Tax Credits stopped as sons doing an apprentship?

emski777

my working and child tax credit pkus dla premium as my son is in reciept of dla (has an arm missing) got stopped on monday due to my son who started an apprentiship at a school as a learning support worker. he earns 90 pw he has to pay bus fare and food out of this which leaves him 60 tops.. They have also stopped rent for him so apparently i can claim workig tax credit at the rate of 50pw and the max £375 rent per month my rent however is 600 ? so is impossible thats without eating ! My son is unable to get any kind of help towards housing until 25 ... I thought the point of them taking appretiships with half the natonal minimum wage was to be able to learn a skill without financial pressure. As it is i CANNOT do it tosupport him i cant support myself on that so what am i suppose to do boot him out and get somewhere i can afford to live without him -which will leave hiim homeless??? Surely this cant be right any advise help would be appreciated. regards

Sambella

Unfortunately this is what happens when the kids grow up... the benefits will end up stopping.

Years ago when my eldest left school I lost £250 per month. I increased my hours at work but this didn't quite replace the lost £250pm. 3 years later the youngest left school but just before that I had gone full time. Again the drop in income wasn't quite made up. Took several years of pay rises before that happened. I worked in Local Government. I was also hit with tax credit repayments due to overpayments twice.

It was very tough. You will adjust because you have to. Once my kids entered work and I felt they were earning enough I charged them board.

It is the result of an over generous benefit system (where being on benefits paid more than a job would) I'm afraid every single parent or family will face it one day as the kids grow up.

I do not think £2.50 an hour is adequate for apprentices however and think that needs to be rethought. I guess your son gets DLA on top of that though.

Sambella

Ps. Might be worth finding out if your son could qualify for some kind of help with bus fares?

emski777

his dla is £21 per week and i have already looked into help with travel and kcc say no... we cant live on that i struggle to work as is and no i couldnt do more work ive tried and ive had a break down - recently went bankrupt also.due to suffering severe depression since my brothers death 4 years ago . Id get more on JSA and do nothing which seems extremely unfair. if took all his money away from him we still could not live/eat so wat does the goverment expect me 2 do . my son has been told he can go get bedsit as he is disabled but only if not doing anything else which presents a very bleak future which i obviously do not want espechelly for my son who had to try so hard to get this far.... thanks for confirming what i thought to be case though....

marliepanda

It may be an idea to post on the Debt Free Wannabe a statement of affairs (incoming and outgoings) to see where you could make little cuts which add up.

Your WTC of £50 a week plus the £375 'rent' you mention (I assume Housing Benefit?) is nearly your rent payment of £600.

You also work, I don't know how much, so you have that wage as income.

Your son is also earning £60 a week after expenses, plus his £21 DLA, so there is another £320 a "month"

How much exactly are you losing a month from the loss of the benefits you describe?

emski777

well they will only pay rent for me now so no i was getting 488 of the 600. so now the shortfall is more £225 a month and im down £608 a month in tax credit benefits. plus mow lose the 25% off council tax and he has to pay 38 a month as do i. so together we get 895 per month. 600 on rent 78 on council tax. my electric bill is 79 per month and my gas is 70 then both water bills £20 x 2 -40. home insurance £10 a month which leaves us £18 a month to eat ? no one can feed 2 people on 18 pounds a month we will starve.i will have a look at debt free wannabe though thanks

marliepanda

£150 per month on gas/electric is INSANE. I had no gas in a house of two and my electricity was never over £60. Are you paying arrears? £150 is crazy!

Why do you have two water bills?

That's not normal for a house of two people! There's your food money right there!

emski777

we live in folkestone shepway its the only place that has water bills for incoming water (affinity water)and another for sewage (southern water) both owned by the french. No i dont have arrears they all got wiped when i went bankrupt. i agree its insane but thats what my bills are i have tried swapping companys but made little difference..

duchy

If he is getting dla that won't be affected so he will have some income on top. I'd suggest having a word with Connexions to make sure he is claiming everything he is entitled to ....fares and any equipment he needs may be covered....... But yes you'd probably be better off if he'd gone to college .

If it's just the two of you your gas and electric are very high. Have you looked at the utility calculator on here ? You should be able to bring that down especially with both of you out at work all day.

With regards to the fares which college is he attending ? Colleges tend to have hardship funds rather than the council for post 16. The college will have a welfare officer who will know about benefits (this may have replaced Connexions thinking about it my son had the same person sorting this stuff out for him who was previously his Connexions advisor and I'm in the next council to you) the fact he's on an apprenticeship means whichever college he's at for day release will be best set to advise him. He may be better off on PIP rather than dla for example.

Why does he need food money at work? Would sandwiches from home not be cheaper or can he get a subsidised meal ?

I'd consider contacting your MP as well.

duchy

emski777 wrote: »

well they will only pay rent for me now so no i was getting 488 of the 600. so now the shortfall is more £225 a month and im down £608 a month in tax credit benefits. plus mow lose the 25% off council tax and he has to pay 38 a month as do i. so together we get 895 per month. 600 on rent 78 on council tax. my electric bill is 79 per month and my gas is 70 then both water bills £20 x 2 -40. home insurance £10 a month which leaves us £18 a month to eat ? no one can feed 2 people on 18 pounds a month we will starve.i will have a look at debt free wannabe though thanks

Do you not have wages as well as tax credits ? If not then you should be getting JSA or ESA. I really think you need to get a full benefits assessment. CAB can do this with you.

Spendless

These days come. Income is topped up because you are supporting a dependent child. Once the child stops education and gets a job or is funded via student loans then your child related top up income goes. Surely you realised this?

Your son should be paying you a contribution towards the bills and paying his own way too. 1/3 of his wage on travel and food is a lot. He needs to look into cutting costs there.

I'd double check about housing benefit though as it does sound as if you're paying a lot.