help with benefits

[ellie90]

i have a 6month old daughter and because my mum has evicted me because i could not afford to pay the rent, my ex partner(daughters dad) agreed to let us stop. the morgage has risen so the rent there has also gone up. however...when i changed my adress i lost a benefit so me and my daughter are currently living off �80 per month with �40w/k rent plus our food, clothes and toys...i am paying the rent with money i saved from my other benefit. i cannot have a house or flat as i am 17 and cannot work as i have nobody to take care of her while i am at work. could anyone please tell me if i am entitled to anymore benefits

thanks for your help...Ellie

[Dassie]

What does the father of your child give you as child support? Anything or does he just expect not to pay towards his child's upkeep?

[themas]

Unless there are circumstances which are not stated in your post, you should be entitled to be housed by the local council. You should apply to them as homeless, but will have to convince them that your stay with your ex-partner is temporary & only because you have nowhere else to live.

You don't say what benefits you are now getting, but you should be entitled to income support and child tax credit; also to housing benefit (to help with the rent) & council tax benefit.

The child's father should pay maintenance, & this would be treated as income in claculating the income support, housing benefit & council tax benefit amounts, but not the child tax credit amount.

You may have difficulty getting these benefits while you are living in the same house as your ex-partner, unless you can prove that you are a separate household - separate finances, not co-habiting etc.

You may well need independent advice about all this, so go to your local CAB or whatever other free advice agency there is in your area.

[Markandshez]

Or you could get a job and pay the nursery fees with it like the rest of the world have to do.

I'm sorry to sound harsh but get a job, get child maintenance off your ex and stop saying things like "am I entitled to benefits". You are entitled to NOTHING in this life that you don't earn.

If you worked more than 16hours you might be able to claim under the working familes tax credit scheme. You would certainly get payment to help with the child care costs.