returning to work

groovychick2007

ok b/f has not worked for 8 years due to having bipolar and his Drs telling him he will never work again...We moved in feb 2008 and informed all the benefits of change of address...in March 2008 we received a letter off a company called Suretrust who help people with disabilities get back to work (they work in conjunction with the jobcentre)
Last week he had an interview for a job its something he has an interest in and has started his 2 weeks work trial this week ...at the moment we are on IB, DLA, CA. IS. CTC, CB and also receive full HB/CTB... The only thing we have been informed about by Suretrust is during the 2 weeks work trial he will receive his full benefits . no other advice about when to inform people or extra help .Now the person he works for is really pleased with his work and has offered him a full time job and wants him start next week at £6 an hr and 40 hr week (only a week into his 2 week trial)

So now the fun begins with me sorting things out and informing the relevent benefits... do i inform everyone now or wait till he actually starts work ..and is there anything we can claim to top up his wage as we will be a lot worse off than we are now (we are just about surviving ) ... Also someone said we should still get the DLA is this true? Any advice on what to do would be very much appreciated
Thanks in advance
Teresa

SuziQ

Just wanted to say good luck to you both,hope it all works out for you. I'm no clearer than you re benefits I'm afraid,but what a great oppurtnity for him,especially as it's a job he's interested in.

stuckonthephonewithidiots

hi
who are you receiving dla for ?

stuckonthephonewithidiots

Your best bet is to inform everyone.....all the relevant departments.....you should still receive some tax credits. If you are receiving dla for your o/h and he has been able to return to work they may want to adjust his claim. There is a website www.entitledto.com which will give you an idea of entitlements. The tax credit website also has a benefit calculator which you may find useful. If you inform all the relevant benefit agencies you wont run the risk of being overpaid. I know it will be long winded explaining to each one but it would be in your best interests to. The last thing you`d want is to be paying back benefits you were overpaid. Hope this has helped.

Natalie99

The DLA shouldn't be affected and if it you that receives CA for looking after your partner then that shouldn't be affected either. The IS and IB will stop completely as he is doing FTW. The CTC will probably reduce but you should be able to claim working tax credit as well. As for the housing benefit and council tax I'm unsure though.

groovychick2007

stuckonthephonewithidiots wrote: »

hi
who are you receiving dla for ?

DLA is claimed for my partner


Thanks everyone for all your advice ...His new boss is phoning suretrust tomorrow to inform them that he will not be doing the second week of his trial as he will actually be starting work, as soon as she has done that i will inform everyone

stuckonthephonewithidiots

Good luck with the job ... inform all and play it safe

groovychick2007

ok well everyone informed except carer allowance.. tried for 5 hrs to get through put phone continuously rang...also few things sorted ..with being on income support for 26+ weeks we are entitled to a 4 week extension to housing benefit... income support also rang us back to say we were entitled to a back to work bonus of £100 which they had put into the post office account.. said it would of been more but we had no dependant children... well partner informed him we had a 13 yr old daughter who lives with us ...income support knew nothing about it had to give them all her details cb number, d.o.b, how long id been getting benefits for her he then said he would call us back. he did, apologised and said your entitled to £250 back to work bonus and had put remainder into account.also informed he will get an extra £40 a week for 1st 12 months as his benefits are under £15k ..partner had tried for 2 hrs during his break to get through to DLA had no luck...i managed to get through and they said he would have to reapply to see if hes still entitled to it....

alyson2208

is the extra £40 a week the back to work tax credit,

Loopy_Girl

I got the £40 'in work credit' (as it is called in Scotland) and it is a great help bt just a word of caution - try not to rely on it too much as £40 a week to lose is a huge gap. I saved a little and also used it for treats and days out for my little girl. Of course there were times that I used it to pay a bill but I'm just saying try not to get too used to it.

Congrats to you all though...big step for you all and you should be proud

alyson2208

i thought the in work credit was just for lone parents tho OP says she has a partner