child ill off work

zozot

hello all

please can anyone advise me. my eldest son was involved in a road accident on 01.09.08 and suffered serious head injuries he is still in hospital he has had an operation to remove part of his skull and will be having a plate fitted early next year he is using a wheelchair at the moment but should regain some mobility later we hope he'll be out of hospital b4 xmas. me and my husband both wrk full time but have both been off since this happened hubby on compassionate leave full pay, me on full pay but my company have used up all my holiday allowance and time owed.i'm not sure when or even if i'll be able to return to work there is a possibility of weekends only for me as hubby can take over care then.what help is available i will not be getting paid after this month and however much we tighten our belts we just cant cope on one wage money worries on top of everything else are just scaring me to death people keep telling me to take time to think it all over but the bills wont wait

McKneff

sit down, have a cuppa, post your SOA on here and someone will be along
soon to help. Hope your son has a full recovery. Is he (or you on his behalf)
claiming on anyones insurance, in which case if it was no fault of his i think
you would be able to claim some sort of interim payment)

Conor_3

You should be able to get DLA and carers allowance but this is once he comes home. Sadly under the current system, there's nothing available for you whilst he's in hospital unless you sign on as unemployed.

zozot

thank you annie
pretty new to the site so forgive my ignorance but is soa statement of accounts? what do you need me to tell i'm an open book just not sure what info i need to put down?

thanks conor
if i register as unemployed dont they register you as a job seeker ie send me to interviews for jobs i cant take due to caring for my son sorry to ask silly questions but really am lost in all of this

zozot

as for claiming for him on someones insurance i hadn't thought of this as what happened was just an accident the driver of the car that hit him wasn't speeding passed a breath test and police as far as i know aren't taking it any further it seems my son just stepped out and the driver couldn't do anything about it

McKneff

i really would suggest you take some advice. You can see a solicitor under the "green card" system free for half an hour. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. He may be well for many years to come and i sincerely hope he will
but things like this tend to rear its ugly head as we get older.

Who told you your son just stepped out in front of him, the driver or your son.?
"Stepped" seems a bit suss, if you had said he ran out in front of the car it might be a different matter. Anyway, please keep us posted and again the very best for your bairn.

as far as an SOA is concerned, it is a statement of affairs, There is a link (i havent worked out how to do them yet)
Conor is lurking and he knows what its all about so may do this for you. (Hi Conor)
where it asks yu to fill in all your incomings and outgoings and then someone far clverer than me comes along and helps yu cut down/save - magic)

[Deleted User]

Sorry to hear about your son and i`m sure he has all our good wishes for a full recovery.
It might be worth contacting a solicitor who specialises in no win no fee cases for advice,my daughter was knocked down 3 years ago by a car,the insurers(churchills)tried to claim that she had just stepped out in front of the car,eventually after a 2 year battle she got £8500 in compo and that was for fairly minor injuries that involved only a 4 day hospital stay
As far as claiming any benefits if you have to give up work,fraid that might be difficult.
good luck xx

Conor_3

zozot wrote: »

thanks conor
if i register as unemployed dont they register you as a job seeker ie send me to interviews for jobs i cant take due to caring for my son sorry to ask silly questions but really am lost in all of this

Yeah, that's pretty much what happens. Only problem though is that you'd probably get sanctioned on JSA for voluntarily leaving. Income Support is another option but all of them at the end of the day pay out pennies and it's months before you get help with mortgage payments.
It's a bit of a !!!!!! really. This is something that happens to lots of parents and you're just expected to muddle through somehow.

One thing to remember though that if there's only one wage coming into the household, depending on the level of that wage, tax credits will go some way to making up for the loss of the second one.

wolfehouse

i wish your son a full recovery.

have a talk with someone at your local carers centre
they are local, but this is the one in lancashire
http://www.carers.org/local/north-west/skelmersdale/
they can give you all sorts of support, both emotional and with welfare rights etc. (help you fill in dla forms etc)

skipsmum

hi Zozot,
didn't want to just read and run - I was in a similar situation a few years ago when my husband was in an RTA. Your son can claim from the motor insurers bureaux as he was a victim of a car accident, often if they cant decide who was "at fault" they offer a percentage of what they consider to be fair compensation for the injuries. You definitely need to squeeze in time to see a solicitor cos it takes ages for claims to go through.
RE DLA, you can claim DLA even if you are in hospital but they take the actual money back. However because your claim is valid you can still claim the disability components of tax credits which is considerably more than the basics. You need to see the CAB who will help you work this out.
Best Wishes,
Skips mum.

zozot

thankyou to everyone i've got lots to find out today you are all stars