Different Types Of Benefits
Can I get help with my housing costs?
The meaning within the benefit system of obtaining help with housing costs is actually help with mortgage interest, and it is only the interest part of the mortgage that you can get help with. If you're on a repayment mortgage, there is only the interest part that is looked at by the Department for Work and Pensions. There are, quite often, further restrictions that the Department places on what housing costs they will include in your benefit. For example, they will restrict the level of mortgage that you took out. It has to be a mortgage that you used directly to purchase your house or to replace a previous mortgage that was used to purchase your house. It is not for repairs or anything like that. Often, there is a 39 week wait before any help with your housing costs cuts in. Again, housing costs themselves are only paid with particular benefits, which are income support, the means tested, job seeker's allowance, and pension credit.
What if I've become ill?
If you've recently become ill, it depends what circumstances applied before you became ill. Were you a job seeker? Are you at home looking after someone? Have you become ill at work? How have you become ill? Perhaps you were injured at work. Depending on what circumstances applied, I would advise you to seek advice because a lot depends on your household. Do you have a partner, and are they earning? Do you have savings? Do you rent? Do you have a mortgage? Do you have dependent children? There are so many unknowns and you need to go through all of those circumstances with a qualified advisor. It may be that there is more than one benefit that can help you at this moment.
I've just left school, what can I claim?
Many school-leavers make contact with their local "Connexions" service, so you could consider that as an option - and that's "connexions" with an "x", not a "ct". Alternatively, you could seek independent advice from a citizen's advice bureau, but it depends on what you're planning on doing. Are you leaving school and going on to another college to do a course? Will that course be full time or part time? Or are you entering into training or an apprenticeship. Or are you actually looking for work? So there are lots of different scenarios that might apply.
