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Lone parents

Use our Single Parent forum to speak to other parents raising a child alone.

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Original poster

Income support

19 replies

Ulysees · 07/02/2007 23:18

Hi, I've recently seperated from dh. We're still in the same house as he won't budge. House is in his name and I can't be arsed to fight so am looking into renting.
I spoke to a guy from benefits today and he says I'm entitled to income support as dss are 6 and 9. I don't work. Now I'm hearing that the CSA will end up taking a chunk of that anyway once Dh gives maintenance. I'm a bit confused really? I know I'm going to be hard up but Dh earns a fair bit. I wasn't going to push for my share of the house but feel I'll have to now.
It's awful as dh and I are friendly at the moment but I can see this is going to end soon

OP posts:

MamazonAKAfatty · 07/02/2007 23:21

if you rent whilst claiming IS you will be able to get housing benefit. you will have your mone rediced once the csa get round to sorting out maintenance but as long as you are technically getting IS...even if its just 50p a month you should be able to get HB.

don't know if thats any help at all? also you can claim child tax credits

Original poster

Ulysees · 08/02/2007 08:49

thanks mamazon. Looks like I'll be better off trying to get a job and claiming tax credits then the CSA don't interfere? I really wanted to be a SAHM or just work part time but I suppose you can't have it all ways.

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steely · 08/02/2007 15:06

still claim benefits and see the lone parent adviser as they may be other schemes that are open to you and when you decide to go back to work the lp adviser will be able to do a calculation for you to see what you will get. csa will be involved whatever but you can ask for them not to be involved. although maintenance is taken into account for income support and housing ben it is not on child tax credit.

Original poster

Ulysees · 08/02/2007 18:02

thanks steely, seeing one next week

OP posts:

brandy7 · 08/02/2007 18:07

i cant figure out what the csa/tony blair are playing at.

i work part time and get IS top up. my ex has £400 a month deducted from his wages. it goes into tony blairs pot, i get £10 a week and still receive IS

ive phoned them so many times saying i dont want the IS i want the maintenance so get me of it and to pay more of my rent myself

its bloody madness, they obviously want me to carry on receiving the IS for some reason

also the CSA say "dont rely on the money" even though its deducted out of his wages

brandy7 · 08/02/2007 18:10

ulysees

if you want to email me i can give you the figures of the help i receive, i have 2 children.

dont want too put much on here, theres been a lot of single parent bitching lately

[email protected]

megandsoph · 08/02/2007 18:13

Going through this whole thing at the moment.

I was getting £196 a month from CSA, Jobcentre divided this into four weeks & the benefit I will receive is £22 a week plus £45 a week which is maintainence. So I still would keep my monthly csa payment but only get £22 on top which is the income support.

Anyway this has now all change as CSA have finally this month recived the proper ammount EXH should of been paying me since april last year, which now means I have 2 options according to the Jobcentre.

1/ Keep all of the csa but receive no benefit or....

2/ Have no benefit, give the whole lot to tony blair and get the £57 a week benefit.

Its bloody complicated and if it starts getting messy like this whole has for me I suggest getting onto CAB ASAP.

megandsoph · 08/02/2007 18:15

Sorry should of mentioned. I have just put a claim in for benefits too due to being unable to find an employed job whilst I have been PG, am a single parent of two kids.

brandy7 · 08/02/2007 18:21

megandsoph

its a terrible system isnt it

megandsoph · 08/02/2007 18:37

Brandy that isn't the half of it had it with jobcentre, tax credits and now CSA again but it's a whole other thread.

Sorry for the hijack Ulysees really really hope it goes alot smoother for you

megandsoph · 08/02/2007 18:40

2/ Have no benefit, give the whole lot to tony blair and get the £57 a week benefit.

Sorry should of been receive no csa and get £57 a week income support.

Original poster

Ulysees · 08/02/2007 21:45

Blimey it's all so confusing. Wonder what I'm best off doing then? It looks like I need to get a job ASAP and be on tax credits then the CSA won't be involved will they?

OP posts:

megandsoph · 09/02/2007 07:43

It really is confusing

See on the income support form it had something about opting out of CSA but I'm not sure what thats all about.

It really is easier if you are working, CSA don't get involved if you don't want them to. You will get your working tax credits and if need be, also help towards childcare. If you are still on a low income whilst working you may still be able to get help with rent and council tax too.

Hope you get it sorted

Original poster

Ulysees · 09/02/2007 09:22

thanks megandsoph. I hope they can help me further next week. Just got the forms today.
It seems you work so you pay your rent. Or you don't work they pay it for you? Going to have to think long and hard whether not being there for the kids after school is going to be worth it in the long run. I'm not saying I'm mother of the year but I always wanted to be there to get them whilst they're young.

OP posts:

brandy7 · 09/02/2007 10:04

ive emailed you back Ulysees

charliecat · 09/02/2007 10:12

put random figures into entitledto.co.uk to work out how you would be better off.
For example, my friend workds 16 hours andwanted to up to 30 to increase her income. But it turned out she would be working an extra 14 hours for £11 a week. Which is so so so so daft. So she has stayed at 16.

brandy7 · 09/02/2007 10:33

brilliant site charliecat, i put in my details as of now and the results were nearly spot on! normally the results onthese things are awful

ForeverBlowingBubbles · 09/02/2007 10:58

Hi Ulysees, I'm not sure how it works when you've seperated from your husband, but I believe that you can now claim Income Support if you are not working, have children and have savings of less than £6000.
If you get a part time job, you can still be on Income Support, but can only work up to 16 hours a week, and only the first £20 of your wages will not be counted when adjusting the amount of income support you will get.
If you move out of the family home, you should be entitled to Housing Benefit to get your rent paid and Council Tax Benefit to get that paid too. Even if you work part time you will still be entitled to help with those.
If you get along well with your husband then you do not need to get the CSA involved at all unless he is unwilling to pay maintenance. You can find out about opting out of the CSA acting on your behalf by clicking here . If you do go down the CSA route, you will only be able to keep a small amount of the money each week if you are on Income Support, the rest will go to the Treasury to offset your benefits.
If you need other financial help with things such as furnishing your new home, you can apply for loans/grants from the Social Fund, which you can find out about at the JobCentre.
Also, a condition of receiving Income Support as a lone parent is that you must attend a yearly interview with a New Deal for Lone Parents Advisor. These can be helpful (personally mine is just a waste of time usually!) but if you don't go they can take you off Income Support.
To the best of my knowledge, these details are correct, but if anyone knows better they will hopefully correct me
I hope this helps a bit, and good luck

Original poster

Ulysees · 09/02/2007 14:37

Thanks for the email Brandy I've replied

Oh that's good news about the CSA as I know dh will be fair. Can never grumble about him being mean. So the guy on the phone was right after all

OP posts:

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