My sister to become a single mum - please help with benefits query !

[koolkat]

Hello everyone

I am doing this on behalf of my sister who doesn't have access to the internet at home.

She is separating from her husband and has a very young toddler.

She lives near me in a very affluent part of North London. But as they are renting, once her husband moves out she will need to claim housing benefit to cover the rent.

Could you please tell me how likley it is from your experience that a single mother would get most of her rent (£800 per month) paid ?

Also what other benefits would she be eligible for as a single parent ?

Thanks !

i am a single mother and i get all my rent paid which is around the same amount but it depends on whether she is working or not. if not she can claim income support, tax credits (will need to ring them up to tel them about the cahnge of circumstance) housing benefit and council tax benefit. if she is working i think the housing benefit is means tested and they will pay something towards the rent

Shelly - many thanks.

she needs to ring either the tax credit helpline, the lone parent advisor at her job centre, or both. better do it sooner rather than later as they can send the forms to her and she can apply asap, it takes a while for them to sort money out usually

Her housing benefit will depend on a few things. They have a maximum that they will pay for depending on rent averages in certain areas. A simple 1 reception, 1 bathroom, 1 wc, two-bedroom accommodation would usually be OK.
This is in my experience anyway. They knocked £20 per month off mine for having a garage! Or so I was told off the record anyway. A spare bedroom may mean they pay less as well.
There is also a benefit for council tax so she will not have to find that.
I live on benefits with two small children and find it a bit of a struggle but manageable on the whole. Working isn't an option for me as the girls are too little and I'm a part-time student.
Good luck to your sis.

lucy - thanks also. Very useful info. from everyone, thanks !

there is another thread on this from a week or so ago. dh gave some advice then but he is still asleep and I can't remember the details... If you look up the council website then they usually have a housing benefit calculator on it so she can work out approx what she might get.