Anyone an expert on entitlements/benefits and can help?

[Tippychick]

I've never claimed before this year and have jsut received letters with all my entitlements. I need to know if I will be better off/as well off when i return to college this September. I've tried the CAB but they aren't much help other than the standard answer that comes from their computer.

I currently pay £111.00 pw in childcare and work over 16 hours so am entitled to WTC and CTC. The CTC is directly related to the amount I pay in nursery fees - if I move to a cheaper nursery I pay less and get less CTC proportionally.
The housing benefit and council tax benefit people take the CTC income into account and so say that I earn £111.00 pw more than I do so won't give me any help, or an amount about 1/6th of my rent.I'm putting in an appeal but don't hold out much hope.

There's now not much point in me working other than the fact that I need to get out of the house and my baby enjoys nursery - which I couldn't afford if on Income support.

My real question is this - I'm planning on going back to college full time in September. it's a full time degree course but only timetabled for 2 days a week in the first year so I could just manage to work over 16 hours as well if it was worth it. Am I entitled to income support/housing benefit/council tax benefit if I'm a FT student? Do they take into account the loans/bursaries/ anything I might get from the college?

It's all so confusing and it's really panicking me not knowing what I should be doing. I can apply for every loan and grant and college bursary going (my fees are waived on this particular course anyhow) but will that mean I don't get any other income support?

Needless to say the Job Centre and College are little help - why is it so hard to find out answers to simple questions? So if anyone's been in a similar position and can tell me what the entitlements are, i would be very grateful!

[Tinkerbel6]

You have a few different questions there so you do really need to speak to someone in the know, you wont get Income Support if you work over 16 hours so that rules that out, 2 days per week might be deemed as being part time, you might get Housing Benefit for a low wage, but things like student loads and bursaries will be calculated in a means tested benefit, if you google welfare rights in your area they might be able to help you, or go on the money saving expert website as there is a student section with queries like this, good luck.

[lottymadbird]

have you tried your local lone parent advisor in the job centre? I've always found them really helpful and when I was thinking of going back to work the LP advisor actually had a computer programme that worked out whether I'd be worse off or not. give them a try... its sooo complicated to work it out yourself.

[theangelshavethephonebox]

You can apply for housing and council tax benefit and your council should be able to do a calculation for you to see how much you are likely to get. They will take the full amount of bursaries and loans into account (even if you don't actually take up the loan).
I don't know if there's any more to your appeal than the fact they are including your CTC but they always take CTC into account as income I'm afraid, there's no way round that one.

[HappyMummyOfOne]

Dont forget to ask the college re childcare, if you stop working you'll lose the WTC element and childcare element.

[ScruffyTeddy]

That cant be right. Tippychick, my CTC was taken into account but my nursery fees were too. I still got housing benefit. I had to send in all my childcare receipts.

They never asked for them, just sent me a calculation saying I was entitled to nothing, which I questioned. I only found out after ringing them up.

[ScruffyTeddy]

I did 16.5 hours and paid £120 a week in nursery fees btw.

[theangelshavethephonebox]

yes, you can get a certain amount of childcare costs taken into account if you are using a registered childminder or nursery

[Tippychick]

It's just a minefield but thanks for all the replies. I have an appointment with the CAB for advice this Thursday and an appointment with a housing person next Tuesday. Thanks for the advice re a lone parent person at the job centre, I didn't know that they existed.

You've inspired me to battle them anyway so I won't be accepting their decision!

[littlewoman]

If you are getting student grant and loan, you may also be entitled to child tax credit. I get it for my kids and I'm at uni full time. I dont think I would work as well, because if the house is solely occupied by students (your dc won't count) it is immune from council tax so that would help you. Your grants and loans will be taken into consideration for housing benefit unfortunately. Hope that helps a bit.

[littlewoman]

Oh yeah, you can get your child care paid for by the lea too

[nappyaddict]

if you are a student they take into account all loans and grants so you aren't entitled to much income support. if you can still work i think you can still get WTC. you will get housing benefit and council tax benefit as a student. you get something called parents learning allowance and if you are a lone parent 85% towards any childcare.

[Tippychick]

littlewoman, that's a good point re the council tax, I didn't think of that.
nappyaddict, will I still get the parent learning allowance etc if I am working?

New problem is that my local housing office have just asked me for a big chunk of housing benefit back - they have decided that the maximum rent I should be paying is £125 a month less than I pay so even if I don't work, I will have to find that £125 out of the CTC, student loan etc. So it looks like I will have to keep working just to pay the difference in rent (which is my weekly wage ironically) or move to one of the houses round here that only charge what the council deem appropriate, accept pets and welcome single parents on DSS payments. Must be lots of those in the local paper no?!

[lostandlonely]

HB should take into consideration the childcare costs you have to pay

[Tippychick]

They do ( or they will, my helpful CAB person is grappling with them on this as we speak!) but they still have a rent ceiling that's set across the county and they won't pay above it. So they've decided that a 2 bedroom should be £450pcm, a 3 bedroom £500 and so on and if you have a lease for any more then you pay it yourself, even if you're on IS. Then I guess you get evicted when you default and have to be put in B&B while they wait for a housing association house ( of which there are approx three locally I reckon).
Never mind that I have saved the local papers for the last two months and have not found ONE two-bedroom property for their price in all that time!

[mogs0]

I've recently moved and was told that my rent was too high for the area. Then, without me doing anything, the council wrote to me again saying they were now assessing my case based on my personal circumstances (which I thought they did anyway) and would now pay the full amount less about £3 a week.

[SparklePrincess]

Have you looked on the entitled to website? Google entitled to to find the site.

[Jessthepseud]

Hi just thought I'd add to this strand - I'm full time at Uni (even though I only attend 4 hours a week!) Maximum loan and Parental learning allowance totals about £1800 a term. I recieve CTC (£45) & CB on top. I'm about to move into a council flat and HB will cover approx 1/4 of my rent. Loans and grants from the LEA are not affected by working. Oh and my DD is 12 months old. Oh and when you're at uni you can apply for an Access to Learning Fund - as a lone parent you are in a priority group. My LEA offer additional grants for childcare.

[nappyaddict]

yes you can still work - they give it you in a lump sum at the beginning of each time along with any loans/grants etc.