Anyone clued up on benefits? Think me mate is in cloud cuckoo land

Snooze

Hello all ,

Been having some arguments with me mate over his upcoming situation and I think he's living in cloud cuckoo land as he seems to think that the benefits he'll get off the state will give him a cushy lifestyle. Pretty sure there's some folks on here that know their !!!!!! so would appreciate some opinions/figures/whatever if you'd be so kind. :beer:

OK here's the situation :

* Him - 43, lives with partner, joint mortgage with OH, £18k income for around 55hrs
* Her - 30, ditto, minimum wage income, full-time
* Expecting a kid in March.
* Mortgage £90k with £80k remaining

* His mum and dad own outright a property worth ~ £250k.
* There's an equity release of £60k outstanding on the property.
* His dad died recently and left the estate to his mum (PoA currently being transferred to me mate), but
* His mum needs 24hr care as she suffered a stroke some years ago

He's realised that a care home for his mum is going to rush him ~ £500 per week which is money he hasn't got. He can't get social care because of the house. Social say they may do it if they can find a space somewhere, but will take the house to pay for it, which he doesn't want to do.

He'd decided that his mum will live with them all (OH is okay with this, apparently :eek:) but can't move into his folks house because he doesn't have the funds to pay off the equity release, and also his mum doesn't want to go back there anyway. There's no space for her at his current place so at the moment she's in a care home on 'respite' provided by Social and is costing him £100/week.

So what he's planning to do is to

* give up his job :eek: to look after his mum and look after the kid when it arrives, while
* his OH keeps her full time, minimum wage job
* sell his folks house (£250k) and assets (car £10k) and pay off the equity release, leaving him with around £200k
* sell his current house and come away with around £10k from that
* pay off his debts (~ £10k)
* buy another house outright (~ £150k) that is big enough for them all to live in together, leaving him with around £50k to play with, assuming that everything above goes according to plan

Now while that £50k might seem big and juicy right now, I have visions of that rapidly disappearing when you've got a kid and 3 adult mouths to feed and only a minimum wage income coming in. Neither of his folks have got any savings or life insurance policies etc so there's no money coming from there other than his mum's pension and whatever benefits she gets for her condition since her stroke, and surely his OH will only get child benefit (or whatever it's called) so where is the rest of the money going to come from?

Anyone know what benefits they'll all be eligible for and some rough figures that I stick under his nose please, or have I got it all wrong and they'll be quite comfy living the life of Reilly?

Thanks.

Rob

Graham_Devon

He'll get carers allowance.

Think that's pretty much it, apart from things that go with this, such as the warmfront grant to get your house insulated etc.

Around £210 a month. His partners income would then keep him.

That's how I believe it works anyway.

zygurat789

When the child is born there will be child benefit and child tax credits as well.
See entitledto.co.uk for complete calculation

lemonjelly

His mother will get attendance allowance, from what is written, at the higher rate (70.35p/w).
As her main carer, as Graham states, he will be entitled to carers allowance (£53.10p/w)
When the child arrives, child benefit (£20p/w), plus as was stated earlier, Child tax credit will also kick in. If the only income in the household is "hers", Then I'd expect they will also qualify for some working tax credits too. Calculations are well complex to do for WTC quickly imo.

Mother can also get a blue badge, which means no more paying for parking etc.

Most other benefits have capital limits, so unlikely to get anything else based upon the above...

dopester

Snooze wrote: »

* give up his job :eek: to look after his mum and look after the kid when it arrives, while
* his OH keeps her full time, minimum wage job

He's on £18K with OT, and wife on minimum wage. He's thinking of jacking his job? I'd cling on to my £18K job in that situation tbh.

His wife is preggers so how long would he wants here to stay in her minimum wage job.. and go back to work after the baby is born? If her job still exists. Can't his wife stay at home and be a carer to both her newborn and his Mum.. maybe claiming carer's allowance (again.. until the money runs out).

If he jacks his job in to be full-time carer, and wifey still goes out to work on minimum wage... I reasonably suspect that would eventually lead to tensions. The £150K new house seems pretty sensible to me though.

Snooze

dopester wrote: »

He's on £18K with OT, and wife on minimum wage. He's thinking of jacking his job? I'd cling on to my £18K job in that situation tbh.

His wife is preggers so how long would he wants here to stay in her minimum wage job.. and go back to work after the baby is born? If her job still exists. Can't his wife stay at home and be a carer to both her newborn and his Mum.. maybe claiming carer's allowance (again.. until the money runs out).

If he jacks his job in to be full-time carer, and wifey still goes out to work on minimum wage... I reasonably suspect that would eventually lead to tensions. The £150K new house seems pretty sensible to me though.

That is basically my 2p on it as well. However, his OH (they are not married and have no intention of doing so) does not really know his mother so she can't be expected to look after her, especially given her needs. He says that he'd be packing up his job anyway because the hours are too long and he wants to spend time with his kid. Prior to his own family situation I don't know whether he had some intention of replacing his job with one with less hours or giving up working altogether to look after the kid, but that is moot now anyway.

If he doesn't look after his mum himself then what other option does he have other than shipping her off to a care home and using their house to pay for it? As £250k divided by £24k per year care = only 10 years of care homeness, what happens if his mother lives longer than this?

R

DX2

Word of warning! Deprevation of capital.

Now while that £50k might seem big and juicy right now, I have visions of that rapidly disappearing when you've got a kid and 3 adult mouths to feed and only a minimum wage

Snooze

lemonjelly wrote: »

His mother will get attendance allowance, from what is written, at the higher rate (70.35p/w).
As her main carer, as Graham states, he will be entitled to carers allowance (£53.10p/w)
When the child arrives, child benefit (£20p/w), plus as was stated earlier, Child tax credit will also kick in. If the only income in the household is "hers", Then I'd expect they will also qualify for some working tax credits too. Calculations are well complex to do for WTC quickly imo.

Mother can also get a blue badge, which means no more paying for parking etc.

Most other benefits have capital limits, so unlikely to get anything else based upon the above...

Thanks LJ. What is 'attendance allowance' ? Also, any rough figures on what WTCs will be? Are we talking like a tenner or hundreds?

I heard there you get council tax paid for if you're on benefits, any info on that or is it just an urban myth?

R

Snooze

DX2 wrote: »

Word of warning! Deprevation of capital.

R

DX2

Snooze wrote: »

Thanks LJ. What is 'attendance allowance' ? Also, any rough figures on what WTCs will be? Are we talking like a tenner or hundreds?

I heard there you get council tax paid for if you're on benefits, any info on that or is it just an urban myth?

R

Attendance Allowance, sometimes referred to as AA, is a tax-free benefit for people aged 65 or over who need help with personal care because they are physically or mentally disabled.

Council Tax Benefit

You may get Council Tax Benefit if you pay Council Tax and your income and capital (savings and investments) are below a certain level. You may apply whether you rent or own your home, or live rent-free. You could qualify if you are out of work, or in work and earning a wage.

Snooze this would be better on the benefit board.

Active_X

your friend will be rolling in it until his mum dies, then he will have to have between 7 to 10 kids to get a decent income from tax credits. he should keep breeding so that the last one turns 18 just as he turns 65 and picks up his state pension.

it's a great lifestyle and we did it years ago. i havent worked for 5 years and still can afford a trip to spain each year. he should find a bent doctor so that when his kid is born they can find something wrong with it and get disability for that too. it's a gravy train that never stops. cradel to grave. i love this country, so much better than where i lived in somalia.