Hi there, first post so go easy on me. My situation is this:
Myself and my girlfriend have both been unemployed since I lost my job about 6 months ago. She's 20 and I'm 31. We've been on JSA and HB.
My girlfriend has just got a job this week as a community care worker. She rang the JSA to ask for advice as she won't be getting paid for a month and immediately they told her they were cancelling both our JSA immediately and that our finances for the next month were pretty much our problem. Hmm, fair enough.
But this is where it gets dicey. Because we're living in a flat together and she has a job, I can't get JSA. Now, whereas before when I was working and she wasn't, we got working tax credits to help - but because she's under 25, my girlfriend can't apply for working tax credits and apparently I can't apply for income support because she'll be working over 24 hours a week.
So the situation now is that we have her bringing in one wage, me desperately trying to find a job and nothing except housing benefit to keep us afloat. Since she'll be bringing in about £700-800 clear a month and our bills are:
Rent = £420
Gas/Electricity = £118
Phone/BB = £25
Water = £50
Council Tax (now we have to pay it!) = £100+
Food and Pet Food = Prob about £200+ a month for both of us.
It basically looks like we're screwed.
So urm, yeah, does anybody have any suggestions as to whether or not there is anywhere we can apply to for assistance? :-S
Myself and my girlfriend have both been unemployed since I lost my job about 6 months ago. She's 20 and I'm 31. We've been on JSA and HB.
My girlfriend has just got a job this week as a community care worker. She rang the JSA to ask for advice as she won't be getting paid for a month and immediately they told her they were cancelling both our JSA immediately and that our finances for the next month were pretty much our problem. Hmm, fair enough.
But this is where it gets dicey. Because we're living in a flat together and she has a job, I can't get JSA. Now, whereas before when I was working and she wasn't, we got working tax credits to help - but because she's under 25, my girlfriend can't apply for working tax credits and apparently I can't apply for income support because she'll be working over 24 hours a week.
So the situation now is that we have her bringing in one wage, me desperately trying to find a job and nothing except housing benefit to keep us afloat. Since she'll be bringing in about £700-800 clear a month and our bills are:
Rent = £420
Gas/Electricity = £118
Phone/BB = £25
Water = £50
Council Tax (now we have to pay it!) = £100+
Food and Pet Food = Prob about £200+ a month for both of us.
It basically looks like we're screwed.
So urm, yeah, does anybody have any suggestions as to whether or not there is anywhere we can apply to for assistance? :-S