income support

[lilsmum]

i have been trying to organise claiming income support but i dont understand what i will get? i am lone parent with 1 child (8 mth) does anyone understand what i would be entitled to? i also gather i would get my rent paid and council tax?my rent is £390 a mth would they pay all of this? thanks

[tammybear]

hi lilsmum, im a single mum living on my own with dd. i get £55.65 a week for IS and I get full housing benefit and council tax which covers my rent and council tax as Im on income support. you should be entitled to something along those lines but they do take into account how much savings you have and if you're working. xxx

[Forestfly]

A rent officer will come round to your house to determine if it is a fair price. You may not get the full amount, but it won't be a huge quantity out, say 20 pounds short, they calculate what they think you should be paying for the property you are in.

Income support will be around 90 pounds a week.

You will still recieve child benefit, not sure of the amount,( someone could post how much they get with one child).

You don't have to pay council tax.

You don't have to pay for dentistry

You don't have to pay for study (which i fully recommend to get you off income support, it does your self esteem no good whatsoever)

Also i would set all your bills to weekly payments, you will be living off nothing and a 100 pound bill would stop you eating for a week. Get everything you pay for into small amounts.

Anything else you want to know just ask, especially about cheap shopping

[MTS]

child benefit for one child is I think in the region of £16 per week

[Forestfly]

Sorry lilsmum, may not be 90, as tammybear says it maybe 50 ish

[lilsmum]

thanks for your replies its just the reason i dont understand all of this is i have never claimed anything before... i just hope my landlord is ok with it all (housing benefit) as when my partner was here we obviously paid our rent (private landlord) does it take a long time for it all to go through? xxxxx

[Forestfly]

Thankyou MTS with the new shortened funk name

[Forestfly]

Well your landlord doesn't have a choice, if you were applying for a house with HB you would be screwed, unless you have a penchant for shitholes, or live in a very caring area.
Where i live they have a country garden estate with cottages for 14 pounds a week but you have to have a tragedy to get in them (i'm working on it)
If you get any hassle off him whatsoever i will make it my duty to kick his arse and start a petition.

As for time, if you are skint while waiting for your benefit you can walk into SS and ask for an emergency loan. Fill in a form and say why you need money. Don't say you need it for bills they will not give you anything. Say you need it for shoes, even better go in with no clothes on.

[tammybear]

when i was waiting for my housing benefit to come through, i told my landlord what was happening and said would they mind if rent was late if IS hadnt been sorted out. she was quite understanding. u cud always go to CAB who might be more helpful with answering your questions, and they worked out roughly how much IS i would get for me

[Freckle]

Have you applied for Child Tax Credit? You don't have to be working to be entitled to this.

[Forestfly]

Income support and child tax credit are working together, soon all claims will be from child tax credit. In a couple of months you will only apply to the latter. Until then income support will keep them informed.

[childmindersam]

When i was a single parent (2 years ago) I got £84 per week and all my council tax paid. My rent was £390 per month but housing benefit only paid £350 per month so i had to pay the rest, this was because i had 2 bedrooms and because my son was only 1 they said we could share a room and didnt need 2 rooms till he was 5. My child benefit was £16.15p per week. I paid all my bills weekly using a card at the post office. Water was about £4 per week, £5 on gas, electric, telephone and £3 per week on TV license. I took full advantage of studying free and went back to college 3 days a week and the college paid for a nursery for my son so it was good for us both! Goodluck, i know its hard but try and live within your means, i got into £3000 worth of debt and it has taken me 2 years to pay it off!!!

[beansmum]

i'm a single parent with one child. i get £56pw IS and about £54pw(?) child tax credit. also £16.50 child benefit and should get housing benefit but don't pay rent so don't have to worry about that. I don't have to pay council tax though.

The jobcentre is supposed to be working together with the inland revenue to sort out child tax credits so i think you just have to apply for IS and they will pass your details on to the IR