Benefits Advice

[Clare2729]

Hi, I am looking ahead to the future and just wondering if anybody can give me some advice. I am a single parent to 2 children. I've always worked part time but have also relied upon benefits (housing benefit, tax credits and child benefit) and receive maintenance for both children. As the children get older I fully intend on returning to full time work however I have only ever worked in admin and will never be a high earner. Can anybody tell me do ALL benefits and maintenance stop when the child leaves full time education? or will I still be entitled to housing benefit and tax credits if they go to university? I would still need to provide a home for them during the holidays. Getting myself a bit worked up and would appreciate any advice. Many thanks.

You may still get HB but tax credits will stop.

Housing benefit and working tax credits won't automatically stop because your children go to uni however as they won't be dependents anymore the amount of money you can earn (income plus tax credits) will reduce to 73.10 before they reduce.

So if you work full time on minimum wage you won't get any housing benefit. Not sure about working tax credit.

The calculation for hb is a bit complicated so I would suggest using one of the benefits calculators or book an appointment at CAB

how old are your children now?

They are 17 and 14

Child related benefits will stop and they will become non-dependants and expected to earn or claim in their own right. Mine are only 6 and 9 and I'm making provisions already for when the child related benefits end (the mortgage ends when the eldest is 19).

given the age of your children now it would make sense to start looking for full time work now to give you the best chance of increasing your earning potential. as others have said you are unlikely to get much if any HB if you are working ft with no dependents. they won't be classed as dependents when they are at home from uni so even if you were able to claim HB it would only be based on the local housing allowance for one bedroom

Hi Claire , I am in exactly the same position as you. Im currently working 16-20 hours a week and receiving HB. WTC CTC. Rent is quite high so most of this goes on my rent and living costs etc . i do ok as I'm pretty good at budgeting . Im aware that my benefits will reduce quite a bit when I start another job next year when my child leaves school at 18 . He is probably going to university so tax credits will stop for sure . According to HMRC website ,a single person without children (as he will no longer be a child ) only qualify for working tax credits if they work 30 hours a week minimum and earn no more than £13,000. My future salary will just be slightly less so doing the calculations on the HMRC website will give me a working tax credit payment of £ 1.56 a week which is hardly worth while . However my housing benefit will increase (i think ) as my very small tax credit award is taken in to calculation . Different online calculators are telling me different figures and I'm a bit confused as to what I will receive . Do you have any idea about this ?, it is important to start planning sooner rather that later
so that when the time comes i am prepared for this big reduction . I'm scared that most of my salary will go on rent and the little Housing benefit i hope to get will hardly leave me with any money at all . Salaries are so low and rent is so high along with everything else . I also am shocked at the WTC threshold is only £!3.000 a year . That to me is a pretty low salary when living costs are so high . I'm a bit confused as to what i should do so any advice would be appreciated . I've looked into moving to a cheaper house but there doesn't seem to be any cheaper flats . Alternative option is through a housing association which i have had my name down for 11 years now and still no luck .I kind of feel like I'm in a dead end situation .

Sky I've sent you a private message.