Return to work credit

cant-find-free-username

mummytofour wrote: »

My friend gets this as she is a single mum and was long term on IS. She gets £40 a week for 12 months plus she got £250 as a grant to buy clothes with for her job. In addition she got IS run on for 4 weeks and council tax benefit/housing benefit run on.

Hi Mummytofour,

Could you please expand on this about your friend?

Its just that I have been signed off for 2 years on IB / IS. I am now hoping to return to work and finding it very hard to understand what financial help is available.

As far as I know, there is the job grant of £100 (no kids), plus £40 week return to work credit. You can get 4 weeks extension on HB/CTB (assuming you are earning enough to not receive it anymore).

However, when starting a job, me and my partner (she is unable to work) will have no money for 4 to 6 weeks until I am paid. This excludes HB however, but this is short on our monthly rent already which we make up from our current benefits.

We have been told that IS does not run on and is stopped immediately.

This seems a really strange situation to me. I mean to be fair, where is my incentive to go back to work, on minimum wage that leaves us only £10/£20 week better off, if we cannot afford to eat for a month?
This also isn't even thinking about how I am supposed to get to work and back for a month!

Its unfortunate because I have had to decide not to take a job recently because I would have been 8 weeks before I even received 2 weeks money (it was a funny thing with training).


Any help / advice you may have from your friend, or anyone else here, would be greatly appreciated.


P.S sorry to the original poster, I dont mean to 'hijack' your thread. Its just it caught my attention what mummytofour said

Loopy_Girl

If you were working and your partner wasn't and it was for the minimum wage, have you checked that you may be entitled to Tax Credits?

The In Work Credit comes through pretty quick (within 10 days in my case).

I am a single parent and I went from being on IS to working and had to wait 4 weeks to get paid. I used the grant I was given plus just had to budget my £40.00 to make things last - and I had a child to think of.

The incentive is for personal gain to get back out to work - not always financial. Do you and your partner really want to stay on benefits just because of a tricky first few weeks?

check www.entitledto.com to see what you may get.

cant-find-free-username

Loopy_Girl wrote: »

If you were working and your partner wasn't and it was for the minimum wage, have you checked that you may be entitled to Tax Credits?

The In Work Credit comes through pretty quick (within 10 days in my case).

I am a single parent and I went from being on IS to working and had to wait 4 weeks to get paid. I used the grant I was given plus just had to budget my £40.00 to make things last - and I had a child to think of.

The incentive is for personal gain to get back out to work - not always financial. Do you and your partner really want to stay on benefits just because of a tricky first few weeks?

check www.entitledto.com to see what you may get.

Thank you for your reply

It isn't as much of an issue if it takes only 10 days to come through. Ive read somewhere (and from previous experience of IB/IS/JSA/HB) its more like 10 weeks, so the money wouldn't have really helped. Unfortunately, the return to work grant is only £100. Obviously children need the extra money, but if the returning to work credit didn't come through for a long time, this is simply not enough.

At the end of the day, there are also factors other than food to consider, such as the rent being short already which needs to be made up, bills need to be paid, and another main drain on money is travel expenses to work and back everyday, whether thats by bus or car.
Obviously if im lucky to get somewhere in walking distance thats not an issue, cycling to work is out because of my operation.

Basically the scenario for the job I had to let go is this...
I would have £100 bonus paid and HB/CTB run on for 4 weeks.
I had to wait for 8 weeks before any money was paid (this was then only 2 weeks @ minimum wage).
I had to pay for food for 8 weeks for 2 people and a dog.
I had to put £60 towards my rent
I had to pay out bills (gas/electric/water/phone/pet insurance)
I had to pay out £21.30 month on medication, which is no longer covered.
Travel Expenses, in the case of the other job, would have been to drive an hour or 2 on the motorway everyday. What would that cost be?

So unfortunately, due to that, I had to decide it was feasible. So instead of helping me / us for a month to get back on our feet, they have now got to support another couple financially anyway. Just doesnt make sense to me



And please don't get me wrong about having an incentive to go back to work. I don't mean it about myself really. Its more a case that the government (as they should) want to get people back into work, yet have placed this massive hurdle !

The Return to Work Credit sounds a good incentive 'IF' they want to run it as an additional extra. I personally would much rather they continued on an IS or JSA and HB/CTB claim by having the company confirm when the person will receive wages - say 4 weeks, and then stop it. Also, surely it will actually be cheaper for them that way?!
I just dont understand the logic behind this governments thinking :think: lol


Anyway, thank you very much for your response, it was informative
Will look at WTC as I have only this last month turned 25. A few months ago I did not qualify (again where's the logic when you are classed as an adult at 18?).


Thank You

Scarlett1

It does make you wonder what people would do if the benefit rug was pulled away, something to think about.

cant-find-free-username

Scarlett1 wrote: »

It does make you wonder what people would do if the benefit rug was pulled away, something to think about.

They would stop paying N.I - known as SOCIAL SECURITY in other countries. Ive paid enough on my earnings that I would do something about it, because I need the support now (and will be paying again for that matter). There is a reason the word 'insurance' is part of the name.

So how would you feel if you were hospitalised, then unable to work with no other means to buy food?

How about if you were trying to find a practical solution financially to get back into work, let alone knowing if you were capable yet, when what you get in return is someone making a dig at you for your efforts?

But hey, it does make you wonder what people would do if the pension rug was pulled away, something to think about.
( because if you happen to have a private pension and don't need the support, why do you care! ).

But anyway, I don't think we need to discuss this anymore.
Sorry to the OP, we will not waste anymore space in your thread on such useless discussions.

freakier_darkali

To Loopy Girl and Scarlett1,

If you don't have anything helpful to post - don't post.
This man has been off work for a legitimate reason, after many years of working. He wants to get back into work again to better himself and stand on his own two feet and you are penalising him for this! Why don't you penalise people who want to live on benefits as they see it as free money rather than the ones who don't!
And he would only get £100 to go back to work as he doesn't have a child, so tell me before you post stupid things about benefits rugs and going back to work should be about bettering yourself answer me this on top of £500 rent, rising food, electricity and petrol costs how do you suppose he make this £100 pound last huh?
And here I was thinking you could post on this forum to get some helpful advice when you are worried, this poor man is stressed to the point of breaking, worried sick day and night about just being able to live and you post things like that and I think you are so rude its disgusting.