Many of those parenting alone, or co-parenting have difficulties with finance. What ONE thing do you think would make a difference to your situation and make it better money-wise? A chance to air your views......
Louise
Hi Tigerlily, that's something I have heard from a few people and I know that it has sometimes discouraged people from seeking work.
Gamma, there is a campaign going on at the moment to share Child Benefit where there is shared parenting. Go to http://dads-uk.co.uk/main/news.php and scroll down the where there is a link for you to sign the petition.
One of my colleagues says that she thinks that you should be able to earn more than the current weekly limit of £20 without it affecting your Income Support, not only would a family be a bit better off but she says it will enable parents to gain work experience ready for when the kids get older.
What does everyone think?
People who are paying a mortgage can get help with it only if they are on Income Support or Income-related Job Seeker's Allowance, and even that is only paying the interest - and only after 40 weeks, by which time there may have been trouble with the lender. Paying a mortgage can be very onerous, especially if you originally bought the house jointly and one of you is left to pay it on your own.
Re Council Tax Benefit, this is available to everyone regardless of tenure but it seems to have been worked out that as soon as someone is on Working Tax Credit their income is raised just slightly over the qualifying income level. So even if someone was in local authority/social housing, the same income criterion applies.
Hope that's helpful
Tigerlily, you can always let off steam here :D
Fi, you're right, the benefit system in general takes no account of child support being paid.....except to count it as income for the recipient. A non-resident parent living alone can also be put into real poverty, paying a percentage of his/her income to support the children and then having to pay rent etc. If the child support payments were taken into consideration, the parent would often be eligible for Working Tax Credit in their own right.
Louise
What I think would make a difference is if you got more help with your rent when you are working, I came off Income Support to go on Working Tax Credit and lost a lot of help with my rent, I am not saying it is not worth working cos I am a bit better off but not enough considering I work 16 hours, some people I know do not work because of this.
Tigerlily