yawn, ANOTHER csa question and inc support. If I worked 16 hrs or under would I be allowed to have more than the £10 from ex?

[pirategirl]

Money is seriously tight now, and i need to reassess the best possible way to bring in more. My beneifits will probably be changing, as I have been on incapacity for depression, and have to go for a medical next week.

It looks like I will be about £25 a week worse off, if my bens change. Also inc isn[t means tested, so ex dh has been allowed to give me a few quid here and there. So i will now haver to get the csa involved if I have to claim Inc support.

I remember reading about 'opting' out of the csa thing, and then thay deduct your inc support? Is this by a set amount?

I am confused by the posts on here, about it almost being no point in working, yet was wondering if I am allowed to keep the £25 ex dh is supposed to owe me each week, if i try and get work.

Am not sure how it works, tho, is it literally the hrs or the wage you get that denotes how much bens?

I have been on 'entitled too', but got a bit confuddled!!

New year, new direction with all this money stuff. Oh and of course then there's finding something I can do here in the depths of devon!!!

boring bump!

pirategirl sorry i haven`t got any idea but wanted to bump this for you, i hope someone comes along soon who knows about this sort of thing x

If you claim you can only keep £10 maintenance, if you work 16 hours or more the whole lot is yours, its worth coming off benfits if you are going to get regular maintenance cause you can then claim child tax credits, working tax credits and possibly some housing benefit aswell.

do i get any childcare help if i work under 16 hrs tho?

I think not. AFAIK, you get to keep the first £20 of your wages (called the Earninge Disregard) and after that it is deducted £ for £ fron your benefit, until you reach 16 hours work, at which point you lose all Income Support and start on the WTC instead.

IMO - it sucks to be a single parent - you can't afford to work, you can't afford not to.

as stripey says you keep £20 per week if you work, you could just do 1 day a week to dip your toe in as to speak and maybe gradually build up your hours until you are confident enough to come off benefits, I know how hard it is and every penny counts.

If you opt out of the csa IS can deduct at least £20 per week off your money so if you get £25 from your ex you will be better off only £5, the better way to do it is tell the csa his details and let them collect from him and you get £10 per week extra, that on top of another £20 extra if you had a little job totalls to £30 extra that is available to you.

How long have you been on IB?

Just because you have a medical coming up doesn't mean you are going to fail it!

Have you thought about Permitted Work? If you do this you can still get your IB and you can work:

for earnings of up to and including £20.00 a week for an unlimited period, or
for less than 16 hours a week, on average, with earnings up to and including £88.50 a week for a 52 week period.

If more than 16 hrs you will get WTC and possibly an additional disability element if you go from IB to work. There is also a £40 per week tax free return to work credit for ex-IB claimants who start full time work. This £40 doesn't affect WTC, Housing Benefit, etc.

Talk to your adviser at the Jobcentre and see what you can get.

Pirategirl, having been a lone parent that went back to work, if you can find a job of 16 hours, do it.

You will get more from the tax credits, plus still get most of, if not all of your housing benefit and council tax benefit, plus get to keep your maintenance.

I appreciate it can be hard to find a job that fits in with children, but if you can, I would reccommend it wholeheartedly.

If you work a minimum of 16 hours, you qualiofy for the childcare costs too.

I worked 16&1/4 hours per week, got HB, CTB my wages (£82.75 per week) and about £260 a week in tax credits (which includes the childcare costs, my childcare cost me about £550 a month, so roughly £115 a week). I was so much better off, plus I actually got to get out of the house!

the deduction for not involving the csa is stopping in June/July for new customers and 'old' customers who already have a deduction will have that deduction terminated in october.

just checked back on here, thanks. victorian s, that sounds like so much!

i will come back later and re read.