Anyone help? Single mum moving in with ex?

mummytotwo

I am a single mother with two children.
Myself and my daughters father have decided to make a go of things. (We werent a couple when i fell pregnant)
At the moment im renting a house but am not in reciept of rent allowance, things have gotten on top of me with bills etc too.
I am getting my one parent family allowance each week and also i work part time (10 hours/week) earning 86.50 a week.

My daughters dad is on the dole at the minute, he lives at home with his parents.

Ive found a house for 680/month (which would be within the rent allowance limits for a couple or lone parent with two children)

Can anyone tell me how much we would be entitled to if we were to move in together? I'm worried that if i move into the property with him that i will only be entitled to my part time earnings, this wouldnt even cover my share of the rent.

My questions are......
1. What are a couple entitled to on the dole? (im earning 86.50/week and get 30 euro maintenece from my eldests father)

2. Would i be entitled to rent allowance with my part time earnings and 30 euro maintenece? (max rent in the area is 750/month. The rent i have found is 680)

3. Where can i go to find out this information?


Thanks in advance.

Darlughda

Go to your nearest Citizenz' Information Centre.

This link will help you find your nearest centre. http://centres.citizensinformation.ie/

They will be able to help you explore if you will lose money or entitlements based on having a partner living with you.

mummytotwo

thanks darlughda, its hard enough to get into citizens advice with the kids. But i will definitly ring them, thanks for the link.

upinthesky

if you went of your opf and he was unemployed he would get 188 and 129 for you and 29.80 for each child that is the maximum they will give
were a couple with 3 children and the maximum we get is 408 euro

mummytotwo

thanks lisa, thats not too bad i thought we'd get a lot less. Ive been managing on a low income for a while now. Thanks for the reply.
So do we go into the social welfare (were in two different offices as he's in town and im out the sticks :P) and just say we want to co-habit?

upinthesky

mummytotwo wrote: »

thanks lisa, thats not too bad i thought we'd get a lot less. Ive been managing on a low income for a while now. Thanks for the reply.
So do we go into the social welfare (were in two different offices as he's in town and im out the sticks :P) and just say we want to co-habit?

you have to go to your social welfare office and give them a letter saying you want to go of your opf if your partner is on sw then he will have to add you on to that is he on social welfare at the minute?

mummytotwo

ah i see. He is living with his family and recieving jobseekers at the minute so id have to go onto his claim.
sounds like it could be messy and a couple weeks before it would get sorted. I'll be moving from my house in the next month so will probably hold off till after that as i cannot afford to miss a weeks social welfare at the minute. Once im out of this house it'll make things a little easier, thanks for that Lisar816

upinthesky

your welcome i was in the exact same situation a couple of weeks ago

mummytotwo

Cool, did it take you long to get it all sorted out? We have a 2 yr old together but we had split up before she was born and stayed friends but we decided to give it a go moving in together etc. I was worried we couldnt afford to. Ive been trying to get full time work for ages now, loads of interviews and stuff but no job offers. Just working 10 hours a week now in the evenings (saving me childcare - otherwise i couldnt afford to work..... stupid backwards country)

upinthesky

well in my situation i moved him back in with me and he was on the dole so that ment he had to be means tested again with me im still waiting on it to go through so were on supplementry welfare allowance at the moment your better of going in on a thursday and going off it that will give you a week its messy alright

mummytotwo

Glad i asked here Thanks a million lisa.
I should be moving from my place in the next few weeks (maybe to a hostel or something for a couple weeks) I'll go in on a thursday (after collecting my opfp) and sign off and then try to become a dependant on his claim and see where we go from there.
Thanks for all your help.