Housing benefit and DLA

James3891

Hi,

Wonder if anyone can advise on this. A relative has had a mental health issue (Depression mostly)for around 10 years and receives the £212 fortnightly incapacity benefit plus was getting about 90% of his rent covered by housing, 90% Council tax benefit and then had low rate Care component DLA added on top.

He has around £400 a month free after all things are paid out.He is 30 , no kids, lives alone . He's now on a low maintenance dosage and physically has no impairment.Even he says he has more than enough to live very well.

He has befriended the wrong people over the years who he has often given money out to, and generally spends the money each month on takeaways, drink and still giving it out to others.

We have slowly been getting him more responsible , he has never had an issue going shopping, goes to pubs, can pay his bills etc so as a family we always said he's fortunate to have more free each month than some of us working and to use it carefully.

We finally got things more under control then due to a friend of his with a similar condition using a community law service to claim all sorts, including carers allowance for looking after his mum and her getting it to look after him when both have depression and living in same house.

He tried to get income support on top of IB and DLA but they rightfully said no he already has well above the baseline to live on.

He freely admits he doesn't need any additional money but seems the lady at the CL service went for pushing up his DLA rates as they aren't means tested. Initially rejected but won on appeal. Backdated to July.

Went from Low Care to medium and also low Mobility due to needing supervision with walking due to anxiety etc , it hasn't sat well with anyone as we know and he admits it isn't needed.

Anyway his housing benefit stopped totally pending the outcome, but why would they stop it if the DLA is not taken into account? As a family we are hoping he needs to pay atleast half his rent so he doesn't have £600 a month floating when he has no extra needs to spend it on. We can see it going on more drink and takeaways sadly.

I know the CL service probably helps plenty who need that extra but they are doing him more damage than they know giving him such an amount. I hope it doesn't sound too harsh but i see him 4/5 times a week and know what he does more than anyone in the family or who works with him.

Is he likely to get his housing re-instated ? Atleast we can plan ahead and try to keep things under control .

Appreciate any advice , i know its a bit of an unusual situation and many on here really do need that extra income.

Tehya

Hi, an increase in DLA shouldn't lower housing benefit if fact it's more likely to increase if going from lower to midlle or higher rate care. We went from paying over £60 a week to paying nothing when my hubby got DLA although our other circumstances were changing too.

mitch161

WOW how honest, LOL :T

i would tell the CL to stop with the changing his classification. if he only suffers mental problems ie depression and anxiety. then pushing for low mobility should not be awarded.

if the review board sees he can walk to the pub alone on a route he trusts to a pub he trusts without limping. and at the pubs christmas party is filmed dancing.. it will absolutly put a stop to all payments while investigations are done. sanctions will be put in place and rather then a livable £200 a week. which has by understanding what i have read gone up to £600. it will shoot down to 0 or if at best £45 a week for hardship.

so try to be involved in the home visits and dont get him to sign about increasing awards.

it will bite him in the bum. and really mess with his head later.

also might be worth putting the excess cash aside. and never touch it. who knows they may ask for the benefits back or atleast gives hime something to live on if benefits cease completely.

might be worth chatting to him about support for ease the depression by doing some voluntary work to give him some new experiences as a stepping stone into work when he feels mentally ready to take that step

Prodigy

First of all IB and IS is claimed as either one or the other....you cant get both...

If his revision of DLA has been moved up to middle rate care then if he lives alone he is entitled to a severe disability premium...if not then he isnt entitled....he should have got a disability premium anyway on DLA low care....did he have Incapacity Benefit – long term rate or short term higher rate paid at the long term rate before hand??.

If anything his HB shouldnt have been stopped..it should have went up (providing he lives alone to get SDP)...if not he should have got a disability premium anyway on top of his basic HB. Now he is getting middle rate DLA care someone can get carers allowance for looking after him....

If he is considered 'lacking in mental capacity' to manage his money... then you can get a continuing power of attorney for him where someone would be in charge of his financial affairs completely but this would involve getting lawyers and doctors involved. This is a serious thing to do though and would be advised to take more advice...especially if he is befriending the wrong people if hes giving money too...

Hope this helps....

Indie_Kid

mitch161 wrote: »

WOW how honest, LOL :T

i would tell the CL to stop with the changing his classification. if he only suffers mental problems ie depression and anxiety. then pushing for low mobility should not be awarded.

Why? I need supervision due to my mental health problems too; as do many other people with mental health issues.

First of all IB and IS is claimed as either one or the other....you cant get both...

You can if IB is less than what the government says you need to live on.

Prodigy

You get up to 68.95 if on IB standard rate (short term)....65.35 on IS if over 25....law states you legally need to live on 64.30 (if over 25) and less if under 25....therefore you cant claim both...

Indie_Kid

Prodigy wrote: »

You get up to 68.95 if on IB standard rate (short term)....65.35 on IS if over 25....law states you legally need to live on 64.30 (if over 25) and less if under 25....therefore you cant claim both...

You can claim both. if you claim DLA, you get disability premiums. If IB is less than basic allowance plus disability premiums, you can claim IS on top.

dmg24

sh1305 is correct - IB and IS can be claimed together.

mitch161

i think what the OP is trying to say is that his friend does not need a carer and can walk about fine. just suffers from abit of anxiety and requires tablets.

the team that check up on him have been saying 'oh you can get this, and this and this just by filling in a form' without thinking about it.

just because he is in a category he qualifies for it. even though his physical state doesnt NEED it they still tell him, go ahead, take it, its free money.

the morals of the friend are that if the guy doesnt need the extra cash why take it.

he is worried that by signing these forms may subject the guy to having the categories changed in favour of financial gain but worried if the new category was reviewed he could be considered as not requiring them, benefits stopping completely and asked to pay back the money. for the sake of bad advice just to get extra cash he does not need.

i would say to the OP again if the friend doesnt need the cash then dont sign anything that looks like there has been a change of circumstances to get him extra cash.

if it back fires the damage could be worse then the gains.

government are tightening up on benefits and they say if someone says 'i didnt know i wasnt suppose to sign up to level 2" is no excuse.

just because one nurse says its ok dont go ahead unless you have check with GP and benefits office first.

prime example.
after resigning under protest (constructive dismissal claim ongoing) i signed onto Jobseekers as although stressed and depressed i didnt want to sit at home i wanted to look for a job.

they said oh yea it will be fine.. 2 months in. im now sanctioned and for a whopping 26 weeks. unable to now go onto IS or ESA due to sanction. and now living on (hopefully this week) hardship payments.

it is easy enough to be classed as entitled to things as its a bit of a grey area. but digging down deep does your friend actually require it or actually from a mobility point of view qualify for it.

again you dont want benefit investigators snapping camera shots of your friend dancing at the pubs christmas party, when he suppose to be mid level (medium mobility) dancing better then a healthy guy with two left feet lol

if he doesnt have mobility issues IE if a stranger could walk past him and not see that he is disabled then he shouldnt claim medium level mobility.

dmg24

mitch161 wrote: »

if he doesnt have mobility issues IE if a stranger could walk past him and not see that he is disabled then he shouldnt claim medium level mobility.

I haven't read the rest of this post, as I saw this line and realised it was mitch161 talking his usual tosh ...

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

mitch161 wrote: »

if he doesnt have mobility issues IE if a stranger could walk past him and not see that he is disabled then he shouldnt claim medium level mobility.

Now that IS unfair. And wrong. I don't look disabled when someone walks past me. Only when I start to move is there any inking, and even then it is not visible that it hurts all the time.