Income support and Housing benefit claims rejected, no income for 2 1/2 months.

[fruitofthenight]

I'm in desperate need of help and hoping someone whose clued up on benefits can help!
I was on sick leave from work until March when I left my job, my relationship ended in April so I became a lone parent with no income. I put claims in for income support and housing benefit at the start of May. When i received my income support form they asked for previous payslips so I gave them ones from when i received ssp, they wrote a few weeks later to say I can't claim as my income is too high down to ssp even though I had stated in my application that I am no longer working or receiving ssp. I've applied for a mandatory reconsideration nearly two weeks ago and haven't heard anything, I rung to see if they had received it and they said no and to ring back in a week.
Whilst this was happening my housing benefit claim was rejected down to having no form of income, I need proof of getting income support which I don't have at the moment and now my time for being able to get a mandatory reconsideration for that is running out. My landlord is threatening to evict me as I'm now 10 weeks or so in arrears. I've had no income since May and have been relying on maintenance from my ex, child benefit and money from family. My tax credits claim got stopped and has been a faff trying to sort out, I'm currently waiting for a form to get sent out. I'm at a loss at what else I can do, I'm scared of losing my home, I'm stressed and on the verge of tears constantly.
Any help or advice would be amazing, sorry for the essay.

This sounds terrible. Really stressful..Have you contacted Citizens Advice?

No, I never thought of them! Just checked and I can drop in on Thursday

Hello I'm a housing benefit assessor, you need to request your housing benefit to be paid on 'nil income' as your income support hasn't been awarded yet. The council I work for has a separate (very short form) for this and we also require bank statements from when your income ended to show you have no income. Call the housing benefit department now and ask them how to have your claim considered on nil income.

How old is your child?

Is the nil income thing a national thing? I might visit the council offices tomorrow and see if I can get it sorted quicker.
My child is a nearly two

Nil income is national, and you are absolutely entitled to IS due to age of your dc and zero income.
I would suggest you contact your MP straight way , they can and do intervene.
Have you asked your council for a hardship payment and food bank voucher?

I was same was on sick leave before unable work long term and housing would only consider previous 3m pay slips even though was only £70 week And payslips much more. Had suck it up as nothing in system to bend it. Once paid £70 week for 3months housing then processes claim on actual income not previous income

I haven't asked for hardship payments I looked online and could only find it for people on jsa who had been sanctioned. What actually counts as nil income though? Would the bank transfers I get from my family to pay for food etc count as income? I assume not?
I suffer anxiety and just contacting people to try sort this out is making me worse, I have to psych myself up for ages to phone :-( I haven't tried my mp for this but I did for an issue a while back which was also benefits related and they were not interested really.

I would take all of your paperwork down to the local job centre and ask to see an advisor and say you're not leaving until you do. Something has gone seriously wrong here. I've been in similar situations and have only ever had to wait a very short time to be sorted out, I think you need to emphasise you have a very young child and will be reliant on food banks unless thy sort themselves out- which could well be the case for a lot of people.

No anyone can apply for hardship payments.

I echo the advice of others. Just remember to request back dating on housing and council tax support, with your reason for delay being your previous application. But don't go down to the Jobcentre in person asking to see an advisor, you won't get anything sorted that way and will just be more anxious.

You could also try looking for a local home start. They're volunteers but they help families who need a bit of support, so can hand hold with the applications and also will have access to relevant local info.