Lone Parents Support - Benifits For Lone Parents

As a lone parent, you may be entitled to one or more social security benefits, depending on your situation and any other income you have coming in. We describe the main ones below, but there are other contributory and non-contributory benefits and it is always worth while getting advice before making a claim.
Child Tax Credit (CTC) is now payable by the Inland Revenue (IR) on top of Child Benefit to most families, whether in or out of work. Our article Introduction to Tax Credits has more details. If you have been getting CTC as a couple, you must inform the IR of your change of circumstances or you risk a financial penalty.
IF YOU ARE NOT WORKING, OR WORKING FOR AN AVERAGE OF LESS THAN 16 HOURS A WEEK
You may be entitled to Income Support (IS), which you claim by contacting your local Jobcentre Plus or Social Security office.

and her daughter had left the matrimonial home because of her husband.s violent behaviour, and had later returned to the home and claimed Income Support housing costs. The Commissioner held that she had been 'constructively abandoned' and should get help with her housing costs after the shorter waiting period.

IS can also pay for ground rent and service charges in leasehold property.
Once you are on IS, you will be entitled to free prescriptions, dental treatment, eye tests and travel to hospital for treatment, and you children will be entitled to free school meals.
If your partner is alive and resident in the UK, your claim for IS is treated as a claim for child support maintenance and you are expected to co-operate with the Child Support Agency (CSA) by giving details of your partner and his/her whereabouts so that child maintenance can be assessed and collected. Any maintenance that is already being paid or is collected by the CSA is deducted from your IS, but since 3 March 2003 new claimants have been able to keep the first £10 without IS being affected. You will lose your entitlement to IS if maintenance is more than £10 over your applicable amount. You should not have to co-operate with the CSA if there is a risk of harm or undue distress to you or your children. If you refuse for any other reason your IS will be reduced by 40% of your personal allowance, unless you are receiving a disability premium or a higher pensioner premium.

If you are entitled to IS and living in rented accommodation, you will automatically be entitled to Housing Benefit (HB). The claim is made at the same time as you claim IS, but HB is administered and paid by your local council; it is a good idea to inform the council directly that you have made a claim for IS to cut down any administrative delays. If you are a council tenant, all your rent (apart from extras such as fuel charges) will be covered by HB. If you are a private or Housing Association tenant, there may be a restriction on the level of HB if the local rent officer decides that the accommodation is too large for your needs or the rent is too high for the area.

You will also be entitled to full Council Tax Benefit (CTB) which is claimed at the same time as HB, and if you are now the only person in the household who is 18 or over (full-time students are “invisible” for council tax purposes) you are entitled to a Single Adult Discount of 25% off your CT bill from the date you separated, regardless of your income.
Even if you are not entitled to IS you may still get some HB or CTB. This is covered in more detail in the articles Help with Your Rent and Help with Your Council Tax.
You may be entitled to claim Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) instead of IS. You claim this from Jobcentre Plus.
There are two kinds of JSA;

Contribution Based - which is based on you having paid enough National Insurance (NI) contributions. There is no capital limit and most income apart from pensions and most earnings is ignored. You are not obliged to apply to the CSA.
Income Based - if you have not paid enough NI contributions. This is means tested in a similar way to Income Support. You must co-operate with the CSA as outlined above.

If you claim JSA you must not be working more than 16 hours a week, you must be capable of work (i.e. not too ill to work) and must demonstrate you are 'available for work' and 'actively seeking work'. You claim at the Job Centre and will have to attend a Jobseeking interview and sign a Job Seekers Agreement, which outlines what steps you will take to find work. You will have to 'sign on' (that is declare that you are still unemployed, available for and actively seeking work) at least fortnightly.
The amount you get is exactly the same as for Income Support (see above). Contribution Based JSA is paid at a flat rate according to age. You can be paid Income Based JSA on top of this if you meet the conditions for additional premiums and satisfy the means test.

People on Income Based JSA will get help with rent, council tax and mortgage interest as people on IS do and people on Contribution Based JSA may also qualify if they satisfy the means test.

You must claim CTC to support your children and your Child Benefit continues to be paid.
If you have capital or income that reduces your entitlement to IS, or disqualifies you altogether, then Contribution Based JSA may be a helpful alternative for the short term. However Contribution Based JSA is only paid for up to 182 days (6 months) at any one time.

If you want to look for work, you don't have to claim JSA. You can obtain help with finding work from the New Deal for Lone Parents, a Jobcentre Plus programme to assist lone parents to return to work. The help is available whether you are claiming benefit or not. You can find out more about this in the article The New Deal for Lone Parents - your questions answered.

IF YOU ARE WORKING FOR AN AVERAGE OF AT LEAST 16 HOURS A WEEK, or are on Maternity Leave from a job of at least 16 hours a week: you may be entitled to Working Tax Credit (WTC) which you claim on form TC600 from the IR.

It is based on your annual income for the previous tax year
The amount you will get is calculated by adding together a basic element, a lone parent element and additional elements if you are working for 30 hours a week or more, are disabled, or are 50-plus and just returning to work, plus 70% of eligible childcare costs for children under 15 (or 16 if disabled) up to a certain limit. This gives a maximum WTC figure. If your gross income in 2004/2005 was £5,220 (about £100 a week) or less you will get this maximum. (IS counts as nil income.) If your gross income was more than this threshold figure, WTC is reduced by 37p for every extra £.
Eligible childcare includes registered childminders, nurseries, out of school clubs and playschemes; childcarers approved under the Childcare Approval Scheme; and home childcarers approved by OFSTED or by the National Care Standards Commission or Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales.
The WTC calculation ignores CB and any child or spousal maintenance you are receiving, and you are not required to co-operate with the CSA when you make a claim.

WTC is claimed on the same form as CTC, and you can also claim online:

https://www.taxcredits.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/HomeIR.aspx.

Please see the article Introduction to Tax Credits for further details, including information about when to advise the IR of a change of circumstances so as to avoid an overpayment.

Your children will not qualify for free school meals if you are on WTC, but you may still be eligible for free prescriptions, etc. if you are on a low income. If you do not qualify for completely free health benefits, you may be able to get some help with the costs. Apply on form HC1 from the Jobcentre, Post Office or hospital. You can also request a form by telephoning 0845 850 1166, or request one online:

http://www.ppa.org.uk/ppa/HC1_form_intro.htm

There is no help with mortgage interest for people on WTC, but you may still get some HB if you are in rented accommodation. You may not qualify for CTB, but claim anyway, or call for an estimate, as well as registering for the Single Adult Discount if you have just separated or been bereaved.

USEFUL TELEPHONE NUMBERS

For Income Support contact your local JobCentre Plus or Social Security Office.

Tax Credits Helpline (England, Wales, Scotland): 0845 300 3900.

Tax Credits Helpline (Northern Ireland): 0845 603 2000.