lone parent and rent supplementary

hey , have been recently been made redundant. i am a single mother to 1 and i am just wondering what i could apply for.
I am receiving 500 a month maintenance from the father and i am just wondering will this effect my claim for either lone parents or rent allowance. just trying to get my finances sorted. extremely stressful time!!!!

If you are available for and seeking full-time work, you can sign for Jobseeker's Benefit (if you've been working full time for a few years, you'll probably have enough PRSI contributions to qualify). Your maintenance will not affect this payment if you qualify.

You can apply for One Parent Family Payment(OFP), which is means-tested, but there are some disregards for maintenance, so it won't all be assessed against you. If you qualify for OFP, you can continue to receive half of your Jobseeker's Benefit until your Benefit runs out.

You can apply for Rent Supplement, which is also a means-tested payment, although again, not all of the maintenance will be assessed against you.

If you have savings (from your redundancy, for example), that will be assessed for both OFP and Rent Supplement.

Apply for Jobseeker's and OFP at your nearest Social Welfare Local Office (see www.welfare.ie for info and you can download some application forms too).

Apply for Rent Supplement from the Community Welfare Officer who is based at your local HSE health centre. While at the health centre, ask about applying for a medical card.

hey

thanks a million for your reply

just one thing i cant make head nor tail of the rent supplement on the welfare site. if i am getting maintenance of 500 a month how much roughly would i be entitled to if i was approved?

Impossible to say untill you work out what you get on the other benefits. Rent allowance is calculated by taking you income (all of it) deducting a minimum benefit amount for a family of your size, if you are working another protion of your income can be disregarded. The balance is your means that is taken into account euro for euro against the rent you pay. A further €18 is then deducted as your contirubition towards the rent.

As thrifty said, it will all depend on your total income (including any SW income you receive - jobseekers, OFP, etc).

Maintenance is assessed as follows (all figures weekly):

The first €95.23 is assessed in full as means, the next €75 is disregarded, and anything over that (€170.23) is assessed at 25%

If you've got €500 per month which is approx €115.40 per week, then the means from your maintenance is €95.23 per week.