I was on Radio 5 Live today and was shocked when – I’ll call her Jayne –
rang from Dorset to say she was a single mum with a 17-year-old son and they
were both living on her income support of £67.50 a week. Her child benefit had
been taken away, she said, and so had her child tax credit. Her income had
fallen from £138 to less than half that.
“What did you eat last night?” asked host Nicky Campbell. “He had beans
on toast, I had nothing” she replied.
Jayne is in her fifties and has severe arthritis. She has been unable
to find a job herself and gets income support as a disabled person of £67.50 a
week. Her Housing Association rent and council tax are paid for her but she has
to find £40 a month for her heating and £19 a fortnight for her water bill. That
leaves her about £48 a week.
Out of that she now has to keep her son (I’ll call him Jack) as well. A
benefit intended for one person now has to feed and clothe two people, one of them a
17-year-old. As Jayne says “He needs a lot of food.”
It didn’t seem right to me. But when I looked into it I found that it was.
Jayne and Jack have fallen into a gap in the system.
Child Benefit - £20.30 a week for the first child – is not paid now for
16 or 17-year-olds who are not in education or training. Child Tax Credit – the
full amount is £59.50 a week though Jayne says hers was £55 – stops then too. So
when Jack left his course those benefits ended.
If Jack went back to college or into a recognised training scheme they
would be restored. But he can’t find a place. So Jayne’s income has fallen by
more than £75 a week to less than half its level when Jack was in education.
For a limited time after Jack left college Jayne could have applied for
what is called a ‘child benefit extension period’. That can last for up to of 20
weeks and would restore child benefit and child tax credit. She has to apply
within three months of him leaving. No-one had told her about it but she is
still in time to claim and is now going to do so.
Jack wants to find work. But that is proving very hard for a 17-year-old
in his position. And although he is looking for a job he cannot claim
Jobseeker’s Allowance until he is 18 at the end of 2012.
He may still get something – if he asks. To do that he must go back to
the JobCentre and apply for Jobseeker’s Allowance on grounds of ‘severe
hardship’. There is no definition of what that means but the Under-Eighteens
Support Team can award it on a discretionary basis.
As he has no income or resources of his own and his only parent lives
on a means-tested benefit intended to keep one person he has a chance.
That would give him £53.45 a week. But it will only last a maximum of
eight weeks and then he has to ask for it to be renewed. If his Mum’s claim is unsuccessful
he may try this route.
One way or the other the family might get a bit more money for a
limited time. But well before Jack is 18 both will almost certainly run out. Then
single parent Jayne and 17-year-old son Jack will be living on the money the
Government says is enough for just one adult.
