benefits- does this sound about right?

[avocadogreen]

So my bastard H left me and our 2 kids for another woman a month ago. I was a SAHM but now am looking for a job, I have an interview next week, go me :-) It is just for a school admin job at 10k per year so I did one of these online benefits calculator things to find out how much I would be entitled to. It came back with 1,400 a month! Does that sound right? It is a combination of WTC, CTC, housing benefit and child benefit. As that, along with the income I would get from the job, as well as the maintenance from exH would actually see us pretty much ok, actually about the same as DH earns after tax! Or have I done something wrong in the calculations...? I am on my own with 2 kids age 7 and 3, living in a privately rented 3 bed house,no savings or other income.

Fuck, I have just realised I referred to him as DH. Old habits die hard. Bastard.

Did you try entitledto.com? It's always best to use more than one tool just to make sure they match but it seems about right. Don't forget the housing and council tax benefit are means tested though, so if you earn too much they reduce them. They don't include maintenance payments as income.

I used Turn2Us as entitledto.com wouldn't work on my phone. I did also put in gross income at 10k, and estimated childcare costs.

It sounds about right. There's a basic amount for the WTC and CT, they also add on a lone parent supplement. www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/taxcredits.htm

I'm not sure how well this will show on here, it shows the increases from last year. Childcare is expensive so a large proportion of your childcare element of the working tax credit will cover this (70% up to a certain amount). I'm better off being single.

"Working Tax Credit - £ per year
Rates April 2013 April 2014
Basic element £1,920 £1,940
Couple and lone parent element £1,970 £1,990
30 hour element £790 £800
Disabled worker element £2,855 £2,935
Severe disability element £1,220 £1,255
Top

Childcare element of Working Tax Credit
The maximum childcare costs you can claim for, and percentage you can get help with are shown below.
Childcare element of Working Tax Credit
Rates April 2013 April 2014
Maximum eligible cost for one child £175 per week £175 per week
Maximum eligible cost for two or more children £300 per week £300 per week
Percentage of eligible costs covered 70% 70%
Top

Child Tax Credit rates
The maximum Child Tax Credit rates are shown below.
Child Tax Credit - £ per year
Rates April 2013 April 2014
Child Tax Credit Family element £545 £545
Child element £2,720 £2,750
Disabled child element £3,015 £3,100
Severely disabled child element £1,220 £1,255
"

That didn't post well, just use the last figure, so where it says £1,200£1,255, use £1255 IYSWIM. You add the ones which are relevant to you, so if you're not disabled you don't include the disability element. I hope this makes sense. Your figures do sound right if you're including childcare.

Thank you Ladysybil that sounds hopeful. I will try out entitledto.com on the laptop when I get a chance to see if I get the same figures. Fingers crossed I get the job now!

Fingers are very crossed for you xxx Good luck!

good luck for the interview

Sounds right but be careful with the housing stuff, when I looked in to all of this they would only give me housing benefit on a two bed.. Can't remember why but it's worth checking

Yep sounds quite possible, depending on rent etc. (I used to do a lot of the calculations when I worked in welfare advice.)

Turn2Us and Entitled To are diff names for the same organisation BTW

It sounds about right TBH. I don't get housing benefit but my salary, WTC, CTC and CB are similar to yours.

And yes, we ended up financially sound when XP went. I was so used to budgeting hard because he frittered money that when it was just me in charge of the money I could make it go a lot further. Good luck with the interview, onwards and upwards .

It does sound possible but as others have said you need to check you local housing allowance as they usually only pay the two bed rate if you have two children under 10 as they are expected to share a bedroom. If the children are opposite sexes then they will usually pay the 3 bed rate once the eldest is 10 but if they're the same sex then they'll still be expected to share.

You can check your entitlement here:
lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/BedroomCalculator.aspx