Not entilted to anything :(

Oldernotwiser

jennashanks wrote: »

I dont have £700 to live off a month. My partner has to pay for all his prescriptions. Due to his CF he is regularly having to get repeat prescriptions. My rent is £270 as I said, council tax is about £80. We only have a coal fire for heating which is fine in summer but in winter it costs a fortune.

Your op said that you earn £950 to £1000 pm and your partner gets £80. If your rent is £270 and your CT is £80, surely that leaves between £600 and £700 to live on?

It only costs £10 per month for a prepay certificate for prescriptions and food supplements like Ensure can be prescribed by your doctor.

andyandflo

G51shopaholic wrote: »

why does he only get £80 a month? That seems really low?

Have you tried a Benefit checker to tell you what your entitled to?

He is entitled to claim Income based Employment Support Allowance but this is reduced depending on the household income.
But it has all the disability add-on's. There are also different rates for under 25's (which I assume you are).

I've never understood what difference age makes - we all eat the same, we all need the same heating etc -
you don't get cheaper bills cause your under 25!

Nah, and why is it that when you get over 60 the single allowwnce goes up to £132 pw and couple £202 pw - I presume it gets more expensive again !!!

Oldernotwiser

andyandflo wrote: »

Nah, and why is it that when you get over 60 the single allowwnce goes up to £132 pw and couple £202 pw - I presume it gets more expensive again !!!

Retired people are not unemployed and most of them do not have the option of finding work.

dktreesea

Your situation sounds similar to a lot of people where one works and the other, for whatever reason is unemployed. The couple want to live together, but this usually means that the unemployed person then doesn't get access to benefits. The policy seems to be if you have a partner then it is up to them to support you, and you only get benefits if they can't.

Before paying for a prescription plan, it might be worth checking out if your partner is entitled to a national health exemption card. One of the conditions which could entitle him to one is having a continued physical disability "which means you cannot go out without help from another person". He would need a valid medical exemption certificate - www.nhs.uk has a lot of information on this topic.

SUPERMCNATURAL

hi jenna , just wanted to say how sorry i am for the situation you are in, i know where you are coming from. My partner was diagnosed with CMT last year which severely effects his feet, and as a printer impacted on his work, he had surgery at the beginning of the year, and was not working for over 3 months, and he was entitled to a grand total of £270 a month ! i am a student, and work part time. Unfortunately we were the same as you not entitled to a damn thing and i think its a disgrace, we struggled i ended up taking a second part time job. fortunately he returned to work yesterday, although has his surgery for the other foot in september.

What i wanted to say is not to listen to any BS answers you may get saying you have more than enough to live on, i experienced the same and we struggled big time for those months, also i was continually told by posters who thought the were doctors, telling me he can work and he would be back at work within a week as foot surgery is only minor !!!! (that one really bugged me lol as the orthopaedic surgeon stated it would be atleast 4mths), hang in there hopefully someone can help you properly!!!!!!

Sorry for such a long rant, i just cant believe that if you are young and dnt have children then you are left by the wayside in terms of help, something really needs to be done about this !!!!!!!!

andyandflo

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Retired people are not unemployed and most of them do not have the option of finding work.

As far as I remember the state retirement age currently for a male is 65 and for a woman - 60 (although that is increasing slowly to match that of a male).

So why would a MALE aged 60 who is 5 years off retirement age be given this extra money (which is means tested and said by the State to be the MINIMUM they need to live on)?

I do accept that when you get to an age that work is impossible, you need guaranteed State support. But surely at 60 (or 61 as it is now) the guy's living costs haven't increased from when he was 59!!!

The sooner Pension Credits are only available when you reach 65 (or the State determined retirement age if greater) the better it will be.

I wonder how many people are claiming Pension Credit that COULD work but choose not to.

SuziQ

The Cystic fibrosis trust has been lobbying for free prescriptions for sufferers but this hasn't gone through so far. The monthly DD option is affrodable at £10 though.
OP it does sound as though you are stuck between a rock and a hard place and need to find a way of cutting your outgoings down.I was in a similar position when my husband was ill with lupus years ago, luckily I was earning enough to get by once I pared my outgoings right down and we just had to manage for 9 months until he was well enough to work again.I really can't see that you will be any better off living on benefit (talking from experience here!) If you have debts, then try to negotiate a low repayment (I found lenders quite sympathetic as I contacted them before I missed any payments) and also try the grocery challenge, which I did and almost halved my grocery bill.Would you landlord allow some extra time to repay the arrears if you explain the situation?

wondergirl_2

Personally, I don't think you would be better off not working because right now you're getting around £200 per week income and the govt would only pay you half of this in benefits, although if you have to pay over £100 a week towards your rent and CT, it'd be a different issue. Look into DLA, this gets paid on top of any other income you have and based on your brief description, there is a chance your partner would get some.

SuziQ

She has already said her b/f is getting DLA at £75 a month.

BTW OP, I was recently waiting months for surgery and had to go completely onto a liquid diet. I found the cheapest way was to buy Complan on ofers-I usually got 2 boxes for £2.50. Slimfast is basically the same idea as complan and goves roughly the same calories - as I have to be careful with milk I made it up with lactose free milk. Other than that I am sure he could get diet supplements on prescription as someone else has stated-if he goes to a hospital unit they usually have a specialist nurse and these days they can sign prtescriptions for many things or get a prescription from the doctor for you. I buy a lot of my food on the reduced section at Asda and Tesco- well worth looking in to as well.

Hammyman

jennashanks wrote: »

Im so angry at the moment.

My partner has Cystic Fibrosis and has suffered with severe agroaphobia for the past 2 years. He cant leave the house without have a panic attack and being physically sick. He is unable to work because of this.

My partner currently gets nearly £80 per month. I work full time and clear around about £950 - £1000 per month.
I have had rent arrears in the past so my rent each month is sitting at £273 and council tax is £80.
After paying for my car, electric and coal for our fire we have barely enough to live on.

How can I support both of us on my wage. I am too young for working Tax credits. I was asked if I could struggle on for another 2 years until I was old enough. I honestly feel I cant.

I fail to see how you don't have enough to live on. My mortgage is £400 a month, my council tax £100 a month. For £1200 a month we manage to run our house for the four of us and that includes running two cars.

Take yourself over to the debt free wannabee forum and post a SoA on there. With a rent and council tax as low as yours, you should easily be able to manage to live on £1000 a month so something is amiss.