Redundancy and tax credits?

[DragonMamma]

My DH has recently been made redundant. I managed to find a part time job quickly but his is likely to take a while longer as what he does isn't exactly something that comes up often.

Anyway, my question is - he's earned £14k since the beginning of the tax year and is obviously not bringing home anything now. Going on what the part time job pays, between now and the end of the year I should earn around £10k. We have 2 dc and so I understand that we would be eligible to claim for something.

My question is, what happens if DH gets a job between now and the end of the tax year? Depending on when/if it happens we could potentially be over the threshold and owe money, but we could really do with the help now as on this years income we will be around £15k down as he'd bring home circa £40k. We have recently bought a house so all our buffer was swallowed up in this but we do have mortgage protection insurance to cover this, life cover and building insurance (does this get counted as income btw?!)

Also, can he claim contribution-based JSA? He's not been out of work for over 5 years.

Tax credits are usually based on your previous years income, so on your husband's previous wage you wouldn't be eligible for any. However, you can apply now and you will have to give them last tax years income , but you can then ask for them to re-assess it on your current household income of £24k ( estimated). if your husband gets a new job befire next April , you would need to ring them again and they can adjust your payments accordingly. The key is to inform them of any changes straight away otherwise you may end up having to pay money back. The threshold/ cut off for a family with 2 kids is about £32 k , so on an estimated income of £24k yu will get some tax credits. You can go onto one of the benefit calculators to work out how much you may get.

If he's paid NI contributions he will be eligible for contribution based JSA - if he applies online the claim starts from when he completes it.

Also he is entitled to ReAct funding for retraining. Well, in Wales that's what it's called. £2000 towards a course

I have a few pennies left in bank account after being made redundant 6 years ago. I then started working for a family business who needed my expertise but said the business couldn't afford to pay me initially so for three years I worked 4 to 5 hours a day with no reward. Then I started to earn £6000/year. I am expected to cover all our food bills, school uniform, clothing and extra activities. My husband lost his job end of 2012 and now also come into family business so our combined income this tax year is well below £20K but we are working hard to try and bring in a bigger salary - is there any type of financial support we can ask for?

Tax credits DizzyLyn