Your bank balance is...

In those six weeks while you are waiting for your first payment the jobcentre make a decision on how much they think you should be paid. They makemake this decision based on things like your age, where you live, who you live with etc. You get sent a letter telling you what and when you will be paid.
For me it stated I was entitled to around £450 per month, from this they would deduct £50 a month for 6 months to pay back the advanced payment loan. This meant that I would receive £400 a month but this also included a housing benefit payment to help pay for rent.
As i said earlier your age partially determind how much your payment is. You see the jobcentre puts us into to categories based on our ageage, the main two categories are 18 - 25 and over 25s. When I started my claim I was 22 meaning I fell into the first category or as I call it the bottom category. 
Younger people (no matter the circumstances) get paid less than those over 25. I'm not talking a £10 or £20 difference sometimes it can be £200 - 300. This 'rule' also applies to housing benefit and how much help you get with rent.
Back to my payment, it breaks down to £200 rent and £250 (- £50 advanced loan payment) for living cost. So I had £200 a month to pay the rest of my rent including money I owed from the six weeks without money, all bills and buy shopping. This is when I personally realised that my time on benefits was going to be i struggle. It quickly went from needing time away from work to recover from health issues to months of stress and literally fighting to survive every single day.
Thankyou for reading. I would just like to say I have started receiving comments of support from people and I really appreciate it , it really does mean a lot so thankyou again for reading and make sure you come back for my next post

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