Please Help, Too Proud for Benefit Advice

joomla

Dear MSE, collectively you will all of dealt with something similar and I have a stressed relative in a bad situation and your all the first though I had. Anything you could feedback would be really really amazing.
My Dad is 63, 64 soon, very very proud and never claimed anything from the state at all.
He hasn’t worked for 6 months and is living of his credit cards. The cards are nearly exhausted and close to the financial abyss. He rents a flat from my brother and has a car worth about £2k, no savings, no nothing. He does have a pension from employer 20 years ago which pays I think £150pm.
He feels that as the “dole” is £90 it isn’t worth it. I see his point but I thought that there is help with pretty much everything it just has other names, otherwise how can these genuine advantage-takers we see all the time survive?
Does anyone know what he should ask about? Will he get anything for rent or anything? He did once apply for winter heating allowance ( due to over 60) and to my amazement he could only apply at two dates per year (bureaucracy) which he kept missing.
What should might he be eligible for?
,

GlasweJen

Quite a lot of questions for you before I can give accurate advice.
First is important, under what circumstances did he leave work? Was it redundancy, did he just leave voluntarily or was he sacked?

Who does your father live with? Is your brother a commercial landlord (i.e. registered for tax with his letting houses) and does your father have a tenancy agreement? If your father were to stop paying rent would your brother have him evicted through the proper channels?

joomla

GlasweJen, thanks:
He is a contractor and allwasy has period when he doesnt work, so was self employed as a Ltd company.
He lives on his own.

My probably would be classed a commercial , he is paying tax. Yes there is a tenancy agreement and yes he would have to evict him as there is a mortgage.

joomla

*brother would be classed as commercial landlord.
* while he always has quiet periods, his age is a factor and the periods get longer and longer.

GlasweJen

Ah, has your dad officially wound up his business or is he just not able to work more than 16 hours a week at the moment?

If working less than 16 hours per week he will be able to claim jobseekers allowance but he would have to declare any hours that he does do (if any) when he signs on each week/fortnight.

As it is a commercial tenancy he will be able to claim local housing allowance which varies by area, if you go onto https://www.entitledto.com it will give you an indication of how much this is.

As your dad is living alone (i assume?) he will get a 25% discount on his council tax, he can also claim council tax benefit and may not have to pay any at all, entitled to will give you figures for that too.

GlasweJen

Should say that winding up a self employed business and then claiming JSA is one of those very grey areas and he could be sanctioned for up to 26 weeks for intentionally making himself unemployed.

joomla

That is a good question, it hasnt been wound up. It coould be there is nothing in it. He isnt working or earning, so maybe he should. He is physically able to work so if he did wind up and engage in looking for employment he would get JSA?

joomla

* as opposed to Contracts( sales)

GlasweJen

No, he shouldn't wind up unless he has another job to go to, he can remain self employed and claim jobseekers as someone who works less than 16 hours per week while he is looking for a replacement job.

joomla

*sanctioned? why would he be glassed as "intentionally". He does want to work.

Indie_Kid

Because he's over 60, he could claim pension credit instead.