Benefits muddle

[glitch]

Oh gosh I'm in a muddle. I'm newly separated and trying to sort out my finances.
Currently I am a SAHM to my DS. He gets DLA (Middle rate care / low mobility) so I claim carers allowance. I also work 12 hrs a week (which is a nightmare trying to sort out now I'm on my own)

Does anyone know anything about income support and child tax credits. Am I likey to get IS whilst earning (about £80 a week)? If not, am I still able to get council tax benefit or mortgage interest help?

I think I can claim child tax credits but can I claim these alongside IS and carers.

I saw a lone parent advisor yesterday and she was utterly hopeless. No sign of any advice at all and now I'm more confused than ever.
Any help to make sense of it all would be gratefully received.

Dont know if I can be much help but I will try.

Apply for child tax credits TODAY. Give the date you became single. They will only backdate 3months. There is a calculator thing online that will give you an idea of what you will get.

If the adviser wasnt very helpful I would be inclined to either find another advisor or apply for IS and HB anyway. Keep chasing the applications up though. Then atleast you will know for sure.

I have a feeling you may end up having to reconsider your hours. Either increase to 24 (then you will qualify for WTC and help with childcare) or leave. But neither of those sound possible in your situation.

I have applied for both now. I phoned for the application pack for tax credits today. Foolishly I thought that it was all covered under the one application and I wasn't allowed to see an advisor (hahahaha, advisor ????) until I had put in the IS claim.

I'm so confused. I think you could be right with the hours thing. Will I lose all IS, all council tax benefit and any help with mortgage payments from working 12 hours a week. Gosh, it is so hard to get my DS looked after for those hours that it seems crazy to do them if I'm going to be worse off.

IS may top up your income so you may then still qualify for the other things. But I dont know what the current thresholds are.

It is really unfair. The emphasis at the minute is on getting back to work but the system makes it quite difficult. Ultimately you have to do what is best for your family. Sadly in a lot of cases this means giving up work.

If you are a single parent it's still 16 hours a week rather than 24. You may also be eligible for carer's allowance for your DS. Mortgage interest support will only be if you're entitled to income support, but not sure what happens if you are working under 16 hours a week.

Still confused!
I think the rate is £71 plus a premium of £30.35 for being a carer so that would take it over my earnings of about £80 a week meaning I should get it?

But then they take off my wages from the total?

Grrr, my head is in knots. Why don't they have people who can advise you?

Have you had a play with benefits calculator it's pretty accurate, and as its not an application you can try different scenarios eg working 12 hours, 16 hours or not at all

Assuming you have little or no savings:
Yes you can get some Income Support. Your applicable amount is £100. You'll get £100 - £80 (your weekly earnings) + £20 (lone parent disregard) = £40 per week. If you didn't work at all ( and you don't have to because you're a carer) you would get £100 per week IS.
You're also entitled to full council tax benefit and help with mortgage payments after 13 weeks if claim. CTB and mortgage payments can be claimed together with IS
You're also entitled to CTc at max rate
HTH

Gosh Olimpia, you are a star. Are you some kind of benefits guru? You should start an advice line

You have given me hope after days of total confusion (and also a lot to think about). Thank you so much.

Just another question; thinking about if I decide to no longer work (I know, I know, I can't quite believe I'm saying that) how would I go about adjusting things. Do I just call them and they change the amount paid. As a carer, am I allowed to just not work or cut down my hours? What a peculiar situation to be in where I might end up (with taxi fares for my mil to look after my DS) with less money working that I would working.

No probs. Yes I'm a benefits/debt adviser but currently on maternity leave so maybe a bit rusty and perhaps not up to date with everything!
Because you're a carer you can be on IS i.e. you don't have to work or be available for work. In fact at the moment you're only £20 p/w better off working (the amount of the disregard). It's not much if you consider petrol, work clothes, lunch at work, etc.
However, bear in mind that

• under Universal Credit things may be different (but I'm really not sure how)
• even though you're probably breaking even at the moment, you're effectively keeping a foot through the door so if your son's DLA is dropped for example, (thus your CA is also stopped and you can no longer claim IS) you have your job to fall back on.

At the end of the day it's up to you. The system at the moment makes it up to you whether you work or not. You're perfectly entitled not to. Good luck whatever you decide

i would also like to point out that carers allowance is treated as income as far as IS is concerned .so IS -£100, minus wages minus CA would leave you worse off as you would not be entitliled to IS as your total earnings would be above the IS level. if you stopped working you would be able to claim IS minus CA which would give you £40 but then you would be entiltiled to to max of the other benefits Tax credits, HB, CTB.

Both scenarios on the benefits calculator rockchick linked to above say I can claim income support but obviously with differing levels.

Realistically, I'm not going to carry on working am I. Should I resign now & phone the income support line to tell them what I am doing or should I wait for my claim to be approved and then resign?
Should I speak to the benefits people directly just to confirm that I am able to resign without it affecting my claim (I don't want to resign and then be told that because I have voluntarily stopped working I will be refused IS etc)

Thank you so much for all your help to guide me through these murky waters

glitch please don't delay claiming IS because you can get it ALREADY i.e. your income from work is low enough for you to get an IS top up in addition to CA (please ignore wrong advice given by other poster above). You're losing money every day you delay a claim. When you make you IS claim declare your income from work and you need to clarify that you're claiming as a carer NOT as a single parent (even though you might fulfil that criterion too). Once IS comes through, resign if that's what you want to do. Then let DWP know that you're no longer working and they'll up your IS. That way you won't have a massive drop in income while your IS is sorted out. Don't worry, IS on grounds of having a disabled person to look after has nothing to do with leaving a job voluntarily.
Of course entitlement to IS is dependant on means testing, residency conditions, nationality, etc.
Forgot to say yesterday: make sure that when your claim CTC you tick that your son is in receipt if middle rate care DLA as you'll get the disabled element added (NOT the severely disabled as this is for highest rate care only so please take care when filling in the form and double check when the award comes through).

Thanks olimpia. The other advice did scare me a little but you and the benefits calculators indicate that I am entitled whilst working and as a carer so I stopped panicing.
My IS claim is in and backdated so I am in the system and the CTC form is on the way. I'm just mulling over what to do.
I think I will just keep working for a bit. As you say, I really don't want to have a drop in income prior to any IS or benefits beginning. Plus, it probably is good to just have some stability in all this change.

Feel sick.
They have turned me down for IS. Does that mean I'm not entitled to help with council tax and housing etc?

They have based it on the following:
To live on: Me: £71
Plus caring amount: £32.60
Total: £103.60

Money coming in: Carers allowance: £58.45
Wages: £68.02
Total: £126.47

So 103.60 - 126.47 = -£22.87 so a big no.

Why have the calculators told me I would get it?

I'm so confused and scared now. What if I can't get help with the mortgage. What if the child tax credit is turned down too.

Child tax credit won't be turned down - on your wages you will get the full amount for 1 child plus the extra disability component. I am sure yoiu can get council tax benefit on a low wage too. Not sure about the mortgage interest though.