lone parents - income allowance JSA ? help!!

[soontobealone]

Sooo many questions. I am soon to be a single parent with 2 dcs. my husband has agreed to pay me more than the minumum he has to pay, will the csa still have to be involved?
I am not working now and will not be working for about the next 6 months whilst I move areas and schools. After that I hope to study p-t and work p-t. Can I claim income support or jsa and, if so, how much can I receive in maintenance and still get it?
any advice gratefully received.

anyone?

soontobealone, you can apply for income support, housing benefit and child tax credits but how much you get will be dependent upon how much child support you are paid.

is there a calculator anywhere to show how much I might get and how child maintennce will affect it?

income support allows £10 per week child support before it impacts on your income support

Income support is £59.15 so you would get that and 2 x child tax credits, if you get maintenance then that will be recovered by the csa and you will get to keep £10 only, you would also get housing and council tax benefits or you claim maintenance and keep the whole lot but then lose the benefits that are attached to IS like council tax benefit, free school meals, uniform grants, but you may get minimal housing benefit if you rent.

www.entitledto.co.uk

right husbands min child maintenance would be £620 (20% of net salary for 2 children) Is that right? So I presume that means I can't claim anything? Gosh How can I live on that! I would get £130 child benefit plus £320 tax credits = £1070. Is that right?

sorry £350 tax credits = £1100 is that what single parents live on?

I have a mortgage of £350

Hi - You really need to get some proper advice - benefits can vary so much depending on your individual circumstances. If either of your children are under 16 then you could try claiming Income Support as a lone parent. The best thing to do is to complete a claim form so it can be assessed properly. You never know - you may still qualify for some help with your mortgage or something - like I say - depending on your individual circumstances. Citizens Advice do give benefits advice or you could contact the DWP and there should be someone will to advise you.

£1100 a month is not bad! A lot of people dont take home that much by working.

Its not worth you claiming Income Support as you are getting far more in maintenance. If you claimed, you can only keep £10 a week of the CSA money so you would be worse off. They also dont pay your mortgage in full on income support - only interest part upto £100k and you cant claim for 39 weeks so you would have to cover the mortgage for the best part of a year on the IS of £60 plus £10 maintenance.

There are circumstances where they might consider helping with mortgage earlier - it was my previous job.
You've nothing to lose by completing a form.

My mortgage is slightly more infact my bills total about £650 in total, my combined tax credits and wage are about £1050 on avergage, plus £120 child benifit and privately arranged child maintenence.