Advice on Support for Mortgage Interest

sammyjammy

Yes it is MI12

Smudgeboy

Hi all, just an update.

After finally getting through to my local Benefits Office, I was lucky enough to speak to a VERY helpful lady (thanks, Hannah!) who set me straight.

It seems that, when I signed on the first time, the people at the Job Centre did actually put me on Income-based JSA. It was only when I signed on the second time, assuming I'd be on the same, that they put me on Contributions-based - I was told at that time that CB was all I was entitled to - wrongly, it now trasnpires.

When I explained that I didn't know (and wasn't told) that I was entitled to Income-based, she informed me that:

1. I definitely was entitled to both benefits and should therefore have claimed (or been told to claim) for both
2. I could submit a claim for back benefit to have the benefit I received since the second signing on classified as both CB and IB - which means I will immediately be eligible for SMI - it won't get me any more JSA money (which isn't what I was after) it just re-classifies my status as IB-eligible
3. As the gap between my signing off in March and signing back on in May was less than 12 weeks, it's likely that when I submit the back-claim, they will see it as continuous benefit, so in fact, I will have been eligible as far back as May, so I could well get 4 months-worth of backdated SMI payments

All of which is fantastic news - of course, being the pessimist, I'm not getting any hopes up until some cash appears in my account, but fingers crossed that this will work out to a happy conclusion.

Thanks to everyone who replied - it was a great help!

dmg24

alwaysonthego wrote: »

I lurve you too dmg!!

I did mean that they would not be entitled to MIP whilst being on CBJSA only.

They would only get it if they had receipt of IBJSA after 13 weeks.

Is this not correct?!

No, it changed in January. In effect, adding the amount of the mortgage to the amount that a claimant could be entitled to will give them an entitlement to IBJSA.

I only knew because I researched it for somebody else. It seems very few at the JCP know it!

cazzybabe

Smudgeboy wrote: »

Thanks alwaysonthego.

I have to say, the attitude of the government towards older, white-collar professionals (more and more of whom are finding themselves in this siutaion) seems to be "hey, you had 25 years working, what are you complaining about?". :mad:

I couldnt agree with you more on this statement. My husband is finding this whole situation so degrading with the JC staff looking down at him. This in my opinion is no way to treat the hard working people who have now found themselves in this situation through no fault of their own. Now being over 50, he feels he is very much on the scrapheap scrounging whatever benefits he can !!!