benefits - can anyone advise?

[namechangerrr]

hi i am a regulare but have name changed for this. i was wondering if anyone would e able to help me here. i have seen on the news about benfits being cut/capped but cant seem to find any exact figures.

was wondering if anyone could be able to help me and see if my benefit will be capped or cut, so that i can be prepared for this.

i recieve weekly:
£135 child tax credit
£48 cb
£65 incone support
£145 hb
£12 ctb

i no this seems like a huge amount when written like this but in reality it isnt. once i have paid gas, elec, water rates (£28 per week!), tv licence etc there is not much left for food/nappies.

i would be very grateful if anyone could help. i am not intending to be on benefit forever and i do want to better myself for myself and my children.

They will grow up - I just did them above, works our around 15K a year in top up benefits.

the figures i ask,not the figures on my last post

i asked way back for the ones that were horrified at the amount what they thought the lady should get and what for as i think once you add everything else up dont think it would vary greatly from what she gets

benefit bashers moan but when i asked them to give me figures nobody responde apart from nancy

at present its £65 income support. which i think is fine. thats for adults

child benefit isnt applicable as we all get that just now

so its the tax credits people are taking offence to? mine is £223 weekly (5 dc)so £44 per child. should that be lowered then?

also,free school meals,hb paid and council tax

vastly reduced school residentials,which with teens means its the bigger trips abroad costing hundreds. we get a hefty reduction....and this is where resentment from schoolkids comes in,also dd gets £30 a week EMA. i dont think she should. the kids who dont get it are not happy,and rightly so i think

also,the free laptops with home access grant,and free bike with bikeability.

we also get to keep all child maintenence now. so if someones ex was a high earner,he could,for example,be giving a few hundred on top each month. that is wrong i think,personally

used to get subsidised music tuition but that has stopped now.

access to interest free loans....budgeting loans. few hundred at a time,paid back at few pounds a week directly from income support.

i cant think of anything else

thanks baggy

that was for theywillgrowup

oh,£3.10 milk/fruit/veg voucher each week for under 5's

and free vitamins too

oh god i wasnt going to mention the laptop scheme

sprinkle your brave

lol

free dental treatment/prescriptions/eyesight tests and glasses or lenses. think its one pair every 2 years.

i'm honest!!

i really think at least a token payment for these services would be better. even just £2.50 a prescription/eye test etc (not children obviously)

Must remember though, people on a low wage thus recieveing WTC also get a prescription exemption certificate, so get free dental/eyestests and glasses voucher/prescriptions etc too. But they do not get free meals etc.

oh,and a £25 school uniform grant for years reception,year 5 and year 9..thats just here i think,3 tier system.

Sprinkle, does that include trips abroad for the DC's and if so how much reduction would you get off a £700 trip. Genuinely interested btw and thank your for being honest about your entitlements.

I work 30 hrs a week and am a single parent with one child, don't want to say what I earn from working but it's not a lot. I get CB and £65 WTC/CTC, no housing benefit, have a mortgage and don't qualify for CTB. Get free prescriptions. DC get's EMA for which I do feel she is entitled. [hgrin]

Just thought I would put the 'working side' of things on here. Not sure I would get HB if I rented I suppose it would depend on the level of rent.

Sprinkle - now that is unfair, there is now no uniform grant here for anyone at all regardless of circumstances, our borough scrapped it a few years back! Might start a fight with people in boroughs who do get it seems as worthy of a fight as anything on MN at the moment

Witchese eve if you are entitled to WTC I would imagine you would recieve some HB if you did rent.

sprinkle here the uniform goes up to £40 when in senior ever other year

helpful but the school lockers cost £40 each so that took up the grant

you an actually get a negative income ( eg self employed) anot get FSM which I think is a bit odd.

But yes low paid get free prescriptions etc- in fact in Wales
everybody does (Assembly priority)

mind you i managed to kit the boys out pretty well as bought blazers etc of ebay both new but bought in May

it can be done and i enjoy a bargain hunt,but its a constant hunt and plan

it cost in region of £600 and was subsidised to £200.....and pay in installments

the EMA is causing dd alot of agro she says. i was going to just give her her child benefit,as my mum did when i was in 6th form

oh,and my open university is free...and we got a study grant. a degree if i finish entirely free

sorry,sounds like i'm rubbing it in to those who work. i'm not,just being upfront

and when i took a seasonal job......jobcentre were not impressed

TSC_ do full claimants get thier teeth filled either though? Except for kids? i didn;t think they did (no NHS dentists left ehre anyway)

We put the boys in cheap uniform too but we got told off by ehad for it not being logo'd. Why theyc an;t just make an iron opn badge I will never understand.

Sprinkle -

You just reminded me of something actually. Anyone here who recieves even a little HB/CTB can have full course fiunding with the open university. And the sliding scale for help actually goes up to pretty good earnings. Thought there may be people read this on lower wages that might want to take that up, just a thought.

www.entitledto.co.uk

Brilliant calculator.

secondcoming, I would say that after my bills are paid, including mortgage, I have about £600 left for food, clothes, everything else but that's for 1 adult and 1 DC and it can be a bit of a struggle, but we eat OK, are clothed, yes I smoke, having a glass of wine atm and we go out for cheapish meals etc. DD gets the EMA and she doesn't ask me for lunch money/bus fares etc so am very grateful. She also has a job which buys her clothes although she would rather spend it on books!!

All in all I reckon I am in a similar position to most people on this thread, whether they are working or not, so working poor. I have a reasonable job for the area I live in aswell.

That reminds me to get an appointment with the dentist as I won't be entitled to free treatment or anything else in less than a couple of years and will need to up my hours to make ends meet as the WTC/CTC does make a difference.