urgent-tax credits for single mums

[pinkkoala]

hi

i have just been onto entitledto.co.uk to check tax credits for a new single mum.

i currently work between 16 -20 hrs a week, have no savings and am panicking about being single, financial wise.

as we were married and he earnt a good wage we only received child benefit, now single according to the website it says as long as i work between 16-29 hrs i am entitled to £73.00 a week in working tax credit and £54.00 in child tax credit and still receive child benefit, and a reduction on council tax, in total it came to £172 a week in tax credits and benfits is this correct, i did have to look a few times to make sure i had read it correct.

any single mums out there who can enlighten me on this cos it seems way too much to me.

also who pays the mortage and how much child support would i be entitled to for dd.

The HMRC site is very accurate so I would use that one re tax credits.

If you are staying in the house, then unless your husband is very wealthy then the mortgage will fall to you if you are remaining in the house.

Maintenance is 20% of his pay for one child via the CSA but far better if you can agree privately.

with regards to the mortage i am unable to buy him out as i wouldn't get the mortage in my name only, but if stayed in the house could a t the moment afford the monthly payments, but that could change when mortage rate goes up, currently we are very low 1.5%.

i will try the hmrc site, thanks.

any other advice from single mums greatly appreciated.

how do you all cope.

hi there, i am a single mother with a 3 year old and i work 16 hours a week. i receive £200 a week in total in tax credits, £70 of this to help with my childcare costs of £99. i also receive full council tax benefit. i am not sure how the mortgage situation works, i rent privately and get about £550 of the £700 rent paid. i actually went back to work full time after my daughter was born and was a lot worse off, as was not getting any help with ridiculously expensive rent or council tax and only enough tax credits to cover childcare. there is a helpline that helped me called i think 'lone parents helpline' check out yellow pages, they worked out all different scenarios for me.

just wanted to say that I am a single parent, work 20 hours a week and get £173 per week tax credits, £20 child benefit, £40 in work credit, £3 council tax benefit and £80 housing benefit (rent is £124 a week) plus wages obviously of around £140 which works out as just under £2K per month.

I private rent, don't have any savings and don't get any maintenance - this will depend on how much he earns and how often he has your DD overnight.

I am sooooo much better of as a single working parent than I was just on income support. I also get all my Open University fees paid for me, have an NHS tax credits exemption card which means I still get free prescriptions etc.

The childcare element of your tax credits will depend on your childcare costs but will be 80% of however much they are, up to a certain amount (£141 per week for a single child I think)

No idea about mortgages I'm afraid, never had one and not likely to get one with my credit rating.

Working is definitely your best bet.

You will cope, it is totally do-able.