Want to move in with my disabled partner.

needahome_2

can anyone tell me if there is any help I can claim for when i move in with my partner who has MS.

he is currently recieving income support, council tax benefit and housing benefit.

I gather that we will be treated as a couple and he will lose all these benefits (my salary is £25k pa), is that correct ?

also if two of us are expected to survive on one salary, am i entitled to use his personal tax allowance ?

cw18

yes he'd lose means tested allowances

no you can't use someone else's tax allowance

krisskross

If he gets DLA this would continue as would Incapacity Benefit if he gets it.

needahome_2

after tax and NI i get 19k a year, that £9.5k each, thats less than he gets now all in on means tested benefit.

whats the point in him moving in me ? we might aswell stay apart, let him be more a burden on the state while tying up a property somebody else could have.

im not expecting that he should get full benefits, but surely he/we should be entitled something in return for me supporting him ?

what are the rules about what classify someone as living with someone ? i.e. what is the criteria ? maybe we could work it around that e.g. he keeps his home and claims HB, but is able to stay at mine some nights of the week and sometimes i stay at his.

Emmzi

reduced rent when living together, reduced joint heating/ food bill. Plus, you get to live together.

It isn't always about money. And honest people who try to beat 'the system' are always the ones who get caught...

If he is on IS, is he too ill to work, and if so does he get DLA? Is he entitled to a carer/ carer's allowance?

cw18

yes it's "£9.5k each", but you only need to heat the property once -- and cooking for 2 doesn't cost double either (you only have the same number of pans in use, or the one oven etc.)

you would lose the single person discount on the council tax, but again that's only 25% -- so that bill (if he were paying it himself) would only go up by a third.

and the rent wouldn't increase either......

ALIBOBSY

Although you would lose the single person discount from the council tax, I believe you can still get a discount as a disabled person lives there.
If he is too ill too work (I worked for many years with a lady who had MS and have an uncle with MS who hasn't be capable of work for many years, so I know it is a disease that can get worse and better and can progress) I assume he is getting incapacity benefit and DLA (if not why not?) both of which would be uneffected by your income. He may say he is getting income support but he may be getting incapacity within that payment, worth checking.
The reality is many people live on 25k (many on much less) 5 of us live on hubbies wage of that.

ali x

Oldernotwiser

£19K nett income for 2 people is hardly "surviving"! I assume he gets IS rather than IB because he hasn't paid the appropriate contributions. As has been said, DLA isn't means tested.

cw18

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

Although you would lose the single person discount from the council tax, I believe you can still get a discount as a disabled person lives there.

I believe the reduction in council tax for disability is only if certain rooms/modifications are necessary. The rules are here , and even we don't seem to qualify despite my hubby having terminal cancer that makes it nigh on impossible for him to manage the stairs most days. (we turned the dining room into a bedroom last February, but as we've not had to extend to provide this it doesn't count!)

From the end of next month (after my redundancy) we'll have three of us (me, DH, and 17 year-old son) with a maximum income of just under £25,500 -- and that's including our council tax and IS mortgage interest assistance, as well as his DLA (highest on both), and disability premiums and carers premium on the IS, as well as Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit. We also have some of the mortage to meet out of that ourselves as we get no help with the capital repayment side of it (and I can understand why, so have no expectations of the government ever helping anyone with this).

I'd love to have £9.5k each !!! By the time we cover the mortgage shortfall we have less than £8k each left........ and even before that we've only got £8.5k each

foxxymynx

Emmzi wrote: »

reduced rent when living together, reduced joint heating/ food bill. Plus, you get to live together.

It isn't always about money. And honest people who try to beat 'the system' are always the ones who get caught...

If he is on IS, is he too ill to work, and if so does he get DLA? Is he entitled to a carer/ carer's allowance?

it's the person caring for him who claims carers allowance - however they have to earn no more than something daft like £180 a week before tax.

The rest of the post I agree with.

cw18

It's £95/week after deduction of tax and NI (and I think half of any pension contributions). Ruled me out completely until my redundancy comes through.....

And it's not as if CA is worth much either -- £50.55/week which is taxable, and you have to care for the person for a minimum of 35 hours a week to qualify for it.

Whatever happened to minimum wage !?!?!?!?!?