what will we qualify for, if anything???

homealone_2

i am at present receiving incapacity benefity and high rate of both components of DLA, this looks to be a permanent position, even though i am only 44. we do not qualify for any help with rent or council tax as my husbands earnings are just over thresh hold. i also receive £400 a month through a company income protection plan but i dont know how long that will run for. we have been assigned £95 a month child tax credit this year although it was nil last year but we also on same day got paperwork saying we just got the flat rate of £545 per annum which was going to be used to help towards £12000 of over payments which has been going on since 2002 and each year although giving them correct details the overpayment seems to rise by approx £3000 ANYWAY this is the overal finance for our family as of last week. i have since been told by hubby over the weekend that the COPD which he was diagnosed with a couple of years ago has now developed into emphasema and that he will probably only be able to continue work for another year or so. we only have one dependant living at home who is 17 and at college. GIVEN the figures i have already listed as what i have coming in now how will we stand financially when he has to stop work? what else will we be able to claim? and what will we not be able to claim as 2 seperate people but will get as couple. ie when pensioners are married they get married allowance, does any of the benefits available work in the same way? will we be in a really bad way financially with basically both of us unable to work and claiming sickness benefits??? hope someone can help with some figures even as a rough guess as i am worried sick about being able to manage and pay all our debts and bills? sorry for being so long winded

Oldernotwiser

I don't know a great deal about the benefits side of this, but my husband has very severe emphysema so I know about this aspect. I really wanted to say that if your husband has to give up work next year, I wouldn't expect that he'd be eligible for DLA for some time. IB, probably, but not DLA. There's a big gap, and hopefully a good long time, between the point in which someone might not be able to carry on working but wouldn't need help with personal care etc. I mean this to be optimistic, rather than purely financial.

By the way, COPD doesn't develop into emphysema; COPD is an umbrella term for emphysema, bronchitis and chronic asthma. If you'd like to pm me about this I could give you more information and some very helpful websites. Best wishes.

krisskross

My husband has had emphysema for many many years, at least 15. Fairly well controlled with several inhalers a day. his lung capacity measured on the spirometer thingy is less than 40%. However if he takes it slowly he can do most things for himself.. Not sure whether DLA would be possible, certainly my husband has no care needs associated with emphsema,

There are no specific allowances for married pensioners, in fact like all other aspects of benefit 'law' they are probably better off as 2 singletons.

Oldernotwiser

krisskross wrote: »

My husband has had emphysema for many many years, at least 15. Fairly well controlled with several inhalers a day. his lung capacity measured on the spirometer thingy is less than 40%. However if he takes it slowly he can do most things for himself.. Not sure whether DLA would be possible, certainly my husband has no care needs associated with emphsema,

There are no specific allowances for married pensioners, in fact like all other aspects of benefit 'law' they are probably better off as 2 singletons.

Yes, my husband's lung capacity is less than 20% and it's many years since he would've been able to work but he has no care associated needs either (unless he's having a major exacerbation). If he were younger I suppose he might be eligible for the lower rate of mobility and he certainly gets a Blue Badge.

OP
When this eventually happens, which could be further away than you think,if your income is really low you could be eligible for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. What kind of work does your husband do at present? Is there any sort of training that he could undertake at present that could prepare him for a less physically demanding job if (not when) his health deteriorates?

(By the way, if he's given up smoking and looks after his health in other ways there's no reason that his respiratory function should decline any faster than anybody else's does.)

dmg24

krisskross wrote: »

There are no specific allowances for married pensioners, in fact like all other aspects of benefit 'law' they are probably better off as 2 singletons.

Can you elaborate further on this?

krisskross

dmg24 wrote: »

Can you elaborate further on this?

Yes of course. If we got divorced, which we won't, I would immediately be able to claim a full SRP rather than the 60% I get at the moment. All the savings could go in 1 name rather than joint to enable one of us to claim means tested benefits. BTW these are little wrinkles I have found out on here.

dmg24

krisskross wrote: »

Yes of course. If we got divorced, which we won't, I would immediately be able to claim a full SRP rather than the 60% I get at the moment. All the savings could go in 1 name rather than joint to enable one of us to claim means tested benefits. BTW these are little wrinkles I have found out on here.

If you consider economies of scale, you are not going to be better off as a single person. Also, you refer to all other aspects of benefit 'law', which you don't cover in your above explanation.

krisskross

dmg24 wrote: »

If you consider economies of scale, you are not going to be better off as a single person. Also, you refer to all other aspects of benefit 'law', which you don't cover in your above explanation.

Sorry i didn't mean 'law' as in the letter of but merely as an expression of how things are to benefit agencies.

I still think we could be better off as 2 singles rather than a couple.

dmg24

krisskross wrote: »

Sorry i didn't mean 'law' as in the letter of but merely as an expression of how things are to benefit agencies.

I still think we could be better off as 2 singles rather than a couple.

As I said, when you consider economies of scale, you will find you are no better off as a single claimant. Even if you get your rent and council tax paid, a single person will have almost identical bills for utilities as a couple, and have disproportionate bills for other non essential items.

As an example, a single person on JSA gets approx £60. A couple receives approx £95. If gas is £10 per week, and the same for electric, then the single person has £40 left, and the couple has £75 (so £37.50 each). Take off another £10 for other fixed costs (albeit for more 'optional' items), such as telephone line rental, internet and Sky, and the single person is down to £30 per week, and the couple £65 (so £32.50 each).

On top of the above, consider the costs of setting up homes for two people - you need two lots of white goods, two beds, two televisions etc.

If you really think that you will be better off as a single person, maybe you should do some realistic calculations. I don't think you'll like what you find.

Oldernotwiser

Well, that little dialogue was really useful to the OP!

homealone_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I don't know a great deal about the benefits side of this, but my husband has very severe emphysema so I know about this aspect. I really wanted to say that if your husband has to give up work next year, I wouldn't expect that he'd be eligible for DLA for some time. IB, probably, but not DLA. There's a big gap, and hopefully a good long time, between the point in which someone might not be able to carry on working but wouldn't need help with personal care etc. I mean this to be optimistic, rather than purely financial.

By the way, COPD doesn't develop into emphysema; COPD is an umbrella term for emphysema, bronchitis and chronic asthma. If you'd like to pm me about this I could give you more information and some very helpful websites. Best wishes.

thanks for your help. my father in law was also very ill with emphasema and actually died a few years ago so we saw how badly he was affected and how he too needed to give up work because of how he was affected, thanks for offer of advice too