Advice on entitlements

Seng84

My partner has just been laid off for the winter, she works in the Travel & tourism industry and been told she isnt required between November and April. Subsequently I will be the only earner in our house.

We have a 2 year old daughter and have never had any benefits/credits.

How can I find out what we are entitled to claim in terms of child tax credits and job seekers allowance, if anything at all? She is currently job seeking but struggling as there is little work in the area. I am sure she will find some eventually but we are trying to work out our budget until she finds something.

calcotti

You cannot claim Child Tax Credits, no new claims are accepted. I assume you do get Child Benefit.

The ere are two options.

Universal Credit which is means tested and based on your joint situation and will include a basic allowance, held with child responsibility, and help with rent if applicable. Your earnings and any joint savings will be taken into account. You both have to apply. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/

New style JSA which is contribution based. To be able to claim this will need to have complete NI record for April 2016 to March 2018. If JSA is claimed as well as UC the JSA is deducted in full from the UC so there is no financial gain https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-style-jobseekers-allowance

You may be able to get help with your Council Tax by claiming Council Tax Reduction from your local authority. Schemes vary from local authority to local authority.

There are calculators here https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

Seng84

We don't get any child benefit at the minute, we've never claimed anything before.

Will try the calculator now, thanks

calcotti

You could have claimed Child Benefit when your daughter was born. Information is usually given to new parents while they are in hospital. You can do this now but it can only be backdated for 3 months. https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit
If one of you earns more than £50,000 there is a tax charge but you can claim child benefit and ask not to be paid it. This means that the person who has claimed the Child Benefit gets NI credits towards their state pension (until the child is 12).
It will not affect other benefits.