Income Support

Raver2k7

i hope someone can help me,. as i have never claimed I.S before!! I have been told that sadly the job i love is ending 2moro. i have today put in a claim for i.s, as i am a single mum of a 9 yr old. I rent my house privately and pay all my bills myself. i have been told i can claim HB and CT benefit, but does anyone have any idea of the amount of I.S i am likely to recieve? i am currently in reciept of CHild Tax credits, but not working tax credit.

Thanks in advance!

alyson2208

my friend gets around £56/57 a week IS for herself but she is under 25 so i dont know if there makes a diifrence and then her CTC

skylight

You will need to inform CTC as well. Do it when you have left your current job and again if/when you have been granted IS. It may make a difference and when on IS an overpayment is the last thing you need to worry about!

(I got £59.15 a week IS and only closed the claim last week)

Raver2k7

Thanks. The jobcentre informed CTC of my claim while i was on the phone to them making the claim. I am 27, and have been told that on my behalf the jobcentre have claimed housing benefit and council tax benefit. but £57 will certainly not cover my other outgoings!!!!

skylight

HB and CTb are slow to respond via the job centre. It took nearly 4 months for my straightforward claim to go through. My council claimed it was because they need further information that the job centre do not ask for.

With regards to the CTC, I must also whole heartedly advise you to do this yourself as well - don't rely on third parties. With such a small amount of money to go around its best to keep yourself covered for everything.

And if necessary, get over to DFW board. You may not be in debt, but there will always be a lot of advice as how to cut back on the spending and they are a friendly bunch!

skylight

One other small point - did they inform you that you can get free school meals for your child? Just ask for a form from the school.

Ety

If you have claimed I.S. by telephone, then this is a LAID claim and this will also be a claim for HB/CTB. However I would advise that you fill a form in at your local HB office. As most authorities have gone live with Local Housing Allowance, an advisor should be able to tell you how much HB you will get without a rent officer valuation. Also as you have paid your rent in full while working the LA may be unable to restrict your rent for 13 weeks. In essence pay the full rent, but you need to check this out with them as my authority has only just gone live with LHA and I am not an expert.

Hope this helps!

Etyx

Raver2k7

Thanks very much. I didnt know about the school meals!! I have worked ever since i left school, so am not happy about the prospect of claiming. i am trawling the job pages as we speak. the only prob is, the job i have been doing is a specialised job, and have loved the last few months doing it, and the thought of doing a "normal" job is soul destroying..lol

Ety

PS as Income Support is a passported benefit this automatically entitles you to maximum HB and Council Tax Benefit.

However I would always advise that if your circumstances change, inform the council within a month!!!!

lil_me

Ety wrote: »

PS as Income Support is a passported benefit this automatically entitles you to maximum HB and Council Tax Benefit.

However I would always advise that if your circumstances change, inform the council within a month!!!!

Income Support would entitle to maximum LHA, if within the LHA for property size/area the claimant is entitled to unless they are in social housing.

If entitled to income support (depending on savings etc aswell of course) there would be an entitlement also to free dental care, eye tests, prescriptions etc. Friend of mine was made redundant and made sure she got all the dental treatment done she needed before returning to work.

jul22

The rate for Income Support is now £60 for a lone parent over 25. However, any maintenance received will be taken into account. £20 of this will be disregarded - so that if you received £20 per week in maintenance, then this would be disregarded in full and you would receive the full £60. If you recently seperated (within the last month) you can ask that your claim be backdated to the date of seperation - but as you have already made your claim I would do this asap so that they can look at the backdating when they assess your claim (it also means that you can have your rent and Council tax paid from an earlier date.)