Help with housing for me and my son

dannydanny

Hi guys. Right I would like some advice. I left my ex partners house 1-2 years ago and have been staying at friends and relatives since even tho I was a joint tenant on housing.
My son has additional needs and his mother is about to put him into care due to the nature of his aggressive behaviour. I have stepped in and said he can live with me but I need a property as I don’t have an actual home. She has cancelled his child benefit and said I can now claim it and get a home with him.

I’ve made a claim today for child benefit with my parents address as a care of address, even tho we can’t reside there due to lack of space.

Will I need to wait for the child benefit award to ask the council for help or can I just ask for help in the meantime whilst awaiting the child benefit award. I’m already homeless myself and need a place but now I need a place for me and my son. Will they help me or will they take my child away or something else. I was gunna turn up at council with my son once the child benefit was awarded. But realistically it would be easier if I could get help quicker. I usually work but haven’t for the past 2 months so I even need to make a claim for UC, will that also affect getting a home. I’m so stressed out and just want help to house me and my son and start a fresh slate with him.

Thanks for any help it would be much obliged.

Rachel_Scope

Welcome to the community @dannydanny.

This sounds like a difficult situation and I'm sorry you're having to go through it. This isn't something that I'm familiar with so I've moved your post to a different category where there will be more members who can share similar experiences and provide support.

poppy123456

They won’t take your child away from you.

There’s no automatic entitlement to be housed. First thing you need to do is add your name to the housing list, you can do that here https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-council-housing

They may ask for proof that you are claiming child benefit.

There will likely be criteria involved with this and you may have needed to have lived in the area for a certain length of time or have a local connection to the area.

If you’re successfully added to the list you can start bidding on homes, if that’s how it works in your area.

In my area you’re placed into a band depending on circumstances. You need to make sure you tell them that you’re currently homeless.

You can also look at claiming UC unless you have savings/capital of more than £16,000.

OneSunnyDay1

Hi Danny

There is a charity called Family Lives (link below), that you can contact by phone, email or online chat. They might be able help you with finding places that can give you information or help. It sounds like you have a lot going on, you can also contact them if you just want to have a chat.

If you have not contacted your GP yet, to get help with your son, that might be the best place to start.

You can also explain your situation to your GP regarding housing for you both, they should be able to give you the names of some places, where you can try to get help.

You might want to try looking through the useful links tab below. You can find things about housing, educational needs and disabilities and more…

https://www.familylives.org.uk/how-we-can-help/useful-links

I don't know your financial circumstances, but maybe, you can get financial support for your son and yourself. Have a look at the link below. If its confusing you can try to use the benefits calculator.

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/benefits

If you are not sure of what financial support you can get, or what help you can get with housing, you can try speaking with someone at the Citizens Advice Bureau they might be helpful.

Hope you get the help you need