Housing benefit

Darksparkle

pmlindyloo wrote: »

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.

Assuming she works at least 35hrs per week (OP said full time) her income is too high for WTC.

Has she looked into cutting any of her bills further? There is a lot of help and advice on the other forums about doing this.

Her taken him pay should be approx £1006 per month (if 35hrs) so after rent £511 so she's paying £400 on other bills.

missbiggles1

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.

£400 pcm is an awful lot to be spending on those items for a low earner renting a whole house to herself. I second the idea of getting someone in to share as she'll be so much better off financially but better budgeting would certainly help as well.

HappyMJ

swingaloo wrote: »

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.

You can be entitled to housing benefit if you earn minimum wage and live alone but only in a property that is at the LHA rate. Maybe the guys have expenses they cannot avoid such as child maintenance which can reduce their gross income enough to qualify them for discretionary housing benefit.

Her expenses are too high. I'm 41 myself and I no longer own a car. I used to own a car and it was a money pit. The loan payment was high, insurance is expensive, vehicle tax is expensive, MOT's and twice annual servicing is expensive, fuel is expensive and there are other costs. I was spending £400 per month just on the car and all associated expenses travelling 12,000 miles/year and that wasn't even a new car.

When I got rid of the car I found I had so much more money left over that I had no need to work quite as hard any more. If she's paid minimum wage for night work she should consider finding work that she is able to get to by walking or move home so she is within walking distance of work. £12 in a taxi is a long way from work. What is she paying in fuel for that distance? £3.50 (minimum fare) in a private hire vehicle in my area will get me to thousands of potential workplaces.

Caz3121

swingaloo wrote: »

are you not entitled to help with housing benefit on the minimum wage and living alone.

as as has been posted it can depend on the LHA rate
the £84 per week LHA rate would be paid if on a benefit such as JSA of £73 per week (subject to savings limit etc)
additional income over this amount would reduce the HB
Her income would be in excess of this amount and it sounds like the excess income is reducing the housing benefit to zero
If she was living in an area with a higher one-bedroom LHA rate then some housing benefit would likely be due