New to Income Support - Help Please!

[misscat]

Hi all
Have dd 10 and ds 8.
Made a new claim for Income Support on 12th Feb. Had appt to talk to adviser last Thurs 19th Feb (who was brilliant) unfortunately and stupidly,I forgot to ask exactly when I might expect to receive 1st payment! My head is all over the show at the moment! Realise I have to sort Child Tax Credits and Housing/C Tax benefit myself. Anyone any idea how long I can expect to wait and on what day of the week IS is paid? This is a scary business and I do hope to get back into employment asap but meantime, any advise/support would be greatly appreciated. And have I forgotten anything else I might get help with? Thanks

It depends really which JC is dealing with your claim and how busy they are.

Mine used to be paid on a Wednesay and they normally try to sort it out within ten days. You can phone them if you have any questions.

did you not get to fill in the H/Ct benefit form at the same time?

I know when I applied last year (over the phone) they did those at the same time. And when DH (currently sepearated) applied for JSA on Friday they took his details for that too.

Yes FAQ, they did take details of HB/CTB, I believe, at the time of claim (on phone) but as I was already receiving partial HB/CTB because of low working previous income I think I have to phone council to 'upgrade' to full entitlement.

are you sure about that? I'd ring and check, as I've recently moved, had been getting full Council Tax Benefit, but wasn't then entitled to HB (as Iw as living in the marital home which was mortgaged - but not in my name)

I had to submit a totally new form (despite it just being the addition of housing benefit that was being added) so in effect a brand new claim.

I will double check 1st thing tomorow.

yes would definitely do that - you don't want to fill in the form all over again for nothing (and believe me the form done over the phone is SO much easier than the form done in pen)

My IS gets paid on a tuesday took four weeks for my first payment unfortunately. AFAIK its nt usually this long

i applied for everything 7th feb. got finally paid is on 16 jan, then ha on 3rd nov

tax credits were a few dasy

I got my IS within 10 days, and tax credits was super quick about 2 days (i think they do it quick when youre on your own). You can get the nice people at the job centre to fast track tax credits etc for you if youre struggling.

I had a joint HB claim and i didnt need to fill in a new form, i just went in and told them my ex had moved out as it was a joint claim before they just removed him and adjusted the benefit. this took about 2 weeks to get sorted. good luck