what happens when your child turns 7 re: income,jsa and working

[Lozza83]

ok, apologies in advance if this is long.

At the moment i am an unemployed single parent of a 6 year old. I would like to go back to work part time but i also would like to study. I understand that i have to come off Income support when my daughter turns 7, but does anyone know what will happen if i work under 16 hours? Will i still be entitled to help towards housing benefit etc...would i be put onto JSA or would i HAVE to be over 16 hours so that my income is topped up with tax credits. I's also prefer to work less hours so that i can pick up my daughter and drop her off myself rather than having to put her into childcare.

I'd be Grateful for any advice as you quite often you find yourself going round in circles when asking the job centre direct... xx

My youngest turns 7 this June and they told me I would then go onto jobseekers. But you are still a lone parent so allowed to work part-time or just school hours. If you do 16 hours or more you'll get working tax credit, and child tax credit and be assessed for housing benefit and council tax benefit depending on how much you earn. You should be better off but take into account travelling expenses and childcare before going for a job. If you work less than 16 hours you just tell the jobcentre abut it each time you sign on and they take most of it off your benefit so you are pretty much working for nothing but it can be useful as experience on your cv.
If you want to do college, make sure you apply for a course before you on jobseekers, preferably started it, because you are not automatically entitled to do one on js. You have to be available for work and that doesn't mean studying! They may well not pay for it either.
Hope this helps x