All the mods,gurus and senior members pls help- claim bnfts

[ash210]

Hi Everyone,

I have benefitted immensely from this forum, for my tier-1, ILR n now i hope the experts will continue to help with my next step which is claiming benefits, i have tried to give my situation below to the best i can but if you need any more info pls do ask me......

About me
working full time, 35 hours per week and gross salary is £1080 per month and i get £935 after tax

About my partner
she never worked

Children
I have 2 kids 4 and 10 months

ok about the various benefits and what i am doing and what else can be done about them....

First one:-
Housing Support and Council tax Benefit
I went to one stop centre and they said i cannot claim anything for them as my salary is above the minimum i think she said is £420 a month, where as i read if ur earning nelow £16,000 you are eligible for the above.

Second one:-
JSA for my wife, discussed on the phone for almost 2 hours with benefits advisor, he said she can claim contribution based as i am earning and if its a joint claim she is entitled to £57 a week, he also booked an appointment at job centre plus, we went there and the lady there said we cannot claim anything as she has never worked and my salary is more than the threshold, and asked us to sign a form saying we are withdrawing our claim, what confuses me if we are not eligible and if they cant process our claim why she asked us to sign on claim withdrawl?
can someone pls shed some light on this

Third one:-
CTC and WTC
I filled in online the benefits advisor from direct.gov.uk and i gave all the details 100% accurately, it came up with £191 a week altogether for CTC and WTC
and the advisor i spoke to said its £144 a week, which one is correct as i gave the same details to both of them, so really confused......

Fourth One:-
Child benefit
I have downloaded CH2 form from HMRC website and i am being told to send in the passports and birth certificates for both my kids and it i was also told that it will take upto 6 weeks for the claim to be processed, i am sending tax credits and child benefits forms at the same time, will tax credits people ask for the passports and birth certificates if they do i wont have them.....

I know its a long post but pls bear with me and help me out as i am really struggling to meet my needs with the salary i am earning.
Thanking you in advance, look forward to hear from you soon
Kind Regards
Ash

[ash210]

can anyone pls reply, been checking and waiting everyday for replies
kind regards

[Greenie]

Hi Everyone,

I have benefitted immensely from this forum, for my tier-1, ILR n now i hope the experts will continue to help with my next step which is claiming benefits, i have tried to give my situation below to the best i can but if you need any more info pls do ask me......

About me
working full time, 35 hours per week and gross salary is £1080 per month and i get £935 after tax

About my partner
she never worked

Children
I have 2 kids 4 and 10 months

ok about the various benefits and what i am doing and what else can be done about them....

First one:-
Housing Support and Council tax Benefit
I went to one stop centre and they said i cannot claim anything for them as my salary is above the minimum i think she said is £420 a month, where as i read if ur earning nelow £16,000 you are eligible for the above.

Second one:-
JSA for my wife, discussed on the phone for almost 2 hours with benefits advisor, he said she can claim contribution based as i am earning and if its a joint claim she is entitled to £57 a week, he also booked an appointment at job centre plus, we went there and the lady there said we cannot claim anything as she has never worked and my salary is more than the threshold, and asked us to sign a form saying we are withdrawing our claim, what confuses me if we are not eligible and if they cant process our claim why she asked us to sign on claim withdrawl?
can someone pls shed some light on this

Third one:-
CTC and WTC
I filled in online the benefits advisor from direct.gov.uk and i gave all the details 100% accurately, it came up with £191 a week altogether for CTC and WTC
and the advisor i spoke to said its £144 a week, which one is correct as i gave the same details to both of them, so really confused......

Fourth One:-
Child benefit
I have downloaded CH2 form from HMRC website and i am being told to send in the passports and birth certificates for both my kids and it i was also told that it will take upto 6 weeks for the claim to be processed, i am sending tax credits and child benefits forms at the same time, will tax credits people ask for the passports and birth certificates if they do i wont have them.....

I know its a long post but pls bear with me and help me out as i am really struggling to meet my needs with the salary i am earning.
Thanking you in advance, look forward to hear from you soon
Kind Regards
Ash

I think the reason why no one has replied is probably because the questions you are asking are not immigration related. They also require more than basic knowledge of benefits.

Housing Benefit and CTB

No one can really tell you this without knowing where you are living, your Local Housing Allowance, your savings, and how much your rent is etc. The £16,000 limit relates to the maximum permitted in savings.

Try putting your information into this benefits checker

https://www.turn2us.entitledto.co.uk/en ... lator.aspx as you can also calculate entitlements to these benefits here. You need to know your Local Housing Allowance which you can get from your local council website.

JSA for wife

It's correct that she is not eligible for JSA. As she has made a claim it is normal that she now needs to withdraw it.

CTC and WTC

Again I doubt that anyone would be able to calculate your exact entitlement it's not a simple calculation. Quickly putting your income into the calculator above the figure the one stop place gave comes out. In any case they will calculate it when you apply so why fret now about the amount - apply and see what you are entitlted to.

Child Benefit

You can pay for another copy of your children's birth certicates. Get a certified copy of your passport. Call the tax credits helpline to see what they require.

[ash210]

Thanks Greenie for your reply,i really appreciate that
Yes i have sent my tax credit form and child benefit form last week and me being me did a stupid mistake, i made a joint claim(me and my wife) but forgot to take her signature on the form before sending it now i am sure they will return the form back to complete.
I have one more T600 tax claim form shall i send it and also put a cov letter explaining my mistake or just wait for them to return and send it back again?
Kind Regards

[imraniqbal2010]

Thanks Greenie for your reply,i really appreciate that
Yes i have sent my tax credit form and child benefit form last week and me being me did a stupid mistake, i made a joint claim(me and my wife) but forgot to take her signature on the form before sending it now i am sure they will return the form back to complete.
I have one more T600 tax claim form shall i send it and also put a cov letter explaining my mistake or just wait for them to return and send it back again?
Kind Regards

So how is this going on?
Could you share ur experience so others can get help from you.

[ash210]

sure why not if others can benefit from my experience
i have been calling tax credits almost every week and every week they give me different versions so to summarise them...
1) they coudnt find my claim form
2) i have failed on security so they cant proceed with the call which is absolute bollocks as i can tell my NI, DOB even in my sleep
3) my claim has been processed and i will get the certificate soon
4) they sent a letter asking for more info
5) my claim is with their fraud team who are investigating so they cant discuss
so i really dont know who is telling what and whats happening with it, but i send my claim on 23/8/11 and still havent heard anything back
about child benefit they have sent back my kids passports after verification and said it will take upto 12 weeks to complete the processing
so thats it my friend
regards

[desilemons]

Dear Ash,

How many days it took to get your kid's passport back from the day of posting please?

I am planning to apply for the CB but travelling in 2 weeks time, so not sure if I should send the passport or just send the xerox copy for now?

Regards.