Whats best for benefits? and how do you privately rent with housing benefits?!

[emblestrembles]

Hi there,
I am considering leaving my husband. I have 2 children aged 3 and 7months.

I have about £15000 debt! Crikey!
But hopefully the equity on the house should cover that.

At the moment i am self employed as a childminder.

What I really want to know is what will be the most financially beneficial thing for me to do as a single mum.

SHould I quit working as a childminder and just take the benefits - will probably have to do so anyway as will be moving house and either council house or rented will be too small probably.

Should I do part time work - do I end up getting more if I work and put kids in childcare?

Or should I work full time and have kids in childcare with childcare benefit to help out.

I have never done this before so want to find out how I will be best off.

Also I rang round some lettings agents and literally none of them take people on housing benefits. How are you supposed to rent a house?

Hope someone out there might be able to answer this question for me.

Em x

[zmandaz]

I'm not sure how you'd stand with the money from your house sale but you'd probably be wise to speak to the Lone Parent Advisor at the Job Centre. They can work out for you whether you'd be better off working or not. Personally I'm going to work part time as you get help towards childcare, council tax/rent and your child benefit/working tax credits but you have to work over 16 hours to get the benefits. As for renting, most councils have a list of landlords who will accept people on housing benefits, or you can rent privately and apply for help towards the rent. For council housing I was told that you have to go on a waiting list and they'll put you up in a B&B or hostel until there's a place available which, depending on your area could take anything up to a year. I would suggest that you chat to your local council/Lone Parent Advisor/citizens advice bureau and see where you stand and what help you can get.

[choufleur]

if you are selling your house and then saying that you have no where to live your council will take the view that you have made yourself intentionally homeless and basically you'll go to the bottom of the list. If you're fleeing for a reason such as domestic violence it is viewed completely differently but i wouldn't bank on getting a council house (or a housing association house) very easily. where i work there are 22,500 council houses and 11,000 on the housing register and only about 1000-1200 house are re-let every year. It can take far longer than a year to get a council home. You should register though if you are going to need somewhere to live and then get on all of the housing association lists as well, as they take nominations for housing from their own waiting lists, but allocate a percentage to the council's waiting list.

Your local council may have a list of landlords and agents that will accept housing benefit so they are worth a try.

I'd try to find somewhere to live before you leave your current home, if you can.

hope it works out ok.

[localgirl]

embles, if you work minimum of 16 hours even self employed, you can get working tax credits which is about £70 a wee with 2 children and I think you can get child tax credit as well. my sister left her husband, works 16 hours a week and gets about £400 per month in tax credits, plus her earning of about £400 a month and about £400 a month from her ex in child maintenance, which is £1600 tax free. Far more than I earn after tax for full time! The child maintenance payments from ex are not taken off you if you are working 16 hours and getting tax credits, but if you are on income support, they would be, you would only get to keep £10 a week of it. You get even more if you work 30 hours and even more if you have child care, which you can claim on top of what I have described above. You can go to a site called "entitled to.com" I think its called, google it and go into the site and put in your details, and it tells you every state benefit you are entitled to.

[OverMyDeadBody]

with regard the housing benefit, I'm not on benefits, but I am self employed and some months have nil earnings. When I do I'm entitled to housing benefit, so my rent still gets paid. Basically they pay the money directly into my bank account and the rent goes out of that. My landlord doesn't know this. Do you have to tell them you are on benefits when looking for a house to rent? Only asking as you might have more luck looking for somewhere to rent, before telling them you are on benefits iuswim?

[Tinkerbel5]

I think at one time you didnt have to tell the landlords, but now its started to change whereby landlors have to sign a declaration to say that if there has been any overpayments from a housing claim then they claim it back from them, I dont think there is as much stigma now as there used to be as in landlords not wanting dss, myself and other friends have had no problems in renting.

[miarosemum]

my mum is a self employed childminder with two teenagers on her own, and her money is bumped up with tax credits and she has been on benefits for years and so much more better off now than she has been for years...as for the housing, i am on my own with my dd who is now 1 year old, i did'nt tell my landlady when i moved in that i was pregnant as i was worried about the stigma of dss and being turned down, but the housing benefit can be paid directly to you so that your rent goes out of your account as normal and your landlady does not need to know a thing.

[chankins]

Child minding is a good job to have in your situation - the council will only ask to look at your accounts every 6 months, and adjust your benefit based on the average you earn, plus they disregard a certain amount, but I can't remember how much. We didn't tell our landlords we were on benefits before moving in as the money goes straight to us. We just needed someone to go guarntor for us as we are both on low incomes. And tax credits etc are very good if you work part time.

[persephonesnape]

2/3 disregard of childminding income plus an additional £20 disregarded as a lone parent for jobseekers allowance/income support.