New to all this benefit stuff, help please!

LynV

My husband had been off work since last April with depression claimed his SSP through work which ran out and then went throught the Jobcentre to claim ESA. On 20th January this year he was in hospital having had a stroke. He is home now and has been for 5 weeks but he has no short term memory and at best long term memory is scrambled. In view of this he cannot go to work for some considerable time. We have had Payment Protection (Cardif Pinnacle) on the mortgage since he has been off with depression but this finished with the payment this month. As this is a different illness to the one they were paying out for, should we send in another form and claim again for the stroke and related problems? Advice please.

Also what else can we claim for I have a claim in for working tax credit and have been waiting ages, a claim for Council Tax Benefit and have been waiting ages, Claimed for DLA a week ago and got a letter saying they were contacting his doctor. We have been told it can take up to 11 weeks to get the claim result back.

If we don't go back to payment protection can we claim any help with the mortgate through ESA.

Also is there anything else we can claim. I am on about £752 bring home every month and Alan gets £180 per fortnight through ESA plus support. We have a son who works as an apprentice he does not get that much so we don't take anything off him. Our other son is just coming to the end of his University course and then is taking a year out and not sure what to do so he won't have any income. We have all the normal bills to pay so what else is out there for us?

SuziQ

What an awful situation for you, I'm so sorry.You may well be able to submit a new claim but it depends on your policy. I had PPI with Barclays and was able to make 2 separate claims back to back but some policies don't allow that, you may have to prove via his specialist that the two illnesses were unrelated as I did. I hope you can get it, as that is what we pay our premiums for at the end of the day-I was lucky enought to get payments covered for 24 months in total. Did you get help with the DLA application? If not successful then there is help out there to appeal.I don't know of anything else you can claim but if there is anything I am sure someone will be along to help you. Good luck and I hope he gets better quicker than you are expecting.

Plans_all_plans

I am sorry for your situation, but I really feel your son as an apprentice should be paying you something for his keep. Even if it is a small amount he earns, you need to take something off him, even if it's just a few quid a week. Every little helps and you may end up in dire straits if you dont capitalise on every bit of money you can. Good luck.

Indie_Kid

You can only get help with mortgage interest if Alan is on income-based ESA.

LynV

Thanks SuzyQ. Plans all Plans and SH1305. I will try to prove they are unrelated and see if I can sort something out. My son has agreed to pay me £20 per week now which helps and Alan is on income based ESA so if claim for PPI fails we can possibly get interest paid then. You have all been really helpful if anyone else has any suggestions for me please feel free to post.

LynV

How long do you have to wait for a decision on Council Tax Benefit? I have put in two payments of the full rate now since I applied for it.

Witter

LynV wrote: »

How long do you have to wait for a decision on Council Tax Benefit? I have put in two payments of the full rate now since I applied for it.

Hi, my sister has just made a claim for housing and council tax benefit and was told it normally takes about 30 days but could be longer if they are quite busy. They will backdate it from the date you put the claim in

LynV

I have checked the PPI plan but won't be able to claim. It states that for two unrelated illnesses he has to have returned to work for a month before he can claim again. Which of course can't happen now. So thats it. May go through job centre to see if they will pay the interest and we will be able to make up the rest now that I have the working tax credit payments coming through. A lady went throught the form with me and made the situation worse than it is to me and put things in that I did not actually say so am quite hopeful that will work out for us as well.

AnxiousMum

You might want to contact any of your creditors for debts that you might be paying out on and see if they can accept a nominal payment from you until you are back on your feet. A horrible situation to be in, but I hope that Alan recovers well with your help.

Indie_Kid

AnxiousMum wrote: »

You might want to contact any of your creditors for debts that you might be paying out on and see if they can accept a nominal payment from you until you are back on your feet. A horrible situation to be in, but I hope that Alan recovers well with your help.

And if you need to, speak to someone like citizens advice. They can act on your behalf if you want them to.

LynV

Our Citizens advice centre not too good. Can't reach them on the phone to make an appointment as just answer machine. Plus don't have time to queue for a number and wait. I did see a man at the Council who deals with debt and is impressed at how well we are managing. I want to get debt free as quick as we can and now that working tax credit payments are coming in we can maybe set some aside and start about getting debt free. Some are only small ones now so if we can clear them and then put the extra to the bigger ones we may get sorted well now. I am grateful for all the tips you are giving me on here it is all very helpful.