step dad sick help with money issues for mum

mummyofboys

Hi

just looking for abit of advice , my step dad has been admitted to hosp tonight with a serious heart issue. apparently their is a bug that has entered his bloodstream an is attacking his arterys and valves in the heart he has been admitted into hosp and they sed if they can get on top of it he is looking at a 3week min hosp stay and antibiotics after for up to 8 weeks.

He is a self employed painter and my mum works full time. My mum will not get pay for being off work , and my step father doesnt pay Ni only tax so he isnt going to be able to claim any stat sick pay ect.

What can i do to help on top of all her worries about her husband she has the added pressure of money, she has no savings and neither does he, they only have me my brother and sister really as family and we dont have any money to borrow them.

Her outgoings as far as im aware are

rent 600
council tax 124
car finance £250
littlewoods - unsure
credit card- unsure
gas -57
elec -47
water 38
tv 12.12

how can i help would she be entitled to any help, she has pretty bad credit, could she be entitled to any low income tax credits?

I have suggested we ask the council for her two free payments now instead of next year and i have suggested she changes her gas/elec to quarterly so she can get the money together once he is better. any ideas?

gonzo127

well first of all i thought even self employed people paid tax and NI, just not as they earn but at the end of the year so he might be able to get something.

of course contact CAB and the benifits office and ask them directly what they are entitled to (could also check out the entitled to website however i am not sure how that would be set up for a short team illness)

other thing is use a proper budget calc http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html is a pretty good one

next find out how bad their credit rating is by getting one of the free credit reports, this should also inform you of all the companies they have credit with.

once you have a list of all unsecured debt companies, phone up and explain the situation and ask for a payment break, just bare in mind that even if they wont give them one officailly you still only have to pay what they can afford (think debt management plan) - however this will of course go against them for the next 6 years, however in this situation i would say your mum and step dads health are worth more than a slightly tarnished credit history.

also look into their grocery situation what do they have in their cuboards etc and see how what meals you can make out of what left, or see how you can stretch what they have with the minimum amount of items needed from the supermarket, once done see about batch cooking as much as you can and putting in some tubs in the freezer, basically home made ready meals for your mum so she can still eat properly without having to worry about cooking as all she would have to do is take it out of the freezer and microwave them

i woudl also be looking into why their gas and electric are so high, have they got arrears? can yo uphone up the company and see if there are any cheaper tarrifs they can go on, same with mobile phones if they are on contract phone up to find out if they are on the best tarrif for their usage, if not ask them to change to a more suitable tarrif, the worst they can say is no

i am sure there is quite a bit more you coudl do but i think that the above would be a reasonable start

ladymarmalade1970

I assumed the gas and electric were per month and was wondering why they were so low???
OP, maybe you should post this in the benefits section as there are people there very knowledgeable about this sort of thing. Try not to worry as she must be entitled to something surely?? Do they have any sort of advisers at the hospital as this must be quite a common occurrence.

gonzo127

ladymarmalade1970 wrote: »

I assumed the gas and electric were per month and was wondering why they were so low???

low??

i must be doing something right then, 4 bed semi, me wife 2 teenagers and a toodler, wife and toodler home all day and we only pay a combined gas and electric of £90 a month and it looks like we will be able to drop that to £80

smartpicture

If you're self-employed you pay a small amount of NI every week, then a % of your income at the end of the year - assuming you earn enough, which he must do if he's paying tax. I would definitely investigate this, and fairly quickly as I don't know if you can back-date sick pay claims, but you should be entitled to this if he is self-employed.

McKneff

Smartpicture is correct, NI is payable over weeks and then another level at year end.

I would check with him as if he's not paying NI he could be in trouble because its compulsory over a certain amount.
If he is paying tax then he is earning over the limit and must pay NI. If he is paying this then he should be entitled to SSP or similar.

NI also goes towards your state pension.

As for your mum, could she take some paid holiday to start with. If he is in hospital it really doesnt mean she has to stop working alltogether, she doesnt need to be in the hospital 16 hours a day.

mummyofboys

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 800
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 235
Total monthly income.................... 1035
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 250
Rent.................................... 600
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 167
Electricity............................. 47
Gas..................................... 57
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 40
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 14
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 42
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1609.12

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 8000.....(250)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 8000......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
littlewoods....................0.........100.......0
credit card....................1000......40........0
dfs............................1500......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........2500......140.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,035
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,609.12
Available for debt repayments........... -574.12
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 140
Amount short for making debt repayments. -714.12
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -8,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,500
Net Assets.............................. -10,500
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

mummyofboys

McKneff wrote: »

Smartpicture is correct, NI is payable over weeks and then another level at year end.

I would check with him as if he's not paying NI he could be in trouble because its compulsory over a certain amount.
If he is paying tax then he is earning over the limit and must pay NI. If he is paying this then he should be entitled to SSP or similar.

NI also goes towards your state pension.

As for your mum, could she take some paid holiday to start with. If he is in hospital it really doesnt mean she has to stop working alltogether, she doesnt need to be in the hospital 16 hours a day.

I will have to ask her about this- im cluless have never been self employed and neither has my husband...she seemed pretty sure though?

mummyofboys

My mum will get full pay they are letting her use her holidays

RAS

mummyofboys wrote: »

My mum will get full pay they are letting her use her holidays

Hi

She probably need to keep those for when he gets home. it would be better to get back into work as much as possible while he is in hospital.

RAS

Has mum also checked whether she can get working tax credit?