Living on benefits

[Worriednanof1]

Are there any single mums on here who live successfully on benefits alone? My pregnant daughter who has already got a 2 year old has suddenly found herself alone and much as we would, of course, take her in, it wouldn't be ideal. Would she be entitled to enough to support herself in a house/flat of her own?

They get a job ffs!

The most important thing is to get her somewhere nice to rent ... is the place she's in suitable when she has two babies? Most or all of the rent and probably all of the council tax will be paid.
Contribution from the father isn't counted ...

So long as she can manage without treats and new things, she'll get by. If the dad plays fair, she may be better off than she has been while in a relationship.

Use the entitledto website listed above.

She is already in a rental, which is good. She is unlikely to get her full rent covered under the housing element, but she will get other elements too - single persons element and children’s elements. She can top up her rent from the other UC elements. It’s all paid in one go, but the total amount is all of these elements together.

It will be tight, but it is doable.

People on benefits seem better off. I have a mortgage and work, a friend of mine doesn’t work gets everything paid and is going to Florida for 3 weeks, when I’m struggling to get by. Boils my piss

When the baby is 2 she will need to get a job then she may be able to claim UC.

If he's such a dickhead to do a runner on a pregnant partner & 2 year old i can't see him playing fair. No savings.

Nobody is doing that on benefits alone, trust me. There’s either some cash in hand work going on, or the holidays are on credit cards/paid for by others.

It is absolutely not possible to have a high standard of living and have 3 weeks in Florida just on benefits.

As her child is under 4 she can get a healthy start card that can help towards milk, fruit and veg. This amount will increase once baby arrives as she’ll get it for herself for the first year too. It’s only a few quid a week but frozen veg counts too so it can be really helpful. Formula if she’s going to bottle feed.

UC will be made of single person element, child element (x2 once baby arrives) and rent element ( up to the local authority rate)

She’ll be able to get council tax support
15 hours nursery for her 2 year old.

If she claims maternity allowance it’s taken off UC £ for £ so it may not be worth it. If she goes back to work she can claim up to 85% of childcare costs on top of the funded hours for 3/4 year olds. That’s 30 term time hours if you earn at least the equivalent of 16 x NMW. 22 hours if you stretch it.

wages reduce the UC amount you get but there is a work allowance so you do benefit

That's over 2 years away though.

She will manage a lot better financially if she can return to work as soon as possible as UC will pay 85 percent of childcare and she will have the first 379 pounds of earnings totally ignored by UC so will then have enough for her rent top up . After the 379 disregard, only 55 percent of earnings are deducted from her UC entitlement. Also definitely contact CMS re child support from the father

I know you’re not keen but in your position, I would have her with me but with very strict rules that she absolutely needs to get a job & support herself & the baby asap. I can’t say I’d be pleased about it but I would do it reluctantly.

I think that is the only realistic solution. Don't get me wrong we get on very well & i love my grandchild to bits. She comes for regular visits. It's just that living together is very different. Plus the newborn to factor in.

As a working single parent, you get 30 hours free childcare from 2, not 15 hours (term time only).

I would say that if possible, you would all be better served to support your daughter to stay in her private rental (financially if needs be) whilst she waits for social housing, rather than move her in with you.

Once the new baby is 1, and she can more easily go back to work, she’ll find that between free hours, the single persons/ children and childcare elements, child benefit of universal credit and the UC taper down for wages, it should be very manageable.

The difficulty is that UC for childcare is paid in arrears and universal credit assessment window doesn’t always match billing periods, so you may find she needs a little bit of short term help (financially) for the first month or two on return to work whilst things settle into routine.

All of the above from experience. I’m a single mum, unexpected separation when DS was 6 months, went back to work when he was 1 year. it’s hard, but DS is 7 now and we’re doing okay!

She needs to be careful housing wise OP. If she’s already got a private rental then she’ll be looking at years of waiting before she’s offered a council house- if ever, because she’s already got a home so is the lowest priority. But if she terminates her tenancy with the goal of getting a council house quicker she will also be low priority for the council as she will be classed as making herself deliberately homeless.

My friend has just been through this, couldn’t afford her private rent but if she just upped and left then the council wouldn’t house her as it’s classed as making herself deliberately homeless. She had to wait until her landlord followed the eviction process and got a section 21 (I think that’s what it was called), which took months and was very stressful for her in the interim as obviously the landlord was unhappy about this.

So it’s worth making sure she knows that x

I'd love to be able to afford to just pay her rent for her but sadly i can't.

• Move to a cheaper area
• Get a job

Benefits don’t let someone live wherever they want for free; in some areas it’s just not feasible.

She is already in a cheap area.

She's heavily oregnant and not in a position to just go out and get a job.

Hello, yes completely doable but tough at times. My partner left when i was pregnant, im a single mum to two kids. I went back to work part time when my little one was 9 months old, and got help with Universal Credit. Im in a private rental and have to make up £200 of the housing element out of the benefits. We live tightly but not awfully. I can afford food and the occasional night out and a camping holiday once a year. Its a bit of a disaster when the car has an expensive MOT or the washing machine breaks down but we just about manage. I've now given up work in term time to go to Uni full time for 3 years and retrain and I'm living off my student loan with some help from UC too. 2 more years and I can get my degree, start working more hours and hopefully money wont be as tight. Money might be difficult but I truly love the little life I've built for myself and the kids.

I’ve been on the basic rate of UC which included a tent and child allowance and it was liveable but a struggle

(Rent)

https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/

Use this link to work out how much money she will be givem to help towards her rent since that will be the biggest factor in how she copes.

On top of that she will be given 1 adult personal allowance of £368.74 and 2 child allowances of £269.58 as well as child benefit.

I don't see why you need to take her in as she is an adult and will just have to manage.

She can claim through cms.. assuming the first one is his she can apply now .. if he doesn’t it is still £30 a month - not loads but every penny helps .

@Worriednanof1

sorry OP- not suggesting you pay her full rent, but if she’s (say) £100 short between private rent and what’s possible on UC, you will probably find that if you/family can help with that, it will cost you less than having her live with you will. (Inevitably if she lives with you you’ll end up covering food/extra power etc… )

Or if you can help her out with food etc. … all of these small “safety nets” might be enough to keep her on her own two feet… but I mean in the short term- the equivalent of maternity leave

ofc this might just not be possible for you- and you shouldn’t feel bad if it isn’t - but just purely from a pragmatic perspective, if it’s “find £100 a month/ do some batch cooking/ be on standby with small sums to help her” or “move them all in with you and cover the costs”….

hopefully you see what I mean?! It shouldn’t be your problem to fix, but I know as a parent I’d be hard pressed to stand by and watch, and I can tell from your tone that you are too. You sound like a nice mum. Your daughters lucky to have you.

You should really try the UC calculators - you might be surprised at how much she's entitled to.

It's hard. My rent is £650 and they paid £404.50 of it. And I had to pay the other £245.50 out of the £638.32 I got for both me and my daughter. Then I had to pay electric, oil, internet and food with what I'd left.
But I've got a job now and they let you earn £379 before they deducted 55p for every £1 you earn. She should also get child benefit of £96 per month and make a claim for child maintenance. As well as a healthy start card.
It would be better if she could even get a part time job. It makes such a difference.