Benefits and a lodger

[Everywhereilookaround]

Hi, not sure where to post this, but looking for advice if anyone can help (I know not official, just need putting in right direction).
I'm lone parent to a disabled child, and I'm facing redundancy. I'm about at breaking point as mainstream school can't manage my DS and theres nothing appropriate anywhere near us. I've no support nearby. I have big mortgage to pay and zilch savings, right now I have no money for food for next two weeks, but I have avoided benefits because I've preferred to just live as frugally as possible. Till now, because the threat of redundancy means I could loose our home. So, I'm trying to work out if I could survive if I loose my job. I'm thinking I could rent a room to a lodger which would bring mortgage down to a more realistic rate, but would this cause problems for carers allowance or child tax credits? Thanks in advance if anyone can offer any thoughts.

if you own your home (even mortgaged) you are allowed to rent rooms under the rent a room scheme up to over £7500 a year tax free
www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home/the-rent-a-room-scheme
If you are not on benefits its even simpler
if you are in a "desirable area" you can even do short term "lodgers" through airbnb all tax free so long as you make less than the limit per year from it
but as you can see, it rather offsets all of the costs of running your house
NB disability and carer allowances are not means tested so not affected ;-)
Good luck

The reason DLA and carers allowance exist are because it's really really hard to make ends meet in your circumstances! There is no shame in claiming them. Not everyone with a disability gets to be born into a wealthy family, and thankfully in this country we still level that playing field (a bit...).
Carers allowance also counts in place of national insurance contributions, so helps maintain your entitlement to a state pension.
You are doing a tough job, please let yourself be supported a little to do it!

Thank you both! Xx I didn't know carers allowance covered National insurance, that's really good to know. I don't claim anything at the moment, but DS has DLA application in. Yes it is so expensive, there's things that would help him that I can't afford so hoping that comes through for him.
Thanks for the link talkinpeace, I will check it out. :) Thank you both for your kind words x