Friend recently widowed-finding it hard to make ends meet...

schoolrunmum

As the title says,my best friend died recently, and her husband is finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet without her salary. Even thought she had been suffering from a long term illness,her employers had very kindly continued paying her sick pay until the end. He is now finding it very difficult to manage,he has 2 young children to support. Can anyone give me a clue as to ANY benefits he may be entitled to claim? He works full time, and I have no idea of his income level,except that it isn't enough! Any thoughts would be of great help as he has never tried claiming anything before-nor me, so we don't know where to start.......xx

happy35

If they were married he may be able to claim widowed parents allowance, you will be able to find out about this on the direct.gov site

He may also be able to claim Tax Credits and also Child Benefit.

MrsManda

Get him to put his details into one of the benefit calculators below to give him some idea what he's likely to be entitled to.

Also if he reads the DebtFreeWannabe Board he may find ways of reducing his outgoings which could be helpful.

https://www.dwpe-services.direct.gov.uk/portal/page/portal/ba/lp?_piref278_36249_278_36248_36248.__ora_navig=

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

System

If he hasn't already done so he needs to change the child benefit over to his name if it was in his wifes. Similarly he needs to make a new tax credit claim in his name.

Citizens Advice are very helplful and can give him advice on other help/benefits he may be entitled to.

sleepless_saver

Some employers schemes pay out on death in service.

Apart from that he may well be entitled to bereavement benefits on the basis of his late wife's NI contributions and should claim. Here is the link. NB There is a time limit for this.

Other benefits would be child tax credit which might need to be reassessed and child benefit. If his income is really low he may be also entitled to working tax credit and council tax benefit, plus housing benefit if renting. MrsManda has already provided link to benefit checker.

Jowo_2

In addition to the advice above, I recommend that your friend downloads the Budget Planner on the MSE website which will help him understand exactly what his outgoings and income are, and this will help him identify where to make changes and savings.

For each expense, he will be able to challenge it by going through the advice on this website to find a cheaper deal or tariff, how to reduce energy consumption, etc.

There is loads of fantastic advice on this site for more frugal and thrifty living. For example, a member has written a recipe site where a family can feed themselves nutritionally balanced food for £100 per month.

http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

Hopefully the previous advice will increase his income, but he should take this opportunity to understand his budget and how to make what he has stretch much further.

Starrystarrynight

Would be worth checking out of the Bereavement Payment would be payable in your friend's circumstances.

schoolrunmum

Just bumping...

Indie_Kid

Has he had a benefits check done?

Jowo_2

Tenant (private or social landlord)? Home owner? any debts? Ages of kids? Access to paid child care or relatives to look after the children? salary?

Give a bit more info about his current situation which will help forum members rather than just bumping a vague thread.

schoolrunmum

Jowo wrote: »

Tenant (private or social landlord)? Home owner? any debts? Ages of kids? Access to paid child care or relatives to look after the children? salary?

Give a bit more info about his current situation which will help forum members rather than just bumping a vague thread.

Home owner (well,mortgaged!) 2 kids under 16,he has to pay for some childcare-not sure how much,rest is done my mates as favour...