Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
ilovechristmas1 · 23/09/2014 20:32

the op will NOT be getting £3300

the op is not envious

and those saying take the maintanance of them,why should the children be dropped in to poverty,do they not deserve the life they had before a separation?

ChippingInLatteLover · 23/09/2014 20:35

I think benefits are great, they should be available to people who need them.

But I disagree with them being handed out to people who don't need them. In this case the exDH earns reasonable money, they have decided not to be a couple anymore, why shouldn't they continue to support their family, not the state?

MyFairyKing · 23/09/2014 20:35

ilovechristmas Another poster implied that she was envious of the OP, not the OP herself.

ilovechristmas1 · 23/09/2014 20:35

there are some seriously jealous people on this thread

THE OP WILL NOT BE GETTING £3300 IN BENEFITS INCLUDING MAINTANANCE god im feed up of pointing this out

ilovechristmas1 · 23/09/2014 20:36

thanks for clearing that up Smile

this thread is doing my head in

ChippingInLatteLover · 23/09/2014 20:38

ilove and those saying take the maintanance of them,why should the children be dropped in to poverty,do they not deserve the life they had before a separation?

Of course they do, if the parents can still provide it.

Why should the state provide that 'lifestyle'. Why shouldn't the maintenance payment offset the benefit with any greater amount going over to the family?

ChippingInLatteLover · 23/09/2014 20:39

Why should the state support HIS children, so that HE can provide a lifestyle and treats?

ihategeorgeosborne · 23/09/2014 20:40

Yes Mrs Devere we have our own house. Well we don't actually, the bank owns 90% of it. We were renting up until last year, but got moved on again by our landlord. We have got a massive mortgage for the cheapest house we could get in the area, as we didn't want to have to move dc again. I am a SAHM. Dh works away loads, but I am looking for PT work to fit in with school hours. I am currently volunteering with the hope that something might come up work wise.

I have no issue with the Op what so ever. My issue is with this government that tells my family we are rich, when clearly we are not if they consider that £3300 a month is an appropriate amount of money to give another family on benefits.

Myfairyking, I get the impression on MN that I am an anomaly. I never ever slag anyone off on benefits, as I have no idea about their personal circumstances. It just seems to me that someone on benefits says they get £3300 a month and everyone says that's fine, don't worry, you're entitled to it. However, when I say my husband earns £3300 a month, I am villified, told I am rich and should not complain. I don't understand either Hmm

EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 23/09/2014 20:41

The OP will get up to £2000 a month in benefits, including £1200 rent
If she lived in social housing that figure would be a lot lower
She will also get maintenance on top, unrelated to benefits

Maintenance isn't counted for any benefits, even housing benefit.

Maintenance can't be counted as income for benefits purposes because of the unreliable nature of maintenance. Sporadic and unreliable payments are the norm for many parents on benefits. Given the delays in processing benefits payments a few missed maintenance payments would plunge low income families into total poverty for weeks on end.

EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 23/09/2014 20:43

Ihategeorge are you actually reading anything? £3300 is not what the OP, or any family, will be getting on benefits.
Benefits are capped at £500pw and that figure is only so high because of unaffordable private rents.
The OP had her figures wrong, plus her £3300 figure included maintenance.

ilovechristmas1 · 23/09/2014 20:45

but the point is op is not getting £3300 so why are you implying she is getting that

she thought she may get that but after looking closely she did not realise there is a benefit cap,so she will not be £3300 nowhere near

so there really is no argument to be had as she will not be recieving the higher figure,the law does not allow for the original figure

ihategeorgeosborne · 23/09/2014 20:47

Ehric, I too have to pay a mortgage out of taxed income. It is £1300 a month as mentioned earlier. I don't understand why everyone say "but it is going to the landlord". Everyone has to pay rent / mortgage. Effectively then, our income is actually £2000 a month if you deduct our mortgage payments first.

MrsDeVere · 23/09/2014 20:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

KellyElly · 23/09/2014 20:51

ehric As a lone parent with one DC over one you would be entitled to bid on a two bed. I checked as a result of
this thread.

MrsDeVere · 23/09/2014 20:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OhMyArsingGodInABox · 23/09/2014 20:52

You have a roughly £300k mortgage. Your husband earns over twice the average wage. Please don't plead poverty, it's embarrassing.

ihategeorgeosborne · 23/09/2014 20:53

We don't own our own house though as far as far as I'm concerned. We are renting from the bank until we make the last repayment in 25 years time. I know that we have more security than we did whilst renting, but I'm not deluded enough to think that we own it. Maybe we never will.

ihategeorgeosborne · 23/09/2014 20:54

I never ever pleaded poverty.

maddening · 23/09/2014 20:54

Mobile self employed hairdressers do well - say between 20- 60 depending on treatment - if you have a good few visits per day that can mount up especially if lots are local to cut travel costs, then no studio to pay for. Top stylists do well - getting to that point can be hard work but if you enjoy it and are good you can do well.

ChippingInLatteLover · 23/09/2014 20:55

My point is, no matter how much the benefit is, £300 or £3000, that money should be covered by her EX's maintenance payments. Why should the state provide a luxury lifestyle to one family and not to another, which is what they are doing the whole time they do not take the maintenance money into consideration.

I agree, that given how often NRP fuck the RP parents around with Mtce, that the benefits should be paid out directly to the RP, but then the govt should be getting the mtce payments to cover it. Money in excess of the benefits claimed then passed onto the RP.

MrsDeVere · 23/09/2014 20:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ilovechristmas1 · 23/09/2014 20:59

the goverment tried,they failed

the CSA cant seem to manage to get a payment for many and that agency is dedicated for maintanance

if they cant do it,who can tackle it

ChippingInLatteLover · 23/09/2014 21:01

^There are people who are having to scrabble around to find money to pay for the box rooms they keep their children's wheelchairs and standing frames in. They are classed as spare rooms. They have nowhere to move to. No accessible two bedroom homes have been built.
Their income has not gone up, they are being asked to pay extra money for council tax etc and they have no way of working because they cannot find wor k that fits round their child care commitments or child care that will take their child^

^^ is where benefit money should be going. Not to people who chose to live separately & yet not take a dip in lifestyle to do so. Why should the state pay benefits and the RP also get mtce to enable a luxury lifestyle for some but not others?

LePetitMarseillais · 23/09/2014 21:01

The gov did say those losing CB were rich actually which is why I think the whole thing is ludicrous and needs sorting.How can you be rich and not far off the benefit threshold? Confused

jacks365 · 23/09/2014 21:02

Maintenance isn't counted anymore due to what it did to people like myself. Once it was counted but for most people what happened was the state paid out income support and reclaimed the maintenance but for people like myself whose maintenance was assessed as above is levels if it wasn't paid for a month or so I had no money coming in, this was prior to tax credits so it was all on is. I ended up actually receiving about half what I would have done without maintenance in other words I had about half what the government assessed I needed to live on. I also had to pay a mortgage and feed 3 children so I got my mp involved to look at everything. Thankfully my exh disappeared abroad so they accepted that maintenance would not be paid but I wouldn't wish those days of hell on anyone. Maintenance needs to be kept separate to protect those in the worst situations.

I did get it all finally but that wasn't any help with putting food on the table then.