What are we entitled to? LONG!

[nickilubs]

Hello,I know I should speak to the CAB but I would like to know from people who can explain this clearly and realistically.

I work 20 hours a week.

My rent is £475 and we are currently on HB of £440 per month

My council tax is now £200 after we finally got it sorted.

My partner is currently not in work and when LO is born he will look after he/she and I will go back to work.

Because of a new scheme in our area they want to decrease the HB to £240.

So we have worked all our bills out and looked for a cheaper place to rent and there is none. Our landlord has now given us our notice as we are "financially instable" so we are classed as homeless.

Here is how we have work our bills out as this is just for me and my OH per month.

Food £120
Water £26
Electric £50
Council Tax £33
Car £66
Rent £235 after HB

I get £6 a hour if we managed to find a place closer to my work then it will mean less on the car so if we got rid of that all together we would still be left with £464 of bills on my wage of £480. But really we would still need something for the car as we live in the country and there aint no thing as buses! Also the likelihood of getting a house in the town I work is very unlikely.

My OH has been told we have enough to live off of so he is not entitled to any jobseekers although he HAS to sign on every two weeks anyway?!?

So should he be getting anything? Is there anything we can do about the scheme as wherever we move we will have the same problem with the rent?

Also my boss who is trying to help me with this has asked if it would help if she was to cut my hours down to 15, so we could at least get somthing?

Are we entitled to free Milk/fruit/veg? Are we entitled to a grant towards the babe for prams ect? Is there anything else we should know about.

We don't need criticism's we need advice. We don't want to be in this situation but these things happen and now we need to know the best things we can do.

Thanks

Nicki

 

[Hippychick]

Have a look at this website http://www.entitledto.co.uk/

If you enter in all of your figures it will calculate exactly what benefits you are entitled to and how much. Good luck I hope it works out for you.

 

[Hippychick]

Just re read your post, if you work less than 16 hours a week I don't think you will be entitled to working tax credits so it may not be the best idea to reduce your hours.

Probably worth booking an appointment with the CAB to double check.

You should get the surestart grant though, not sure how much that is.

 

[Suzie and Faith]

I wish I could help more but i'm a bit confused about all of these things as it is! I just wanted to offer my sympathy and hugs, me and OH are living with my mum at the moment, and even with OH working full-time we can't afford to move out. HB will hopefully be given to us when we move out once LO is born but money will still be so tight for us.

I understand how hard it is to earn enough to live without worrying about money.

I hope you get sorted hun, xxxxxx

 

[kalia]

I don't know what you're entitled to. But OH and I earn significantly more than you and including child benefit we will be entitled to around £2000 a year once baby is here. That's an extra £165 a month. I would have thought you could get far more than us!

Looking at the government website I guess (but by no means guarantee!!!) that you could get nearly £3000 child tax credit for having a baby under one and around £1000 child benefit. I don't really understand the working tax credit stuff as I haven't looked at it before but it appears that you are eligible for either £1700 or £3400 a year. I'm not sure which. But only if you are working more that 16 hours a week so don't reduce your hours!!! You can claim working tax credit on maternity leave too but I think you have to wait until after baby is born because you work less than 30 hours a week. I think you're entitled to more benefits if your hours are increased to 30 hours a week.

So if (and that might be a big if!) my calculations are correct you will have twice the income you currently do once baby is here

Your boss was, I'm sure, trying to be helpful with the change of hours as I know that around 10 years ago my aunt cut her hours at work as she got more money working under 16 hours and getting benefits (and being able to spend lots of time with her children) than she did working more hours.

I'm sorry about your home situation Perhaps if you saw CAB and got them to write out for you what you are entitled to you could show that to your landlord?

 

[bunnymom1980]

Just to add, you should get the Maternity Grant of £500 to buy things for baby. I don't know how you apply for it though.

 

[Redshoes]

This will tell you if you qualify for milk/veg/fruit vouchers
http://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/