ESA claimant question's about how I am expected to pay for everything etc.

barney_stubble

Hello.

I have recently become unemployed due to mental health issues (stress related depression and anxiety). I am currently claiming ESA and have just put in a claim for housing benefit and council tax benefit - this according to the advisors at the council will be approved as my rent is within their thresholds for single persons etc.

I am now concerned about utilities.

At present I get only £60 pw which has to feed me, pay all my domestic expenses, bills and travel etc.

Obviously its nowhere near enough.

I live alone, I do not have a spouse or partner so I can't claim the 'cushy' carers allowances. I am also not severely disabled in respect that my mobility is impaired.

My electricty bill is around £30 pw. I am fortunate to be all electric storage heating etc. No gas.

I am currently not in arrears but I have no savings and, frankly, there is no way I can pay the electricity bill out of the £60 a week that goes mostly on food and domestic expenses. There's not enough left.

I live in a modest one bedroom apartment.

I understand there are Social Tarrifs from some suppliers such as British Gas but these only offer reductions in the costs, which honestly, wont make a dent in my deficit.

Is there any additional benefit or help that I can get on a re-occuring basis to help prevent me from falling into arrears with my utilities? I haven't even factored in water yet .. oh man.

£64 a week is not enough to live on if you have to pay £35 a week on electric and water and still expect to eat and travel and buy clothes, cleaning goods, replace worn out and broken items etc etc etc.

I feel because I am not elegible for mobility and carer 'top ups' which in most cases doubles your income to an almost sustainable level, I am going to simply spiral out of control and in to debt before long and the very thought of this is already putting me under intense pschological pressure and I am laying awake at night worrying about stuff I really can't handle. I'm already medicated up to the nines and being harrassed 12 hrs a day by credit card collections and other aggressive creditors who I am in arrears with ..

Can some kind soul explain to me if there is anything I can do about this ridiculous short fall in my living expenses? If not I will just give up I think and they can all go to hell!

Tehya

Hello,

I don't know of any other benefits, apart from DLA, that you may claim but maybe someone else will come along with some advice. You could check out the money saving boards too.

If you have care issues have you tried to claim DLA? You don't need to be receiving this care but you just need to show you that you actually need it. There are a number of people who receive both kinds of DLA, Care and Mobility, for depression and mental health illnesses.

When you have your medical and get put in either the Support Group or the Work Related Group your money will go up anyway. The £65.45 you are getting now will go up by one of the following amounts:

Work Related Activity Component 25.95 Support Component 31.40

If you don't have your medical by week 13 (and most people don't seem to) you'll carry on getting the assessment rate until you pass the medical. As soon as you are placed in a group your money will go up and you will receive the backdated ESA they owe you (paid from week 14).

I live alone, I do not have a spouse or partner so I can't claim the 'cushy' carers allowances. I was a wee bit annoyed at your statement here and so almost ignored your post. I claim Carer's Allowance for looking after my husband (which you can only get if the disabled person is bad enough to receive DLA Care at middle or higher rate). He is seriously ill, has no days when he's not in agony, can not walk much at all and we've both lost good careers as ICT Tutors/Technicians so I hardly think these are "cushy" benefits. It cost us a fortune to go anywhere, as he can't travel by bus so we have to use taxis. I pay a carer to come in for an hour or so a week to take over while we have a break from one another and TBH this takes almost every bit of CA I receive so again hardly a cushy benefit. Please take time to consider what you write before you post.

Good luck,

Tehya

barney_stubble

Thanks for the info. Much obliged.

Re: the comment about carers and cushy, sorry if it offended. I am unfortunate enough to know several couples who see one person's entirely fabricated illnesses (or hypercondria) as an excuse to give up work and live the life o'reilly. I resent these people enjoying a higher quality of life by what amounts to fraud in my book and I get a bit snarky about it. One example I know of was a woman who gave up a 60k a year job, to 'care' for her terminally lazy husband (nothing else wrong with him) and they now live rent free in a modern apartment and have upwards of 1k a month to blow on toys and gadgets. Makes me sick. I am sure these people constitute a large chunk of so called disabled people hoovering money and good will out of the pockets of people like yourself.

I'm sorry if I offended you and I will try to remember not everyone is a scumbag!

Oldernotwiser

barney_stubble wrote: »

Thanks for the info. Much obliged.

Re: the comment about carers and cushy, sorry if it offended. I am unfortunate enough to know several couples who see one person's entirely fabricated illnesses (or hypercondria) as an excuse to give up work and live the life o'reilly. I resent these people enjoying a higher quality of life by what amounts to fraud in my book and I get a bit snarky about it. One example I know of was a woman who gave up a 60k a year job, to 'care' for her terminally lazy husband (nothing else wrong with him) and they now live rent free in a modern apartment and have upwards of 1k a month to blow on toys and gadgets. Makes me sick. I am sure these people constitute a large chunk of so called disabled people hoovering money and good will out of the pockets of people like yourself.

I am sure that other, equally silly people, look at you,with no physical difficulties, and think that you should be able to work. That's not to say that you could, but from the outside it must seem so.

Carers Allowance is only available to people looking after someone claiming medium to high rate DLA care so it has nothing to do with the fact that you're single and you wouldn't be the person getting the money if you were eligible anyway.

