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starting work asks...
I am just about to start a job in September as a teaching assistant. I will be working 9 till 3 mon-fri. I was just wondering what help i am entitled to. I have a 1 year old baby who is going to a child minder for £125 a week. My boyfriend who i also live with is going to be at college full time and not working. I went to job centre and they said something about ringing tax credits. I am just so unsure about what to do. Will i get help paying my rent as i will only be working 30 hours a week (or less if you take away breaks). I am currently on benefits. Someone said i will get 4 weeks of income support once i have started the job and someone else said i could get a few weeks rent free, is this true. I am with william sutton homes. Im stuck! I will be getting paid on the 1st of every month.
What we suggest...
Hi starting work,
Thanks for contacting q2a. Firstly congratulations on getting yourself a really good job. We are sure that you will learn lots and enjoy the work you do.
Because we don't know all your details, we will not be able to give you an absolute personal break down of what exactly you will be entitled to once you have started your job, however we will give you information on where you could go to find out your entitlements in your area.
Lets firstly look at what possibly you would be entitled to from the information you have given us.
Because you have a 1 year old baby you would be entitled to child benefit of £18.80 per week. This is regardless of whether you are working or not, as the main carer for their child receives this benefit.
If both of you are claiming as a couple and your baby is over 1 year old, then you can claim, and will get, some family tax credit. The maximum is £545 per year and for child tax credit it is £2,085 per year. The HMRC website (details further on) has a calculator you can use to assess what you might get. The application form is TC600, it covers working tax credit too and you can get it by ringing 0845 300 3900. This form covers working tax credits too. It's a complicated form, we give our InfoCentre address at the end of this email where you can get help to complete it if you want to. We will give you some more information further on in this reply.
You will also be entitled to working tax credit as well, as you are responsible for your child. The basic rate is £1800. You would also get an element of £735, (per year), for working 30 hours or more a week. A couple element of £1770 per year would also be payable. All the elements are added together and set against a threshold amount of £6420. If your income is less than this amount you get the full entitlement to the tax credits, if your income is more you get a reduction on firstly the working tax credit, then the childcare element, and lastly a reduction in child tax credit. The calculation process is complicated and mistakes are made. If you would like face to face advice a good place to go is your local Citizens Advice. There is one at the Town Hall Annexe, Birley Street, Preston PR1 2QE. The telephone number is 01772 822416 for the advice line, and 01772 906434 for booking at appointment. Drop in advice times by appointment only are 9.15 to 3.15 Monday to Thursday, as are telephone advice times. On Fridays both services close at 12.15pm.
You should also be able to claim back up to 80% of the £125 per week child care costs.
A really useful and helpful way of checking your benefit entitlement is to access a benefits calculator. You can do this if you have access to the internet and logging on to www.lancashire.gov.uk.
Click under B when the alphabets appear in red.
Once you have done this click 'Benefits'
When this takes you to the next page choose 'Preston'
on the right hand side click on 'calculation of benefits' from the categories
Then finally, benefit calculator.
This will bring up a window titled benefits calculator and asks a lists of question. It really is user friendly and logical to follow step by step. All you have to do is answer each question and at the end of it, will provide you with an accurate estimation of which benefits and amounts you will be entitled to. You can access this benefits calculator every time your personal situation changes or if you are thinking of making any changes. Based on the incomplete information we have, we still believe you would be entitled to some housing benefit, some help with council tax and some tax credit support.
We understand from what you have told us that you are a tenant of a housing association, (William Sutton). If you are liable for rent, the benefits calculator will also cover any entitlement for housing benefit and council tax benefit. It would be advisable for you to make an application for housing and council tax benefit based on your current situation. You can do this by ringing 01772 906404 for an application form or downloading one from the www.preston.gov.uk website or it might be quicker to pick one up in person as it can take the department up to six weeks to process.
To recap, you will need to look at working tax credits, child tax credits and child care tax credits. All of these are dealt and paid by the Inland Revenue and applied for by completing just one form, as we said above. They can be contacted by phoning their helpline on 0845 300 3900 for an application form. You can also visit their website on www.hmrc.gov.uk. and access their online calculator to see how much you maybe entitled to. This can be done by visiting the website, under the purple heading, 'individuals and employees' select 'tax credits'. Once you've done this, on the right side there will appear an option named 'tools' and 'tax credits calculator' underneath it. Select the calculator option and again, a series of questions will follow as explained earlier.
You can also get information about what benefits you could be entitled to if you talked with someone from Preston Welfare Rights.
Preston and Fylde Area Team
Welfare Rights, 58, Guildhall Street
Preston
Lancashire
PR1 3NU
01772 533656
preston@lancswelfarerights.com
You could also ring free to Job Centre Plus Call 0800 055 6688 (8am - 6pm Monday to Friday) for further advice about the income support entitlement in September. We think you will need to contact your employer to find out when you will receive your first pay packet - will it be September 1st or October 1st - and then go with that information to the JobCentrePlus to seek advice regarding your living expenses from when you come off benefits to when you actually receive your pay.
You also tell us that your boyfriend is going to be at college full time and not working. Colleges are sometimes able to offer financial help to students. He may be able to claim Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) if he is younger than you, or, more likely Adult Learner Grant (ALG). We suggest it maybe a good idea for your boyfriend to speak to Student Support Services at his college and see if there is any financial help that they can offer him.
The College may have a Learner Support Fund which is to help students who may find difficulty with the additional costs of studying. They are able to help eligible students with:
#Essential text books
#Stationery
#Travel to college
#Essential equipment, uniform, materials
#Childcare costs
#Educational visits
The list below provides details of who is eligible.
#Students in receipt of means tested benefits
#Students whose family income is less than £21,000 p.a.
#Students in receipt of Education Maintenance Allowance or Adult Learning Grant
#Asylum seekers or refugees who have leave to remain in this country
#16-18 year old asylum seekers
#Part-time and full-time students
Lastly, the staff at our own InfoCentre on Theatre Street/Mount Street off Fishergate in Preston would be glad to go through things with you too, and help you fill in forms, if you wanted.
We hope the information we have given you in this email is helpful for you. Please contact us if you would like to talk about this or anything else.
Best wishes, and good luck with your job and your partner's studies.
q2a
Expert advice and every precaution has been taken to ensure that the information on this page is trustworthy and reliable, but the publishers do not hold themselves responsible for any inaccuracy as information can go out of date very quickly. This page gives general guidance only and should not be treated as a complete and authoritative statement of the law. With regard to suggested weblinks given in this reply please note that Lancashire County Council is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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