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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think i will have too much money on benefits.

325 replies

5toocoolforschool · 23/09/2014 12:07

OK so dh and i have split up.He is staying with a friend and is finding somewhere else to live.We have 5 children.He is a relatively high earner and i have always been at home with the kids.

I have applied for everything i am entitled to (income support,child tax credits,child benefit,housing benefit, i will not have to pay any council tax- was not entitled to any of these before)

On top of this i will be receiving maintenance from Ex.

All in i will be receiving £3,300 per month!

That is only a couple of hundred less than dh gets paid.

I am porting this partly because i am sure i have missed something,should i not be getting maintenance from dh as well?Everywhere i have looked says i can.

Partly,i just think its bad.I mean i wont be claiming these forever,i have been accepted on a course (again which i wont have to pay for,which i will be given a grant for childcare)and after that i will be working again,so 3 years max.

But now i can see how easy it must be for someone to just see this as a lifestyle.

OP posts:
Original poster
5toocoolforschool · 23/09/2014 12:54

Lol think my next thread will be asking for ideas on how to live on a budget!

OP posts:
hoobygalooby · 23/09/2014 12:56

That's the problem though. Why are these fathers getting away with not paying for their kids?
They should be!!

canweseethebunnies · 23/09/2014 13:02

I have been an LP on benefits, although I'm not anymore. I only had one child so hb and ctc were considerably less. I think you are in a particularly good position (financially) due to the amount of children you have and the considerable amount of maintenance you receive. I get about £100 a month from my ex, and many receive nothing. I don't begrudge that, why shouldn't your kids be comfortable if your ex earns a decent wage?

And I second what Julia said.

angelos02 · 23/09/2014 13:03

How can you be entitled to any benefits when the father of your children earns decent money? He is no less their father now.

jacks365 · 23/09/2014 13:04

Your next thread will be a rant about how long it actually takes the money to start coming in and how are you expected to feed the dc in the meantime. You need money before you can actually budget it Grin

PiperIsOrange · 23/09/2014 13:14

according to the CSA calculator OP should get £512 a month child maintenance.

Op just dont count your chickens before they hatch.

Fiddlerontheroof · 23/09/2014 13:19

I was also shocked that maintenance isn't taken into account, and certain other incomes also aren't included. You are right that a small minority of benefit claimants do extremely well from the system if they so choose, and I'm surprised that theses loopholes haven't been closed. I'm a household with DLA coming in as well. So I elected not to claim income support and carers allowance. I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn't make much of a difference...but morally, I have felt very uncomfortable doing it, so choose not to. I do feel strongly that if you are in benefits and able to save it for deposits on houses, then that is morally wrong.

I had to fight for Maintenance, but the system is very odd that the moment if a very affluent family with an amicable breakup separates, the parent with the kids is immediately entitled to a large amount of benefits, without being means tested on the amount of Maintenance that is coming in, or contributions to a mortgage.

So yeah, it is an odd system. And not very fair.

Latara · 23/09/2014 13:20

I get council tax benefit and it's a ridiculously small amount - something like £4 a month. Even when I was on tax credits it was small.

Our council have radically cut the amount available for Housing benefit & council tax benefit - better check your council haven't done the same.

ilovechristmas1 · 23/09/2014 13:21

i think taking into account the cap the op's financial matters have changed hugely since the original post,certainly if the maintanance figures are correct and thats if the ex DH pays and stays paying because if he dosent this will be a whole differrent story

Trollsworth · 23/09/2014 13:23

Fiddler, you NEED to claim carers allowance, it protects your pension.

Branleuse · 23/09/2014 13:23

it wont be forever, its only while your children are young. Youll be expected to work when your youngest goes to school.

Maintenence will probably be taken off your income support or housing benefit though

SoonToBeSix · 23/09/2014 13:24

The benefit cap is only £500 under universal credit. Under the old system you can lose housing benefit to reduce you benefit however they have to leave you with 50p. If that leaves you with more than £500 in tax credits income support etc you can keep it . Also maintenance isn't counted.

