Left work - am I entitled to anything other than child beneift?

[Gini]

Just a question really, I have phoned all the usual places and been told no, that I'm not entitled to anything but they told my nan that and when she was put in hospital all of a sudden she was told she wasn't claiming for all sorts (cold weather etc).
I recently was made redundant after returning to work from maternity leave, I wasn't given a HUGE payout. When I phoned the beneifts agency to see if I am entitled to any benefits (I don't really want to go back to work, I tried going back but it was too much with my 5 month old and two sd's) I was asked "are you a single parent", which I'm not so was then informed "you are only entitled to receive child benefit" - is this right? If it is its toatally Crap!!!

If anyone has any info I'd be grateful.....

It depends on how muuch you husband earns. If he works less than 16 hours a week you get income support, if its more family credit. If you need to no anything in more detail let me know.

He works full time and earns around 40K, why am I asking about beneifts I hear you ask, well, becuase when his ex wife gave him the boot for another bloke he did not take a bean from the marriage, nothing from the house etc, so we basically had to start from scratch and therefore have quite a hefty mortgage, add to that the fact we give her £500 a month and theres not that much left!!
All this was fine when I was earning a decent salary but I'm not now, daren't ask her if she will take a reduction as I know the response already, despite the fact she works full time (own business) and claims benefits shes not entitled to after she cooks the books!!!!

You can get tax credit! The adress is www.taxcredits.inlandrevenue.gov.uk.aspx
Good luck you can apply online or just see what you qualify for.

You'll also be entitled to Child Tax credit, but with your dh's salary being so high it'll only be an extra £42 per month, which everyone gets if the joing income is less than £58,000.

Unfortunately they don't look at outgoings. If they did I'd be entitled to all sorts!

You won't get nuffin if dh earns 40k, I'm afraid. Unless you're paying out lots for childcare, in which case it's just possible you might get a few sovs from the new tax credit scheme. Have a look here to see if you qualify for anything from them.

thanks all - I will have a look, carmel, I did go to this site before and looked to see if I was elgibile, but after filling it all it it crashed - 3 times! So I gave up - will try again though. Again, thanks

Just tried that site - again, lets me get to the last screen then boots me out - grrrrrrr!

Gini, is the £500 for the children of the marriage? Or is it court ordered maintenance for her? You could think about going back to court if you think it is too high. The CSA will give you an idea of how much he should be paying for children. The formula is 15% of net income for one child. Also, it seems quite unusual to have no equity from the marriage and to pay maintenance to a wife. You usually either give a lump sum or the equity and the house and a clean break or maintenance. Oh, I've just noticed the 2sds - they don't like with you I assume.

Yes, sounds wrong to me - am I right in assuming that you look after the stepdaughters and you (well, your dh) pay maintenance to his ex-wife, having left her with the house? I think you should definately look into that.

Also remember that he can now also claim your tax allowance as well as his own (since you're not working), plus the tax credit mentioned below.

Must learn more about these things.

£500 is for the children who come to us every other weekend and for at least two weeks a year, I also have them if they are ill etc (even when I was working) and for extra nights if she is busy. It was an agreement between the two of them, the CSA will only ever get involved if either one of them is unhappy with it.
At the time of the divorce he was so blown away with it all (so I have been told) and feeling so badly for the kids that he didn't want to upheave them anymore by messing about with the house and money etc so he just signed the whole thing over to her (3 bed semi in surrey)and walked out with the binbags full of his clothes...and she has a mortgage of about 27K left - lucky thing

If you were made redundant (rather than choosing to leave your job) then so long as you have been paying NI contributions you should be entitled to jobseekers allowance for 6 months if you are activly seeking work (or pretending to). After the 6 months it then goes onto your husbands income as to whether you can claim anything.

This happened to my sister in law, she didn't really want to return to work but went and signed on each week for the 6 months after her boss told her there was only a part time job for her to return to.

lucy, no-one can claim someone else's personal tax allowance!! That all went out many many years ago when independent taxation came in.

If you/your DH have any income from sources other than employment - things like shares, savings, etc - it's worth switching those assets into your name so you can use your tax allowance for them rather than him paying tax on the income if they're in his name. You can always transfer them back later if your circumstances change.

message withdrawn