INCOME SUPPORT NOT FOR ME!! WHY?

Hi emilla2009. Welcome along to One Space. I'm not really sure of the answer to this, but when you went to apply for Income Support, did they not tell you anything as to why?

If you left work voluntarily that might cause the people at the job centre to get confused, but! you should be entitled to income support if you have a child. Go to you local Citizens Advice centre, they will help you, it may have something to do with your legal status in the UK of which you have given no details and I wouldn't know the ins and outs of that anyway, Citizens Advice will be able to help you and you can get to talk to someone face to face.

Make an appointment at the local Job Centre as you've already tried Citizens Advice. If you are entitled, then the JC will sort it for you, but if you've already appealed, then I'm not sure what the answer is really.

The usual rule for anyone coming into the Uk is they have to have worked for a year and made some National Insurance contributions.

I can't comment on what the situation of the other lady is, as there may be another reason for her not getting it.

Your best plan is to go to your local Citizen's Advice Bureau (click here to see their website and to find out where your nearest office is) and make an appointment to go through your situation with them

Hi again emillia 2009

I have already given you my best information on the subject but all I would say to you is that Job Seeker's Allowance is the same amount for an adult as Income Support. Have you applied for Housing Benefit, Child Tax Credit and Council Tax benefit? If so then you are in exactly the same financial position as if you got Income Support. The big difference is that those on Job Seekers Allowance are expected to seek work.

Did you get a reply from the 1-2-1 adviser? if you are no further forward then get in touch with your MP. Find out who to contact by clicking here

You're welcome, emilia2009

If you have not heard back from 1-2-1 by Wednesday please let me know and I will contact them for you

An MP will take a while to get back to you.

In the meantime your financial situation will be Ok because of Job Seekers Allowance. If you are put under pressure to seek work, explain that you are appealing your entitlement to Income Support via your Mp, that should shut them up!

Hi emilia2009

Glad you hold of someone from the MP's office. I will look into the matter of the 1-2-1 mail not getting through

Hi emilia2009

I have spoken to our 1-2-1 advisors and they have informed me that they responded to your request promptly. 

We are very proud of our 1-2-1 advice service, we aim to respond within 24 hours, or if an email arrives on a Friday then it will get responded to on the Monday.

I am wondering whether the emails have gone into your Junk email folder?? This has not happened on other occasions, however please have a look and let us know as we want you to have the information that you are requesting.

Hi emilia2009,

Our 1-2-1 advice service say they have sent you two emails with information in. I will get in touch with them and ask them to resend it.

Hi. I have no idea, but there is obviously a reason, and you need to ask the jobcentre why you are not. They will explain it all to you, or perhaps ask for the reasons in writing.

Hi,emilia,

You stated in one of your posts that your child is 8 years of age? I thought that anyone with a youngest child 7 years and over now has to go on to JSA as soon as the child is 7.

Also the Government are planning to reduce this age to 5 next October. I'm wondering if this could be the reason for your refusal of income support.

Hi Everyone,

The issue of entitlement to some benefits, especially the rules about claiming income support for lone parents, has been the subject of change for several years and no one can be sure if further changes will be made following the change of Government.

However, at the moment, there are special rules which apply if you are not a UK national. People from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia (A8 nationals) or are a national of Bulgaria or Romania (A2 nationals) have special transitional rules that apply.

The following simple leaflet explains the rules fully and is available in lots of different languages.http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/eea/wrs/workers/

For further information the AIRE Centre might be useful, it gives advice to “low-income EU migrants on their rights under EU Law”www.airecentre.org

The maternity action website has a leaflet on Maternity Rights and Benefits: EU, EEA and Swiss nationals (including A8 and A2 nationals) which is very easy to understand. Link for the file is http://www.medact.org/content/reaching_out/EU-EEAnationalinfosheetapril09.pdf

If anyone has specific questions for us please contact us via the One to One advice link on the Money Survival Kit http://www.onespace.org.uk/one-one-advice

Dear emilia2009

I believe you are in contact with our 1-2-1 Advisors and I can only suggest that you contact them if you have further questions regarding your queries or go back to your Citizens Advice Bureau.

Our Discussion forums are here to offer support to single parents and to signpost people on to relevant agencies if they need specialist advice as is your query.

Our 1-2-1 Advisors have 30 years of giving advice,information and support to single parents around housing, employment, benefits, child care, tax credit difficulties etc and excel in their field.  Please trust that any information they are giving you will be correct.

Best Wishes

Hi Emilia

I'm  Polish as well (but i will write in English, as we are on English website)

So, I've been in exactly the same situation, i've been applying for income support 5 times, for the past year, and obviousle every time the answer was no, i also appealed to the court, but judge said no too.

Well i got the answer for you. We do not have a right to reside in the UK, which means we didnt pass Habitual Resident Test.

As far as I am concern, and i was finding out, the only thing, that we can do is to get the resident status, which in simple words would be a long and expensive process- as i was researching, and to get resident status, it cost around £1000!

I am on jobseekers allowance, and i know how u feel, its not really a lot of fun, when u have to go there, que up with screaming child, not to mention, whos going to give you a job?

Well thats all i know, for now, since the law has changed a little bit since May 2011, we might be lucky to get this what we want, unless its too late, as income support is available for mothers, who have kids under 2!

Good luck girl.

x