How to actually seperate

[Bluebellsnowdrop]

Can anyone offer any advice on this? I applied for a council house 5 months ago but got put in the lowest banding, despite the reason for leaving being domestic abuse. I can't afford to rent privately. I work part time on minimum wage. Even if I worked full time I could not afford to rent a 3 bedroom property. How do people actually manage to seperate if they are not high earners?

My daughter and I had to move in with my parents for nearly two years while the divorce went through and the family home was sold...we were fortunate to have them but it was not an easy time.

Only alternative was waiting list for a B&B 25 miles outside of our area.

That must have been hard SummeCanDoOne. I don't think staying with parents is really an option. It's a 2 bed property, and I've got 2 teenagers. Also, I dont drive and I wouldn't be able to get to work if I moved far away.

Could you get a two bedroom flat - you could get a sofa bed in the living room or the teens could share. Also, get a full time job and see what you can do to improve your qualifications so you can get a slightly better paid job (in the longer term). In the shorter term, I assume you would also be eligible for some help with rent?

Probably would be able to get some help with rent, but isn't it capped around £500 a month on private rentals? From what I've read landlords don't normally accept benefits money as income, so i don't think i would pass affordability checks. I think I could probably get by financially in a private rental, but it's passing the affordability checks which is part of the problem. Aren't you expected to have an income 3 times the monthly rent?

Landlords aren’t meant to be able to discriminate against those on benefits anymore so those should be included in affordability checks. My landlord just asked previous landlord and my employer for references but doesn’t know my income. He just asked my boss if they would rent to me!

You can use this calculator to se what you can claim. It's very accurate ime.

https://www.entitledto.co.uk

Thanks. I have used this to see what I would be entitled to. It says i should be entitled to some housing benefit and some universal credit. However, you can't make a claim till you're actually in that situation can you? So my understanding is I would have to actually leave the family home and find a place to rent, before being able to claim for it?

I was very lucky. I moved back in with my mum who lived five minutes away. Had I not had this option, I would have still been in an unhappy marriage.