Single parent with 18 year old about to start uni

yvonneem_2

I am a single parent earning just 130 approx per 16 hour week. My daughter is about to start her degree and I have just been told by Tax credit people that all my tax credits will end on july 1st. This leaves me with full rent and council tax which is approx £100 per week to pay which leaves me with very little to live on. Does anyone know if I am entitled to anything from anywhere as I do not know how I will survive. HELP

Bogof_Babe

Now that your daughter is 18 I think you would be expected to look for a full time job.

MoneySavingStudent_2

Try income support, or go here: http://www.entitledto.co.uk/
And youll see what you're entitled to!

Your daughter should be able to claim student finance, If shes living at home, and your household income is very low, she will get the full maintance grant and loan. These are a total of about £2,500 a year each. This could be a safety net incase the worse happens!

MoneySavingStudent_2

Speak to citizens advise too!

(PS Im an 18 year old who started uni in september 07. My mums tax credits stopped and she is on a very low income and is also a single parent! She does not have a full time job due to caring for my disabled sister, instead she is a casual worker (doing a couple of hours a week when im at home)

dmg24

Bogof_Babe is correct, you are now classed as two individual adults, and as such you need to look for full time work (unless there is another reason that you cannot do this, such as if you are disabled).

You may get some help with your housing costs, this would depend on the eligible amount of LHA for your area. If you have a look at the website for your local council, this should have a benefits calculator to check your entitlement.

dmg24

MoneySavingStudent wrote: »

Try income support, or go here: http://www.entitledto.co.uk/
And youll see what you're entitled to!

Your daughter should be able to claim student finance, If shes living at home, and your household income is very low, she will get the full maintance grant and loan. These are a total of about £2,500 a year each. This could be a safety net incase the worse happens!

The OP earns too much to get IS, and works too many hours.

Elle00

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Now that your daughter is 18 I think you would be expected to look for a full time job.

I agree, benefits are for those who are disabled, sick or caring for children. Your daughter is expected to support herself now and you're expected to work full-time to provide for yourself. In fairness, your rent and council tax are very low by most people's standards.

BARGAINHUNTER!

The posters above are correct - your daughter is now 18 and is classed as an adult in her own right therefore your tax credits will stop. Did you not realise that this would happen and start to make other provisions for making up the shortfall (full time work?) If there is a reason you cannot work (invalidity etc) you need to speak to benefits office about other benefits you can claim. I presume your child benefit will also stop. If you daughter has moved out to go to uni and you are the only adult in the house make sure you only pay single persons council tax.

yvonneem_2

Thanks everyone. I thought that full time student meant just that and not that it depended on what level they were studying at.

yvonneem_2

I would just like to say to the "get a full time job" brigade, I am a community nurse working with life limited children, I have raised four children and always worked part time but never leaving them alone for even a second. I worked whilst they were at school. I claimed absolutely nothing but child benefit but unfortunately through no fault of my own I found myself alone and in a situation that is incredibly hard. But I have survived and am very proud to have done so. Any money that I have claimed over the last two years, yes just two years, does not come close the the amount I and my then husband have paid into the sytem for 35 years. As Martin says don't be ashamed to claim, its my right and yours.

poet123

It is your right to claim when you find yourself in reduced circumstances and bringing up a family with the attached family committments. unfortunately once those committments are deemed to have ended(age 18 of youngest child)then you are not entitled to that help anymore regardless of the amount paid in.

If the circumstance arose due to divorce or bereavement, the state expects provision to have been made in the form of life insurances,or settlement, rather than benefits. So it would seem that unless there is illness or disability or other extenuating circs(caring for someone )then you will have to find a full time post to make up the shortfall.

I am sure that most posters who answered were not trying to offend, but merely wondering why you had not expected this to happen.