Incapacity benefit and help with mortgage.

KittyBoo_2

I am getting really desparate now and don;t know what to do.
Since a serious illness I have been on Incapacity benefit since 1st August 2008. (£63.75) and still waiting for another operation
I have been told that I get too much money coming in above the £60.50 (£3.25) and I am not eligible for Income Support and therefore cannot get help with my mortgage due to the fact that I am not eligible for Income Support.
I don't know where to turn as I live on my own and have had 6 payment holidays from my mortgage lender to pay the mortgage while I have been off work.
The incapacity is my only source of income.
Has anyone any suggestions as to what I can do.
I would be really grateful.
Thanks

cw18

Ask them for a form to apply for Mortgage Assistance -- it is possible to get this when on IB. DH and I were both on IB (so well above the couple rate for IS), but still got mortgage assistance. They calculated what we'd have been entitled to if we'd been on IS, then deducted the income we had above the couples rate of IS. They also had to deduct another 10p/week before paying the bulk of it to our lender -- but that 10p then came to us as IS (you have to be getting something from IS in order to get the mortage assistance).

dmg24

cw18 please stop giving this bad advice. From what you have said before, you would have received premiums on your IS due to husband being on higher rate DLA. They do not just magic up figures so that you qualify! :rolleyes:

KittyBoo, for a definitive answer you have to contact the JCP.

ali_p_4

Not sure whether this has any relevance or not, but here goes any way. Last year when i was on incapacity benefit I had the forms submitted for me to try and receive mortgage interest relief. I didn't receive it though but the grounds in my case wwere the fact i hadn't quite met the 13 week qualifying period. I did find it a minefield at the time having never been off from work before and not being familiar with the setup.I found jobcentreplus very helpful even to chasing things up for me when i received negative replies that even turned out to be wrong. good luck

cw18

dmg24 wrote: »

cw18 please stop giving this bad advice. From what you have said before, you would have received premiums on your IS due to husband being on higher rate DLA. They do not just magic up figures so that you qualify! :rolleyes:

Yes we would have been entitled to additional premiums on IS, but we still had more coming in from IB than we would have got on IS. I have been told that it IS possible to get mortgage assistance while receiving higher rates of other benefits...... but you may have to push for them as they're not processed as automatically.

ETA: If we'd have been claiming Income Support, we would have been entitled to
£94.95 - couple
£36.86 - sickness/disability
£18.15 - disability guarantee
making for a total of £149.96/week

but we were in receipt of
£84.50 - IB long-term rate (for DH)
£75.49 - IB short term higher rate (for me)
making for a total of £159.99/week

so we had £10.03 deducted from our mortgage assistance, and then 10p of the remainder was paid through IS in order to allow the Mortgage Assistance through the payments system.

cw18

Posts that support my understanding of these rules are here and here

dmg24

The posts you have quoted do not support what you have said at all!

Well clearly you are a special case and they broke all the rules for you. Maybe not everybody else is as special? PLEASE STOP GIVING INCORRECT ADVICE.

ali_p_4

I had forgotten, I was given the same MI 12 form so it would definately be worth an enquiry

dmg24

ali_p wrote: »

I had forgotten, I was given the same MI 12 form so it would definately be worth an enquiry

You should be given the form to apply for it, along with the general application form for IS. However, your eligibility will depend upon whether you are entitled to any IS premiums.

ali_p_4

I didn't claim for income support it was incapacity benefit as i was producing sick notes but not employed as i had lost my job when i went on the sick. My application was refused because i had not been out of work for 13 weeks i was told. I had to chase it up because time had dragged on due to the MI12 form going astray and spoke to the guy who was checking my claim. It was a total mess.

zappster1966

It's a dreadful thing trying to explain ISMI entitlement when there's IB involved ... but I'll have a go with an example or two. This is assuming you've reached the 13 weeks required to qualify for ISMI and that the DWP has worked out your interest to be, say, £40.00 per week & that yours is a qualifying lender.

Example 1 - Your IS & IB get combined together
Applicable Amount - £60.50+£40.00=£100.50
less £40 interest paid direct to your lender, leaves a balance of £60.50 due to you each week

Example 2 - IS & IB paid separately
Applicable Amount=£60.50+£40.00=£100.50
less IB - £63.75
Balance remaining=£36.75 (which is less than the £40.00 interest)
DWP then pay £36.65pw to the mortgage lender, leaving a balance to the customer of £0.10 pw, paid quarterly (i.e. £1.30 every 13 weeks)

So. There's two ways they can do it, it all depends on whether they add your IS&IB together. In theory both are supposed to be combined, but it all varies with local office practise unfortunately.

I hope those examples illustrate where the £0.10 pw comes from that cw18 refers to. It is a very common thing, tbh.

If you've been on IB for more than 13 weeks I would encourage you to apply for Income Support & ISMI.