Looking for a job :(

[Velma75]

Hi there, I am brand new to mumsnet, and I feel like I have no where to turn to to ask advice.

My fixed term contract finished with work just before my baby bot was due, so my organisation ended up paying my SMP. That finished last week and I had the shock of my life to find out that the only benefit I was intitled to is JSA. I naively thought that I would be able to stay home from work to bring up my baby and receive Income Support, but I was basically laughed at when I put that to the lady on the phone with the jobcentre!

So I am now looking for a job, and panicking about the cost of childcare, interviews, basically everything!
Also my son was born with a tumour on his liver and although he is not receiving treatment I want to be there to look after him myself.

AM I overly selfish? Should I be out the actively looking for work? I worry that I do no have anyone to look after my boy if I have an interview as my family live 60 miles away and my partner is working full time for an awful boss who does not like giving time off!

Hi, you sound really worried , I'm sure jobcentre have given you wrong info? Why can u not go on income support? Cant you get Tax credits to as ou partner works full time?? Have you tried looking on direct gov. Quite helpfull as theres a benifit calc and other info to help you figure out what you could be entiled to if you stay at home. ontblame you for wanting to be at home with your son. They really do grow up so fast and the first couple of years are precious. Especially with your son being ill.

have you looked on entitledto.co.uk (I think thats what its called). Depending on your partners earnings you might get tax credits.Good luck.

Hi all, I do not know why I cannot go on income support, no one seems to be able to give me a straight answer! I just keep being told if I am physically able to work, then I must go on JSA.
We do get some tax credits, but not much as I am still employed until my P45 arrives at the end of the month.
I just really want to stay at home with my boy, but I am made to feel as though it is wrong and I should be out there working!
I will have a look on entitledto, there may be some information I can use which will be helpful.
It is getting me down now, as I should be actively searching for work, when what I want to do is actively spend all day with my LO.

Does anyone know if i do volunteer work if it will affect my tax credits? Or can i claim it towards my working hour week?

Hi, it sounds to me as though you have been misinformed, perhaps the woman on the phone line wanted to scare you off. I am almost positive that someone in your position with such a young child would be eligible for income support; unless your child is over 7 then you are considered eligible to income support to my knowledge. I think you should contact your local C.A.B who would be able to give you a more definitive answer.

Hi - it will depend on what your partner is earning what you can get -

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/benefits-check

I think but not completly sure that you may be better of taking a job of about 16 hours a week - then you may get more tax credits -but would depend on what partner earns - maybe look into evening/weekend work so you don't have childcare costs
Pretty sure voluteering does not count torwards your work hours for tax credit purposose - but I think its not a problem if you are on JSA

I think the rules about not working until 7 apply to lone parents. Which the OP is not.

Try entitledto.com to see what you are entitled to claim but if your partner works full time I don't think you are eligible. JSA is based on availability to work and I understand contributions based for the first 6 months.

its not is you should be looking into but working tax credit and child tax credit hth!

As your partner is working I presume you wouldn't get income support and you'd only get Jsa for a fixed period.

Can't see why you should be entitled to bebefits just so that you can stay home, if you are a couple and one is working?

I'm not sure why you thought you could stay home and the state would pay for that choice? If you want to stay home, your partner will need to earn enough to support all of you.

If you have enough NI contributions you'll be able to claim JSA for six months, after that it will cease and you wont qualify for income based JSA as your partner works.

You could work nights if you want to avoid childcare costs, if not its part of being a parent.

I was in exactly the same position as you and I was not entitled to anything except tax credits and child benefit so we survive on DPs salary until I go back to work.

If you are a single parent it is difficult. You need to think hard about your finances and do your sums, factoring in the cost of childcare.

I was also told that I could go to the docs and say I was depressed and could go on incapacity benefit (I didn't guys, I didn't, ok?)

Norman, if you are depressed, and your condition is genuinely stopping you from getting the work you could otherwise do, then you should be entitled to IB. You make it sound like you feel you'd be scrounging, but if it's genuine then mental health incapacity is just as valid as any physical one.

OP, agree with the others that you won't receive IS if you have an earning partner.

It is not easy to get on to ESA (which is what replaced IB) and I'd like to destroy that myth.

It's difficult.

And you have to go through a series of tests. And it's only for severe, chronically debilitating conditions.

the tests now look at what you can do (as opposed to what you can't do, which is what the capability tests for IB used to do)

OP - JSA is for Job Seekers - if you go on to that for six months you will be expected to prove what you are doing to find work.

Definitely look into tax credits and not the job centre. When my dp was working, we got our tax credits topped up and we could survive on it, we also got help with housing benefit and council tax benefit so were better off than both being out of work. Unfortunately now, my dp has lost his job and we made the decision that i should sign on and look for work as have better qualifications. Think you only get income support if you are a lone parent. I am being made to look for full-time work, any hours etc, even though my dcs are only 4 and 2, because i'm not a lone parent, dp is around to help out with childcare. As your dp works, you should be entitled to more tax credits, just phone them up and they should recalculate it.