Couples

Enlightenment

I've been reading these forums for a while, just lurking to see if the answer to my question came up.

My query is, I live with my partner, we are not married. I claim long term IB, IS that says because you are sick or disabled (I presume this is a premium) HB and CTB. It also says for you and your partner and runs down some figures. Everything is in my name his name is nowhere to be seen, except on the HB.

a) Are we claiming everything we can as a couple, or is he able to claim JSA or IB himself as well and if he can will that effect my IS?

b) Is he still paying money through my claim into a pension?

I went through the 5 min check up thing, but it's not very clear and doesn't answer my qs and as I filled in the forms when I was recovering from a car crash and still in hospital I didn't ask qs then and haven't gone to the CAB to ask.

Many thanks

bestpud

Welcome to mse!

The answer depends on his reason for not working.

Is he ill or disabled himself?

Or is he seeking work?

This is going back a good few years now, but when I was ill and DH gave up work to look after me and the children, we were told to transfer the IS into his name because he was then protected contributions wise.

They said I was protected anyway because the child benefit was in my name.

Enlightenment

Thanks for the welcome

He was also involved in the car crash, so does have injuries which are affecting him, but he wants to work even though it hurts. At the moment he does a lot for me, such as cooking and shopping because I cannot lift or carry most things.

As all the benefits are in my name we are just worried what would become of him once he reaches retirement age and if there was anything he should be claiming now or are we claiming everything we can claim? By the way he was self-employed before the accident.

bestpud

Have you considered DLA for yourself, and carers allowance for him, assuming you are not expected to recover in the near future? Is the accident fairly recent, and are you expected to recover anytime soon - say within the next year?

You are right to check this out as his NI contributions may not be protected if everything is in your name.

He would be covered if he signed on for JSA. He probably won't receive any money as, I think, he can only claim income assessed JSA due to being self employed, but it does mean he will be protected as far as NI contributions go. But he'd be expected to be actively seeking work.

I'm sure someone on here will know better than me, or you could also contact your local CAB.

Enlightenment

Thanks bestpud, I applied for DLA on the 7th Jan, still waiting for a decision on that and I understand I would need to be on the middle rate or higher for him to claim CA?

I'm not expected to get any better no, in fact it's getting worse and the pain is now coming through my medication.

The accident was actually 10 yrs ago, so if he isn't covered under me then he's lost a lot of contributions.