Am I entitled to tax credits?

[Whoneedsaman]

Hi there, I'm separating from my lying, cheating H. Once the house is sold and I'm officially separated/single, if I then move into rented accommodation I'd have half of my equity from the house sale in savings. It'd be around £40k (fingers crossed). I need this money to get a mortgage so I want to lock it away until I find a house. My income isn't great but I work full time and I could scrape by without tax credits (no money for extras, days out, holidays). H said he wants DD 50% if the time so I can't claim maintenance (or can I?) and I'm thinking that because of my savings I can't claim tax credits. Is this correct?

Yes you can claim tax credits as there are no savings limit. Only interest over £300 a year is counted.

Try one of the online benefit calculators -

www.entitledto.co.uk/

benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/AboutYou

ThankS for your help. I've googled but get conflicting advice. X

You can claim tax credits but you'd be stuffed with universal credit. Which type of area are you in - still TC, or UC?

Hi Lineys, don't have the foggiest about UC, completely new to this and don't want to miss out on anything I could be claiming. I work full time dies that rule me out from UC???

No, benefits are all income based.

However, the big difference for people whose geographical areas are part of the roll-out that moves them from Tax Credits to Universal Credit is savings.

I don't want to ask you where you live - but you should be able to Google whether your postcode is in a UC area or not.

My income isn't great but I work full time and I could scrape by without tax credits
This link contains some rough information on tax credit eligibility -
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/child-tax-credit#child-tax-credit-income-limits

For example, the upper limit for being able to claim tax credits if you have 2 children and don't claim for childcare costs is £35,000.

There are some different rules if you have disabled children as well.

Forgot to add - I was talking about Child Tax Credit (CTC) in my previous post.

I would also claim child support anyway. It's based on the number of nights your DC is resident at your house and a few other factors. In my experience, you'd be wise to claim.

Here is some information about Working Tax Credit (WTC) -
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/working-tax-credit

And Universal Credit (UC) -
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/universal-credit-an-introduction

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll follow the links. The info has helped to put my mind at rest. Thanks again. X