To be hacked off that because we get a little amount of Working Families Tax Credit we dont qualify for free school meals?

[UniversallyChallenged]

Or the Healthy Start option

Have 5 dcs so that would be (when little one goes to school) worth about £50 a week to me if they could all have meals.

We get £6 a week WFTC so dont qualify. Bloomin typical, am so annoyed!

Believe me, I'd feel the same way, but really if you're a working family (and the tax topup presumably brings you in line with other working families) why would they pay it to you.

I mean why would they pay for the school dinners

Not sure why they call it that because they know at the moment we ARENT a working family. They have all the info and have put down we cant work (dh has cancer and Im his carer)

Think i will ring them to reasses as you say SM- maybe we have been put on wrong benefit

I thought that was only paid to working families who were especially badly paid. That does sound like a mistake of some kind and you should check.

why are you getting WTC if you are not working?

i'd start by contacting the TCO in writing about that.

you should be getting the full amount of CTC (if you have any disabled children than the amount is greater) and CA. he should be on DLA if possible and/or IB or IS.

getting those would make you eligible for the school dinners and Healthy Start.

the stigma that goes with that, however, may be great depending on how your childrens' school handles it.

Sounds like they're deliberately paying you a nominal amount of WTC so that you don't qualify for the other benefits!

You cannot claim free school meals if you are claiming WTC, no matter how low your income is.

we arte in the same boat

hubby gets 20 something a week wtc so we dont get any free school dinners

a year ago we were struggling but didn;t fall into the cateogry to get any wtc

now we are sooo struggling that we get wtc and now they wont help us at all

you shouldnt be getting WTC

you should be getting DLA for dh, incapcity benefit for dh, carers allowence for you, income support in your name, and ctc for the children.

then council tax and housing benefit as well.

Yes...why do you feel that in addition to your entitlement to WTC everybody else should also pay for your childrens food?

Do you mean working tax credit or child tax credit? If you're not working then you should only be getting child tax credit. With 5 dcs and neither parent working you should be getting the full amount of child tax credit which is a LOT more than £6 per week!

If she has, then she's a very nasty person.

I don't think littlepushka has read the thread and she'll probably be embarrassed at her mistaken post when she has

op, maybe this site would be useful to you

www.entitledto.com

Is your DH getting sick pay, if so WTC has a long run on period - about 6 months I think before they take the WTC part of you so the claim may not be wrong.

WTC is designed to help top up wages to a decent amount hence you dont then qualify for free dinners etc that only people on IS and JSA get.

Thanks for all that advice - I rang them and was told that the form I was looking at was for NEXT year. DH was self employed so they estimate a year in advance and are presuming he will be back at work then.

So it seems we are entitled as theis years award says we only getting the CTC not WTC. Really pleased about that. Sorry though - that will teach me to read through things properly

Oh and we were turned down for DLA because even though DH is ill and cant work, it seems he will get better from the docs report. So the DLA dept in their wiseness turned us down due to his cancer not being a long term illness . Which obviously is what we want to hear from the doc, but doesnt help with the "here and now" bills. So they are happy for me to be his full time (unpaid)carer but not accept he is ill IYSWIM. Am going to reapply tho.

Hope I have explained that understandably am a bit thick about benefits, it's all still so new and complicated to me though am slowly getting there

Little pushka - Why make such an unkind comment? It's not as if the thread is that long to read

Thanks for all that advice - I rang them and was told that the form I was looking at was for NEXT year. DH was self employed so they estimate a year in advance and are presuming he will be back at work then.

So it seems we are entitled as theis years award says we only getting the CTC not WTC. Really pleased about that. Sorry though - that will teach me to read through things properly

Oh and we were turned down for DLA because even though DH is ill and cant work, it seems he will get better from the docs report. So the DLA dept in their wiseness turned us down due to his cancer not being a long term illness . Which obviously is what we want to hear from the doc, but doesnt help with the "here and now" bills. So they are happy for me to be his full time (unpaid)carer but not accept he is ill IYSWIM. Am going to reapply tho.

Hope I have explained that understandably am a bit thick about benefits, it's all still so new and complicated to me though am slowly getting there

Little pushka - Why make such an unkind comment? It's not as if the thread is that long to read

oops sorry - comp so ssslllllloooooowwww I pressed it twice to speed it up!

Oh,...sorry, I thought that "Am I being unreasonable" threads were nvitations by an OP for MNers to leave a thought on the original post.

I have not read all of the threads for that reason - but if my view has caused offence to the OP then I offer my apologies.