Help!!!!!!!!!!!

horseman12

Hi everyone,

today I took the decision to leave my job to care for my 2 and a half yr old daughter, I used to work 3pm till finnish, my wife has Bipolar disorder and is on strong medication which often sends her to sleep which left me worrying all night @ work if my daughter is safe, i cant go on like that anymore so have decided to stay home and care for my daughter and wife

does anybody know what help I could get financialy? we rent our house and she already gets ESA

thanks for any replies

Molly41

I think you can become part of her ESA claim. You can then claim CTC and perhaps carers allowance. Does your wife claim DLA (disabled living allowance)? Oh and I think you can claim housing benefit and council tax benefit from local council.I think MIND can give advice. For what it's worth I think you have made the right decision. Hopefully it will only be short-term. Perhaps there can be a review of her medication but Im on some pretty strong stuff myself and know that I generally cant get past 6.30/7pm without falling asleep. luckily my kids are all older now but i often worry how i would have coped if they had been toddlers.

horseman12

Thanks Molly

kingfisherblue

Carer's Allowance can only be claimed if certain criteria are met, the first being that the person they are looking after is in receipt of high or middle rate care DLA. You also need to be caring for that person for a minimum of 35 hours a week. There are other criteria, but I don't think they would be a problem for you (can't be a full time student, can't earn more than about £95 a week, and can't receive CA if geting a full pension).