Housing benefit

swingaloo

A young friend of ours is having to set up on her own as her dad died 3 years ago and her mum sadly passed away a week ago.

She is 38 and in full time work but only on the £7.20 an hour wage. She has been on the 'Turn to us' benefits calculator and the results are that she is entitled to nothing.

Can that be correct? As she is on the minimum wage I would have thought she may have got housing benefit. Do you have to actually be out of work to egt any help with housing?

HappyMJ

swingaloo wrote: »

A young friend of ours is having to set up on her own as her dad died 3 years ago and her mum sadly passed away a week ago.

She is 38 and in full time work but only on the £7.20 an hour wage. She has been on the 'Turn to us' benefits calculator and the results are that she is entitled to nothing.

Can that be correct? As she is on the minimum wage I would have thought she may have got housing benefit. Do you have to actually be out of work to egt any help with housing?

You can get help with housing whilst working full time on the minimum wage.

The amount you get depends on the rent payable, the LHA rate for the area she is renting in and her circumstances. It might very well be nothing.

Alice_Walker

She's earning upwards of £250 a week, unless she is in a high cost area that should be sufficient to cover her living costs.

You don't have to be out of work to claim housing benefit. If she is not eligible it will be because her income is deemed too high. If unsure she can double check with the council, or look up the one bed LHA rate on their website and post it here.

Mojisola

swingaloo wrote: »

A young friend of ours

She is 38

Not replying to your enquiry but this made me smile.

Bogof_Babe

If she has been living with her mum, and before that both parents, has she not been able to save anything towards the almost inevitable time when she would have to support herself entirely? Could it be that her savings are above the level where means tested benefits apply?

swingaloo

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

If she has been living with her mum, and before that both parents, has she not been able to save anything towards the almost inevitable time when she would have to support herself entirely? Could it be that her savings are above the level where means tested benefits apply?

No, she has not been able to save anything, she would not have the problem if she had been able to do so!

She was previously renting with her ex partner, she moved back in with her mum 5 months ago when her mum became very ill and needed her to care for her. Whilst she was caring for her mum her partner took up with another woman so now she does not have the option to move back with him.

We are not in an expensive area, her rent is £495 and she has been unable to find anything cheaper. She is in a 2 bed terraced but even if she went for a one bed flat there is hardly a difference.
After paying rent, council tax, gas, water, electricity, house and car insurance she is left with around £100 for the month for food, petrol and anything else she may need.

According to the local housing authority site the rate is £84 per week for an adult her age in a one bedroom.

She has looked into getting another job but cant find one that pays more and getting another part time job to run alongside is impossible as she is on shifts and works any 5 from 7 with a new rota every 2 months so one week she could be off Monday and Thursday, the following week off Thursday and Sunday.

HappyMJ

swingaloo wrote: »

No, she has not been able to save anything, she would not have the problem if she had been able to do so!

She was previously renting with her ex partner, she moved back in with her mum 5 months ago when her mum became very ill and needed her to care for her. Whilst she was caring for her mum her partner took up with another woman so now she does not have the option to move back with him.

We are not in an expensive area, her rent is £495 and she has been unable to find anything cheaper. She is in a 2 bed terraced but even if she went for a one bed flat there is hardly a difference.
After paying rent, council tax, gas, water, electricity, house and car insurance she is left with around £100 for the month for food, petrol and anything else she may need.

According to the local housing authority site the rate is £84 per week for an adult her age in a one bedroom.

She has looked into getting another job but cant find one that pays more and getting another part time job to run alongside is impossible as she is on shifts and works any 5 from 7 with a new rota every 2 months so one week she could be off Monday and Thursday, the following week off Thursday and Sunday.

£84 per week is £364 per month so she has to cover the shortfall between that and her rent from the money which is set aside for living expenses. £30 a quite a lot to find from a weekly living allowance of around £80 per week. That would only leave her with £50 to spend on all of her bills. The only option is to find somewhere cheaper. The rate is set at £364 as 30% of properties are priced at £364 or less. If she chooses to live in a 2 bedroom flat then that's her choice. She needs to get a lodger in and share if she wishes to keep it.

If she still really wants to keep the house she needs to think about getting rid of the car and walking to/from work. A car although most would think of as a need is actually not essential. Public transport exists and us usually much cheaper than running a car.

She will not get any assistance to live beyond her means in a property which is larger than she needs and she won't be given anything to help her own and run a car.

Bogof_Babe

Could she take a lodger in her spare room? That could bring in another £250-£300 a month, and I believe no tax is payable at that level.

HappyMJ

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Could she take a lodger in her spare room? That could bring in another £250-£300 a month, and I believe no tax is payable at that level.

That's right £7,500 per year is free of tax. £625 per month. OP could even rent a 3 bedroom and rent each room out and still not pay any tax. All bills would effectively be split 3 ways and the OP would have much more money left over each week to spend on food.

https://www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home/the-rent-a-room-scheme

swingaloo

I think things are getting confused. We understand about making up the shortfall difference between the allowance and the rent payable but the position is at the moment that she is not getting any housing benefit.

She was going to apply but on putting her details into the turn to us benefit calculator it was showing that she would not be entitled to any help at all in terms of housing benefit or anything else.

It seems strange because 2 of the men at work are both renting a property together and they say they both get housing benefit (they are on the same wage as her) hence the original question.
I was told the turn to us calculator is quite accurate but she has entered her details correctly and it shows no entitlement. Thats why I was asking- are you not entitled to help with housing benefit on the minimum wage and living alone.

Her car is necessary for her job and she cant rely on public transport as she is on rotating shifts and has shifts starting at 6 in the morning and shifts ending at 2am and taxis home on the week she finishes at 2am would cost in the region of £12 a night.

pmlindyloo

Does the calculator show that she is eligible for working tax credits? How many hours a week does she work?

Working tax credits would be counted as income for HB purposes.

This seems to be a budgeting issue more than anything else. She needs to think about moving/ taking in a lodger / changing jobs/ reducing her expenditure. Lots of tips on this website about the latter.