question about income support

[AnAngelWithin]

I have never claimed this before. DH is currently unemployed. Made redundant just before christmas. He has applied for about 30 jobs so far with no luck. However there is a job at home doing ironing for about 15 hours a week and my mum said I would I be able to claim income support? or can you only claim that if you are single? I don't want to have to, but one of us has got to do something.

hi,
Your husband will have been entitled to income supprt/or jobseekers allowance from when he was made redundant.
Not sure if he got a pay off? Not sure how that might affect what you could get.

But if you go to your job centre u can see the receptionist and arrange an appt.

If you have kids you can still get child tax credit, and help with rent and council tax . You need to find the phone number for your local housing benefits office.

If you want to work the ironing job, you are allowed to work 15 hrs and it wont affect your bens except inc support.

I think i am right on that.

yet, as you would be claiming as a couple you would i'm sure still get some of the inc support/job seekers allowance.

yes he is claiming jobseekers but i thought we might be better off if one of us worked a bit instead?

If your husband has paid sufficient National Insurance contributions, he should be entitled to contribution-based JSA, which is not means tested. This means that whatever you earn is not taken into account. However, if he is claiming JSA, he may also be able to claim housing benefit, council tax benefit, and other passported benefits such as free prescriptions, etc. You might not get that if you are working.

he gets income based jobseekers. whats the difference??

You might be able to find the info you need on the dwp site. You can also call your local office with a hyperthetical query.

If a benefit is contribution-based, it means that the recipient is eligible by virtue of NI contributions previously made and any other household income is not taken into account. If a benefit is income-based, it means that the benefit will be affected by any other household income - so that, if you were to work, your dh's JSA might be affected (i.e. reduced).

Your dh should check to see if he is entitled to contribution-based JSA, which would then entitle you to earn some income. However, do check that you wouldn't lose any passported benefits, such as housing benefit, etc. by doing this.

If not sure, you could check with your local CAB and ask them to do a "better off" check for you.

www.entitledto.co.uk or .com put your figuresin there. And claim tax credits too.