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My local council are offering support for the Christmas holiday for families whose children are entitled to free school meals, which mine is, to help put food on the table.
I don't have custody, but I have our daughter 3 days a week, and half of the holidays.
Can I fill out the form on the council's website to receive the payment?
I'm not sure whether mum will get around to doing it. The easy thing, you may think, would be to ask mum, but with her personality disorder, one of two things will happen. She will get angry and fill out the form purely so that I can't (not because she wants the money for our daughter, but for herself, and purely so that I DON'T have the money), or she will say she is doing it and then completely forget/decide she can't be bothered. Either way, our daughter will miss out.
If I was to claim the support without informing mum, and then as a result, she also claimed the support, would we get into trouble?
Also, to be clear, if I claimed the support, I would be transparent with mum and transfer the appropriate amount of money into her account for the half of the school holiday that she will have our daughter in her care.
I will get on the wrong side of mum whatever I do. There's never any avoiding that. But ultimately, I am struggling right now and that little bit of money would help a lot, and I don't want to miss out because of mum's disorganisation and tardiness.
I don't know how this works, but do the council have a helpline or chatline to do with this? If so, worth asking them the question - that way it shows them you aren't out to defraud the system, but hopefully they can tell you if you can (or can't) claim.
you can fill out the form. If they give you some space for additional info, you can write about your child arrangement. They might ask for evidence, like a court order if you have one. or other option is to ring them and see what they can advise about this. are you working at the moment, or paying maintenance?
I rang the general number and they gave me an email address. I've emailed them and will see what they say.