new to benefits hubbie gone please help!!

surfsister

Hiya guys n gals my mates dad has left home and his mum is confused about what she should do for the best please please can anyone help her?

She works 14 hrs and earns about 5k. Has one child at home in education under 18.
Mate going uni this oct and about tio apply for loans etc.

Mum saw on tax credits website you eed to sork 16 hrs to claim tax credits.

So what is best to do before she applies for benefits etc and how best to do this? Also can she get any help with anything else like polltax?


I wonder if she should work 2 more hrs to claim tax credit or can she stay as she is and claim something else? Also is there a limit to how much savins she can have? She has small mortgage can she get any help with this.

Many thanks but never had any involvement in this area d she had no-one to advise her.

Lip_Stick

Working under 16hrs she should be able to claim income support which means she'll get housing and council tax benefit, free prescriptions, and all the other benefits you get when you claim income support.

lil_me

If you get her to contact Welfare Rights in her area (should be listed on the councils website) or Citizens Advice, they will be able to advise her properly with this.

surfsister

thanks guys!!

surfsister

Lip_Stick wrote: »

Working under 16hrs she should be able to claim income support which means she'll get housing and council tax benefit, free prescriptions, and all the other benefits you get when you claim income support.

How does income support work? she went to see the welfare advisor as suggested above and he told her she either has to up her hours to 16 to get working tax credit or stop work and claim benefits. Now she is more worried as she will probably have to work longer hours to get any help.

Any ideas?

I don't thinks she can give up work and claim benefit or can she? Is there a way or what is she best to do as she is frightened to go to DSS and say the wrong thing.

jul22

Whilst she may be eligible to claim IS if her youngest child is under 16, it is quite likely that her part time work will mean that she is earning too much (for IS purposes only of course!!!).

The single rate for IS is now roughly £60. I'm not a 100% certain how much the disregard is on part time hours - but if it is £20, then in effect the first £20 is not taken into account and the rest is. What this means is, if she was earning £100 per week, £20 would be disregarded leaving £80 per week to be taken into account. As IS is £60 per week, her pt earnings would mean that she was receiving too much to claim IS.
Is there any way she can increase her hours by 2 hours a week and therefore be entitled to WTC?
If not, I think that she still may be able to receive some help with rent and council tax on the basis that she is on a low income - hopefully someone with expertise in that field my be able to help!

surfsister

thanks jul22 think she wants to do two more hours as she hates claiming benefits but I just thought why should she work more hours when it isn't her fault so to speak!