I'm considering trying to move out of my parents' house under my own steam - advice/logistics?

You can get water, and sometimes electricity and gas, included with the cost of rent, which can be partially/mostly covered by Housing Benefit. Some properties have a keycard meter for their utilities, which you can top up as/when you need it (less uncertainty than being on a tariff, especially if you have housemates who can pool funds together for the keycard, but it may end up more expensive in the long run). And if you are unemployed or in education, I don't believe you need to pay council tax?


And sorry if I'm giving you too much reading, or just confusing you further.

 

I have nothing overly useful to add just just a big ol I feel your pain on trying to read through all the government information on benifits and stuff. (also in the same boat of disabled but not disabled enough to get PIP cause PIP is terrible.)

And much sympathy on the rent prices in London. I don't understand how they expect anyone who is not making the serious money to be able to live anyplace near the area.

 

Don't worry, and please keep talking to me, I'm fairly desperate for information and options at the moment, aha.

I'm still a little confused about some of the processes involved, if I wanted to look into council housing, for instance, and also housing benefit - I have no idea how that works whatsoever. What makes you eligible for housing benefit, and how much would I be eligible for under different circumstances?

 

Yeah... There's always the option of moving elsewhere, but I only know this city, really, and I feel that being elsewhere would be bad for work prospects even for part time work.

Plus, I just... like it here. This is my home.

 

Rates of housing benefit vary depending on a number of factors, like income, how much your rent is/will be when you move into the property in question, whether you have any special circumstances or disabilities, etc, but .gov.uk has a pretty good guideline of how rates are broken down, explains how it is paid, and has a calculator, which I haven't looked at yet, but might be helpful?

EDIT: You can't claim Housing Benefit as a full-time student, but since you are currently not full-time, it may still be worth putting a claim in if you do move into a new place.

 

Urgh.. I was about to say, "that looks really good!", but everything I've been reading has been telling me that I still count as a student despite the fact that I'm not currently even in the same city as my university.

So that's that down the drain, then.

 

I'm

Going to have to quit university, aren't I

*headdesk*

There goes my career and hopes for my future... Then again I was always overoptimistic

 

... I really think it might be worth calling into your nearest Citizen's Advice and perhaps having a benefit check, or two separate benefit checks- one for if you were to quit uni and move out, and one for if you moved out, but continued at university.

Also, what about changing to part-time? Like, officially?

 

I'm not sure if I can, or even what that would mean. It would probably mean that I couldn't continue my current course anyway.

I will try calling in for a check perhaps, although my hopes really are not high.

 

Where would I call for Citizen's Advice?

 

That really depends where you are in London- I imagine, being a big city, it's teeming with advice centres. Here's a hastily googled map, though I don't know how recent the information is.

 

Oh yeah, Citezen's Advice can be good people. At the very least they'll let you confirm what your options are and they may know something we haven't thought of. I know my local one has a member of staff who specialises in helping people with disabilities. I imagine there is probably a bit more specialsation in a big ol place like London. So it may be worth asking if they have anyone with experiance in your kind of situation.

Do hope you manage to find something that works for you.

 

There is a search for your local centre on their website front page.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

 

Also I'm wondering, if I quit uni and was eligible for universal credit and also for housing benefit, how much money would be deducted from UC for also having housing benefit? The language seems to imply that there would be a deduction.

 

I guess that's the sort of thing to ask citizen's advice, though, maybe.

Also, boy, my parents are not going to be pleased when they get wind of all this.

 

Ah hell, UC is really not my strong point (it's still quite uncommon where I live) but I think Housing Benefit's supposed to have been changed to the housing element of UC. So if UC has been fully rolled out in your area, it may be that you have to just make one claim for UC, rather than claim any other benefits. Then the benefit cap might become an issue.

... Yeah, definitely something to ask Citizen's Advice.

 

You know, I think I might be able to make this work. I might just. I'm willing to work four days a week, and I'm seeing the pay rates for part time jobs, and the price of the cheapest flats, and the numbers generally add up to something tolerable. I might need to give up on uni so that I could receive benefits, but we'll see.

 

And you know what the weird thing is? I actually feel vaguely excited about the prospect. Which is odd because I don't often feel excited about anything.

Don't get me wrong I'm still worried as heck, but.

 

That said it is difficult to find cheap-ish flats that aren't flatshare deals so I'll keep looking, but also if anyone has any pointers...

 

Guess who just read a whole pamphlet specifically about how an example individual with ocd and depression would get fucked over by the universal credit system

It's almost 5am. I can't sleep for some reason.