I was made redundant last month and am being paid up till the end of this month. I live with my partner and her 2 kids. My partner works full time but still receives tax credits, etc.

My question is....If I claim JSA will it in any way affect any benefits my partner receives? We live together as man and wife and I've heard I may get a reduced amount of JSA because of this fact!

Any enlightenment on this subject would be a step in the right direction!

Thanks

Yes it will affect it, but it could be to your advantage! You should already have a joint tax credit claim in place if you are living together, based on your and her income for the previous year, therefore you will need to inform tax credits that you no longer have an income from employment, otherwise next years award will be based on the previous income you were earning.

Any income based benefit or tax credit you claim when you are living with a partner is affected by the income of your partner, sometimes to your detriment but sometimes to your advantage. Make sure you are reciving the benefit you are entitled to based on your circumstances.

As a guide you can use this: Start Calculation which will do a rough calculation based on your current circumstances (no personal info such as name, address is required, it's free and you get the results straight away) and give you an idea of what you could be receiving.

Thanks for the info, very informative.....but I've only moved in with my partner over the past few months so last years assessmet was made as my partner being the lone adult in the house! Any further views???

Hi, your partner should of informed tax credits that you had moved in so be careful. I wrongly assumed that i would get my tax credits based on my previous years income as a lone parent however as soon as my partner moved in i told them and his full salary was taken into account so all we get now is £40 of course you will get more cuz you are not working at present. What i guess im trying to say is that you will find that you have been overpaid for the time you have lived together soooooo you may want to be careful about what dates you use.

ok thanks for the heads up! Do you think my JSA will be enough to make up for the loss of tax credits my partner will accrue? Seems unfair if it doesn't. Any views?

Hi all i can suggest is that you go on the entitled to website input yours and your partners details and see what it brings up for you. Then go on to the benefits website and check amounts for JSA and compare. Dont forget your partner will lose her 25% council tax discount as well so you will have to look into that. Just remember to keep a copy of any letters you send or make a list of phonecalls although tax credits keep a record of all phone calls anyway. Also remember these agencies have access to all sorts of records so if you have used your partners address on any bank accounts etc these could be traced.

I wish you luck and hope all turns out well.