but right now he does not work at all.

blondebubbles wrote: »

You said that's what tax credits told you?

I'm sorry, I must be getting confused about who told me what. The local authority said in order to qualify for free meals I had to prove I earn less than 16k, that I get child tax credit and that I don't get working tax credit. I don't think they care how many hours I work, it's just the income.

Tax Credits confirmed to me that I don't qualify for working tax credit. Maybe I got mixed up over the reason, but the fact is - I don't qualify - and that's what the local authority wanted me to prove.