You need to address your electricity use,which is excessive for a small flat except in the height of a bad winter. There may be better providers for you but the problem is mainly one of overconsumption. There's lots of information on MSE about cutting down electricity use, which I am sure you will find helpful.

Indie_Kid

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I am sure that other, equally silly people, look at you,with no physical difficulties, and think that you should be able to work. That's not to say that you could, but from the outside it must seem so.

Exactly. RE: the comments about being terminally ill - my grandad has just been diagnosed with throat and mouth cancer. I saw him last week and he looks fine - it doesn't mean he is.

Carers Allowance is only available to people looking after someone claiming medium to high rate DLA care so it has nothing to do with the fact that you're single and you wouldn't be the person getting the money if you were eligible anyway.

Yeah. I know people who claim for friends, children or parents.

Do you need to use all the electric that you do? When I moved out, my parents (plus brother) were paying £65 per month for theirs - we got told this was rather high.

slobs

I refuse to believe a single person in a one bed flat can use that much electricity. We have 5 people in a large old 3 bed house, 2 of whom are disabled and at home 24/7, so our power consumption is really high but our bill is £112 month.
With a bill like you have, I would have my meter and appliances checked, seems way way too high for a single person in small flat.

Mum2twins98

What a terrible statement to make, i am a carer cushy is isn't £53.90 for 24/7 work certainly isn't , having had no sleep changing 12 year olds nappy washing and dressing him ...
So too your rant.... £30 for electricity (why is it so much look in to this )
You get your rent and council; tax paid as well me being in a relationship we get just over a £100 a week too live on we manage. My cousin also has the same problems as you shes just got in to work and she said it was the medication any one could have given her

barney_stubble

Electricity bill is about £100 a month. I rent, so I have absolutely no control over what the heating and water does, or how efficient they are sadly.

Even if my bill was halved it would be more than I can afford. Short of living in a van I am not sure what else I can do .. if I were to move or get a pre-pay meter it wouyld go up again. I know people with such meters paying far far more than I am.

BTW the average bill, on a standard tariff works out to be a yearly bill of around £1,127. My combined yearly benefit income is £3,000 or so. This does not take in to account inflation - my food bill has gone up 40% in the last two years alone and is nudging £50 a week (including travel to and from the supermarket which is nowhere near me). Also petrol. Even though I have a very economical engine (80mpg) it still bites deeper than I can afford. Are you suggesting I surrender my mobility? And do what? In a dead ex mining town in Northern England? Just go mad? Even if I cut back on food and started to live on chips and frozen pizzas (and shortened my life and directly reduced my quality of life dramatically) I would still be £10-15 a month short on utilities. Its not just electric there's water rates too ..

Sorry guys but yeah, while I appreciate 'cut back' I am already living on 1/6th the national minimum wage, which is about 1/6th of the true cost of living. Short of turning to crime, I dont see how I am expected to survive here .. Sorry if that makes me snarky.

Indie_Kid

barney_stubble wrote: »

my food bill has gone up 40% in the last two years alone and is nudging £50 a week.

I live on half of this comfortably. (well, it can be anything from £13-26 per week)

shazza71_2

Barney,
have you tried the CAB?, they should be able to help you with your debt problems, as for all the rest i wish i knew, my hubby lost his job and we have 2 teenagers. We have been living on £200 pw and i know how hard it is..i also pay a fortune for electric and gas(£50pw) more in the winter, and with 2 kids to clothe and feed its a nightmare, sorry i cant help but you should see the CAB and at least the debt problems can be sorted out.

sharon

gazfocus

barney_stubble wrote: »

Electricity bill is about £100 a month. I rent, so I have absolutely no control over what the heating and water does, or how efficient they are sadly.

Even if my bill was halved it would be more than I can afford. Short of living in a van I am not sure what else I can do .. if I were to move or get a pre-pay meter it wouyld go up again. I know people with such meters paying far far more than I am.

BTW the average bill, on a standard tariff works out to be a yearly bill of around £1,127. My combined yearly benefit income is £3,000 or so. This does not take in to account inflation - my food bill has gone up 40% in the last two years alone and is nudging £50 a week (including travel to and from the supermarket which is nowhere near me). Also petrol. Even though I have a very economical engine (80mpg) it still bites deeper than I can afford. Are you suggesting I surrender my mobility? And do what? In a dead ex mining town in Northern England? Just go mad? Even if I cut back on food and started to live on chips and frozen pizzas (and shortened my life and directly reduced my quality of life dramatically) I would still be £10-15 a month short on utilities. Its not just electric there's water rates too ..

Sorry guys but yeah, while I appreciate 'cut back' I am already living on 1/6th the national minimum wage, which is about 1/6th of the true cost of living. Short of turning to crime, I dont see how I am expected to survive here .. Sorry if that makes me snarky.

If your monthly bill is £100, that works out at £23pw. Is there nowhere nearer you can shop? How much do you spend weekly on travel to supermarkets - would it be cheaper to do it online?

I feed myself and my fiance on £30 a week and we're quite happy with what we get - ok we can't afford fresh joints of meat or anything, but they're luxeries we don't need.

As for the car, I wouldn't recommend surrendering your mobility but maybe cut back the amount you use it. If you go to the shops 3 times a week, maybe see if you can combine those trips to once a week.