Help I cant get income support

[starz 61]

because I havent paid enough stamp.

What I need help with is my family is splitting up and my husband currently gets paid incapacity benefit and income support for himself me and the children I think, I get tax credit & child benefit I have to sell my home as we cannot afford it so it means I will have to rent but I cant get help with income support for me and my 3 children, I dont know what to do, any help please.

[Zamzara]

Income support does not depend on national insurance contributions.

 

If your youngest child is under 12 you can get income support if you have no other income. Income does not include tax credits or most other benefits.

[ErikaPNP]

As Zamzara states, Income Support is not dependable on national insurance contributions. However it is dependable on income. For example, if you are receiving child support from your husband, or he is contributing to the finances of your household in any other manner, the sum will be taken into account and if it is over a certain sum, that may stop you receiving Income Support Payments.

 

It will also depend on how much savings you have.

 

You cannot get help with the payment of your mortgage if you recieve benefit however you may receive help to pay the interest on your mortgage.

 

Have you actually applied for Income Support and been turned down, (and if so, what reasons did they provide you with for this?), or are you just assuming you will not qualify?

[starz 61]

As Zamzara states, Income Support is not dependable on national insurance contributions. However it is dependable on income. For example, if you are receiving child support from your husband, or he is contributing to the finances of your household in any other manner, the sum will be taken into account and if it is over a certain sum, that may stop you receiving Income Support Payments.

 

It will also depend on how much savings you have.

 

You cannot get help with the payment of your mortgage if you recieve benefit however you may receive help to pay the interest on your mortgage.

 

Have you actually applied for Income Support and been turned down, (and if so, what reasons did they provide you with for this?), or are you just assuming you will not qualify?

 

Thank you all for your help, I am assuming I could not get it I thought I read it somewhere, I have 2 children under 12 and a 14 year old.

Thanks I will apply now.

[ErikaPNP]

National insurance contributions do apply to some benefits but Income Support is not one of them. Apply, and also let tax credits know as you may now be eligible for the lone parent element of tax credit. If you get your Income Support, you will also be eligible for Council Tax Benefit, until then you are entitled to a single person discount of 25% if you are the only non dependant living in your household.

 

It's also worth knowing that if you sell your home, Income Support can take the money you recieve from the sale into account and this could affect your entitlement.

[emmaf01]

I would advise contacting your local council welfare rights officer. They will be able to see exactly what you are entitled to and help with any applications. It should take the worry out of it for you.

[sallysas]

Maintenance payments are disregarded income for most benefits from 27/10/08 but I don't know if this is so for income support.

[ErikaPNP]

No they are not discarded as of 27/10/2008, what it is instead of only allowing a person £10 per week if they are on Income Support, they can keep the full amount of maintenence and the Income Support for that period is adjusted accordingly.

 

So if you normally receive say for example £60.50 Income Support per week, if you were to receive over that sum in child support, it would cancel out the income support for that payment period, however if you were to get a small amount the income support for the payment period would reduce or stay the same depending on the sum of child support.

 

This explains it better: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018838

 

It is not disregarded, it is a different manner of managing the benefit, that's all (in a nutshell). It can never be disregarded, as CSA sums vary greatly and are case specific. You couldn't have someone receiving £120 per week in child support and still being able to claim Income Support, housing benefit and council tax benefit, as the sum of income support and child benefit received could equal that to a person working full time hours on minimum wage, which defeats the purpose of benefit system. It would make a complete mockery of the benefit system which is supposed to be there as a safety net. If it were disregarded altogether, you could have one single parent receiving £100 per week child support, plus their benefit, and another single parent receiving only £20 per week plus their benefit. Every employed single parent in the UK would be packing in their job to claim income support if this were the case.

 

Benefit is not payable if the child support sum is greater than the benefit sum, and is reduced on a sliding scale accordingly if the child support is below the benefit sum.

 

So instead what happens, is someone claims income support, and if the amount of child support received is greater then they would not recieve their income support payment for that period, however their claim would not go dormant either, it would still be live, only the person concerned would not receive payment as the award is adjusted in accordance with support sum received. It is up to the claimant to inform the benefit section of the sum of child support received.

 

It IS however, disregarded for tax credit purposes.

Edited February 16, 2009 by ErikaPNP
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