Pantone363 · 23/09/2014 13:29

I call bollocks goady benefit thread.

If not then you won't get that much, benefit cap will cut the majority of your HB. And benefit cap is everywhere, it's not the same as universal credit. Numerous people are told it doesn't apply and then get a letter saying it does.

Pantone363 · 23/09/2014 13:30

Child maintenance isn't taken into account for any benefits.

ilovechristmas1 · 23/09/2014 13:30

one of the reasons maintanance is not counted (apart from some ex DP refuse or not paid on a regular basis)

is that the child/children should still have the level of "lifestyle" they had before parents breakup and should not suffer due to that

i can see the logic in that,why should the whole of the childs life change they should still be able to do the same as when the parens were together,and providing this money should provide that

ilovechristmas1 · 23/09/2014 13:33

Maintenence WILL NOT effect Income support

i wish people would stop telling op wrong information

if you dont know please dont mis-inform

Original poster
5toocoolforschool · 23/09/2014 13:39

piper you must of done it wrong it is done on how many overnight stays they have,plus as we are on good terms he is giving me as much as comfortably can,even though he is having them 3 nights a week.(only one full day though)Obviously as others have said its not set in stone and could change but that is the plan.

I have already said up there how i was given the wrong information about the benefits cap.

OP posts:
twofingerstoGideon · 23/09/2014 13:41

I think you should be on the breadline when on benefits, not living in luxury. This is were the system is wrong.

I think you'll find most people are pretty much on the breadline when on benefits.

LMFAO at 'living in luxury'.

seasavage · 23/09/2014 13:41

You won't be eligible for child benefit if your ex earns over the threshhold.

fluffydressinggown · 23/09/2014 13:43

You will have to pay some council tax.

iwantgin · 23/09/2014 13:49

saesavage that can't be true. It is based on household wage earners. Ex won't be in the household.

ArsenicFaceCream · 23/09/2014 13:50

You won't be eligible for child benefit if your ex earns over the threshhold.

WRONG

ArsenicFaceCream · 23/09/2014 13:51

This thread is awash with misinformation. ilovechristmas is quite right, if you don't know,don't advise.

IgnoreMeEveryOtherFuckerDoes · 23/09/2014 13:53

You will have to pay something towards council tax think its 15% and next April it will increase to 20%.

bumblingbovine49 · 23/09/2014 13:53

You have an (ex) husband who will be paying child support/maintenance (at least for now). This in my opinion makes all the difference.

I have a friend in a similar situation with 4 children. She is a student and has split up with her partner who is self employed and has made it clear that he will be doing everything to avoid paying anything to her. I have gone through the figures together with her and despite her being eligible for housing benefit, child benefit and childcare as part of her student bursery, she will have to move out to a smaller house.

She most certainly will not be getting anything close to £3k a month. She will be lucky to get a total of 1.8k a month. This in a town where the cheapest 2 bed property costs around £900-1K a month. This is not a lot of money left after rent however you look at it. It is manageable but when you take into account that bills and food , clothes and everything else has to come out of the balance of about £900 a month, they are certainly not rolling in it.

She can't afford the rented house they are in now which has 4 bedrooms, even though she is entitled to 4 bedrooms so they are planning to move to a 3 bed or even possibly to a 2 bed for the 5 of them. Even then housing benefit will not pay her entire rent (unless they move to a 2 bed) but the balance she will have to make up is smaller on a smaller property. This is all assuming she can find a rented property, given she will have no "work references"

She is training to be a nurse and in her third year. Her biggest difficulty is not even the money but the lack of support with the children in her final year. Student nurses have an insane schedule of work and placements which make child care very very difficult to manage. Even if she could afford the "out of hours" childcare she needs to cover shifts of 7am to 3pm or 2pm to 9pm and night shifts on top of studying. As a result she may need to leave her course, something she is desperate not to do.

To top it off, her partner has stopped paying the rent completely on her current house and the landlord has started eviction proceedings so she must move within the next 2 months at the most.

Not all single parents on benefits are "rolling in it". They really aren't. Some are working very hard to get by and just only managing it.