Son moving in with me, how do i claim benfits and am i entitled

melissahicking2019

Hi all, been here before and had some really helpfull advice, so i thought here would be the best place for more advice in another situation.

Basically me and my son have been living together undeclared for a year, after i split with his mother he decided he wanted to live with me, 1. to help out with my disabilities and 2 to give his sister his bedroom lol.

So everythings been great, unfortunatly i live in a pokey 2 bed flat, and the opprtunity to move into a house has come along , howeever, as a single Person, my current Housing benefit is asbismal £90 a week. whcih fortunatly covers my current rent...

So the only option is to declare my son living with me and claim the extra benefits (i had no intentions of claiming benefit for him up until this point, he has been recieving child benefits through his mother. But a wise owl told me that if i wanted to move into a house i should put my son onto my benefits and recieve a higher housing beenfit rate.

I myself claim ESA / PIP and his mother claims the same, His mother is really poorly tho and will be on dialysis very soon due to her illness.

I am just curious as to how this change of benefit may effect myself and my ex partner as we both claim PIP . i do know that on PIP i am entitled to claim a spare room for a carer and so with the carer i would be entitlied to a 3 Bed house with my son living with me.

Im quite happy to just pay the 2 bed if thats all i can claim without moving my son over to my benefits.

But the intention at the moment is to figureout the best course of action.

My questions are.

1. Will this change stopp either my or my ex partners Benefits.
2. Am i entitled a 3 bedd house for myself & My son + 1 optional Carer.
3. What proceedure must i go thru to makethis change.

Thank you for any advice.

poppy123456

First thing you need to do is speak to his mother because she’s still claiming child benefit for him. If she claims for help with the rent then she may also be claiming a bedroom for him. 

His mother should have reported the changes to HMRC for child benefit and possibly tax credits if she’s claiming this for him.

You can’t claim a bedroom for him if she’s also doing the same because that’s not how it works. 

If the house you move to is a different local Authority then you will need to claim Universal Credit for help with the rent. This will then end any Income Related ESA you maybe claiming.
For the extra bedroom for a carer, if you need a carer at night on a regular basis then it maybe possible but not guaranteed. 

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/benefits/how_many_bedrooms_you_can_claim_benefits_for

melissahicking2019

ok, thank you for the info.

The area is the same local area as my current placement,

I was under the impression that because im on ESA and was before (forgot the date) that i would not need to change over to UC , but i understand if i was moving into a new location that this would have an effect on my ESA

As for my son, its been a gradual thing and he is doing his own thing and stays where he wants which is great but at the same time a house came up thats in the right area (local to family and his mother)
so we are currently in the process of deciding how to play this out and what course of action to take..

Its all a little confusing at the moment, not sure where we stand with my son because he comes and goes as he pleases, he stays at his mums when hes had enough with me and visa versa.

If i was to move into this house it would remain the same, in fact even more so, as my son wouldnt need to travel far so he could do as he pleases rather than having to stay at 1 or the other ...Ideally this is the way we want it to be and the reason for moving close to his mums..

My 1st thoughts are to leave his claim with his mother rather than messing things up for him & her. But that just leaves myself with the situation of rent and what im entitled as a single person, i know the single person rent is 98 a week, however im entitled a carer and was reciving care up until my son started to stay over and he does alot of the things i cant do for me now...

As you can see its all a big dialema and a difficult choice to make..

I think i will goto my local Housing assosiation and discuss the metter with them...

Thanks for you advice..

calcotti

To be clear. 
You cannot add your son to your ESA. ESA makes no allowance for children.
Only one of you and your ex can change the Child Benefit and only one of you can claim for a bedroom for him in your Housing Benefit.
Before you split were you claiming Child Tax Credits? If so did you report the split to HMRC?

poppy123456

calcotti said:

Before you split were you claiming Child Tax Credits? If so did you report the split to HMRC?

Thanks calcotti, totally missed that part.

melissahicking2019 said:

however im entitled a carer

That doesn't mean you're automatically entitled to an extra bedroom. This would only be possible if you need night time care on a regular basis.

melissahicking2019

My partner claimed And Continues to claim Child Benefits & tax credits for my son as There has been no Complete change in my sons Overall living Space until recently and still no decisions have  been made final as of yet, Until the move (if it goes ahead) there will be no changes made to the claim...

My Ex partner has a 2 bedroom house and another child lives with her so she really only has the bedrooms for the 1 child and herself as my son is now a teenager.

1 of My questions was, if this change was to be carried out, how would this effect the benefits of both of us and would there be a Break in our claims, not that of child tax but the other benefits and I am still unfortunatly trying to figure this out.

As for a Carer i do indeed have that option however i have only once ever claimed it and my partner at the time was my carer. My overall condition is alot worse than it was back then and unfortunatly is a lifelong disability that will not ever improve and has not improved over the past 20 years. My son helps out me & his mother alot , it would be beneficial for my son , myself and his mother if i moved closer to his mothers so he could be closer to the both of us without having to stay at 1 place or the other.

My Origonal Questions where.

1. Will this change stop either my or my ex partners Benefits.
2. Am i entitled a 3 bed house for myself & My son + 1 optional Carer.
3. What proceedure must i go thru to make these changes.

Thank you kindly.

poppy123456

1/ if your child lives with you permanently then you partner needs to report the changes to HMRC and tax credits and child benefit will stop for him. Also if the mother claims for help with the rent then this will also be affected. 
2/ If he lives with you then if you want to claim benefits for him then you will need to claim Universal credit. This will then end any income related ESA and housing benefit you claim. 

3/ You can’t claim for a bedroom for him if his mother continues to receive child benefit and the extra bedroom.
4/ Overnight carer advice has previously been given. Not sure what you mean by “optional carer “ 

calcotti

Want to return to the question of Tax Credits. If you were previously living together and claiming Tax Credits then it would have been a couple claim. When you separated entitlement to the couple claim ended and a single person claim would have been required. Is your ex currently claiming Tax Credits as a single parent or is it a continuation of a couple claim (which she is not entitled to with a possible exception if you are still married).