More money going out than coming in

[Nikkismum]

Hi....I'm actually asking this on behalf of my daughter as I really don't know where to turn. She is a single parent with a two year old son, hubby left over a year ago. She can no longer work due to lack of child care. She still lives in the private rented accommodation they shared. She receives housing benefit that doesn't cover the rent. Her maintenance has been reduced since her ex went to the CSA...although she hasn't actually received any yet as they are dragging their heels. Her tax credit has reduced. She can't cover her rent and outgoings let alone afford to buy food and now she has been told she is not eligible for tax credits. She has no access to the Internet.....so I am asking on her behalf where has she gone wrong? Is there something she has missed???? What do we have to do get her enough money to live?

Help !!!!!!

OP, have your thread moved over to Money...you'll get some answers/support there...

can she move to a cheaper rented place? Has she been to DWP to make sure that she is getting all that she is entitled to?

Also, if she finds a job and works a certain number of hours, then WTC could pay up to 80% of childcare costs? Is she entitled to any nursery hours? 15 hours a week can be accessed at age 2 for certain people.

copied from website Can my two-year-old access a free place?
The Government is gradually introducing free early education to some two-year-olds. The two-year-old places are provided based on your child’s circumstances or on your family income. Your situation would need to be assessed, usually by a health visitor, social worker or similar, in order to decide whether your child would benefit from a place. Further
information should be available from your health visitor.

make sure that she cuts all expenditure back as much as possible, look at switching suppliers for electricity, gas etc. Get all bills onto monthly direct debit payments to help with budgeting. cut off broadband or sky tv if she does have those. My local council will allow payment of council tax over 12 months instead of the usual 10.

just reeling off things I can thing of, she may of course already be doing these things

I may be wrong but if she isn't working then she should be entitled to income support or job seekers allowance and child tax credits (and child benefit obviously). She will get help with childcare and also receive working tax credits if she finds a job for 16 + hours a week (I think this is due to increase to 24 hours but I may be wrong. Needs checking).

If she cannot afford her rent she needs to phone the council and ask to register for social (council) housing which can be marginally cheaper than private rental. Or she needs to move to a cheaper private rent if possible.

She must ring the csa and chase up her claim as often as she can.

Also she needs to write out a complete budget of everything she has going in and out and see where she could cut back. No sky? Shop at aldi? Cheapest everything possible etc etc. Does she have any debt? If so contact them and try and arrange lower payments.

Look on entitledto.com and see what benefits she can claim.

Hi thanks for the replies...
Just to clarify
She can't really afford to move to cheaper accommodation.... its a small house and is not much more expensive than others. We would have to find money for a deposit and the agents fee etc which isn't a possibility at the mo.
There's a long list for social housing and because she has a roof over their heads she is not considered a priority.
Budget done..... She only spends about £50 on gas and electricity per month now so can't cut back much more. Other utilities are pretty much static eg tv licence water. Etc.
Even with child care jobs are so difficult to get ...we've been looking....
She does get tax credit but this was reduced when she finished work...and as I say the DWP have told her she is not eligible for income support...
We've never had to claim benefits before so it's all a bit bewildering....hence my cry for help to you all !!
Thanks again..

How old are her DC's? If they are all 5+, then she will not be able to claim Income Support, but she will be able to claim Jobseekers Allowance.

The reason her Tax Credits will have been reduced once she was no longer working is because there are 3 separate 'elements' to Tax Credits.

First there are Child Tax Credits. You get these whether you are in work or unemployed.

Then there is Working Tax Credit. You can only claim this if you are working 16 Hours or more a week.

Then there is the Childcare element. Again, you can only claim this if you are in work of 16 hours or more per week, and it covers UP TO 70% of your Childcare costs. (hasn't been 80% for around 5 years!)

The reason her Tax Credits have reduced is because she is no longer entitled to the elements that you can only get if you are working.

If all your daughter'a children are over 5yo, then she needs to claim INCOME BASED Jobseekers allowance.

If her youngest child is under 5yo, then she needs to claim INCOME BASED Income Support - she may have been told that she is not entitled to IS because they may have been looking at contribution based IS.

Also, the amount if savings your daughter (and her children, added together ) has will make a difference. If you and your DC's have savings of over £6000, you will be expected to live off that for a year.