step dad sick help with money issues for mum

mummyofboys

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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?

2sides2everystory

Disability Living Allowance maybe whilst stepdad can't work? http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/FinancialSupport/DisabilityLivingAllowance/DG_10011925

I am no benefits expert and hope I am not being too optimistic but I would imagine help with Council Tax is also a likely entitlement ...

I am sure there must be other angles too and that one of the resident "experts" will pitch in tomorrow morning ... although you may get a better or as useful response if you post in the Benefits & Tax Credits forum.

CH27

Try claiming DLA for your step father but you have to have had the condition for 12 weeks before it is paid.
Try claiming Housing & Council Tax Benefits.

RAS

Go to www.turn2us.org.uk to find out if mum can claim working tax credit, CT benefit or housing support. make the claim
s today.
As per your other thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/42962748#Comment_42962748 do a proper statement of affairs.

Is the car on HP or is it a standard loan?

In whose names are all the debts? List for each one.

Does dad have PPI on any of the debts in his name? Will it pay out? If not, reclaim the money spent already.

Read the gas and electric meters and asee if they are in front?

Then come back and start thinking about store cupboard challenges, possible a de-clutter and selling some stuff

mummyofboys

RAS wrote: »

Go to www.turn2us.org.uk to find out if mum can claim working tax credit, CT benefit or housing support. make the claim
s today.
As per your other thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/42962748#Comment_42962748 do a proper statement of affairs.

Is the car on HP or is it a standard loan?

In whose names are all the debts? List for each one.

Does dad have PPI on any of the debts in his name? Will it pay out? If not, reclaim the money spent already.

Read the gas and electric meters and asee if they are in front?

Then come back and start thinking about store cupboard challenges, possible a de-clutter and selling some stuff

Debts-

Littlewoods -step dads name
hp car finance step dads name
credit card- step dads name
DFS - credit in step dads mothers name

Gas/elec Today have switched to quarterly billing so no payments for 3 months same with water

have sorted a strict budget for her however the above debts are not included- can we just pay token payments?

Council have been no help they said housing benefit or council tax would take 6 weeks to start processing!!

RAS

Is the house council or private rented?

RAS

Also


Can you please check whether there is payment protection insurance on any of the accounts? or whether he has any of his own (unlikely but..) or any priivate health insurance.

It would have helped a lot if I had known that mother had private hospital cover when she was in for weeks; we could have got a small payment from them. Missed it because she did not say.

mummyofboys

RAS wrote: »

Also


Can you please check whether there is payment protection insurance on any of the accounts? or whether he has any of his own (unlikely but..) or any priivate health insurance.

It would have helped a lot if I had known that mother had private hospital cover when she was in for weeks; we could have got a small payment from them. Missed it because she did not say.

The house is private rented, no he has def not got any private health care cover.

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.

RAS

Has he got any payment protection insurance. THis is a standard rip-off on debt so he may have it without knowing.

With respect to the rwent, you need to check what housing they are entitled to (number of rooms) and then work out what the LHA is for that size of house.

If there is a third adult, they will deduct £60.60 for the LHA payment, per week (Check this) and the third person needs to pay one third of the CT and utilities on top of this.

dancingfairy

I'm just wondering if your mum needs to take time off work? can she visit after hours? before work? in her lunch break? or is it life threatening? hopefully if it is critical the critical stage will only last for a few days and she will be able to go back to work?
How is your mum paid? weekly? monthly?
When have the bills got to be paid - what dates and how much?
Depending on how much she has now and when the bills are due - I would split what I could between the essentials so if I had 200 pounds and I had to pay rent and ctax and electric I would pay prob. something like 100 to rent , 50 to council tax and some to electric just so everybody got something.

The most important are rent, council tax , utilities and food and of course money to get to and from the hospital for visiting. Any unsecured debts are not a priority. I would write to the debt companies - point out that unfortunately your step-dad is ill in hospital at the moment and therefore not working and earning and that you will be in touch in the near future to work out a repayment plan with them.
Have you applied for any benefits for them yet? You need to get the ball rolling on things as soon as possible and then start chasing them up. Also you may then qualify for hardship grants etc but you need to start.
df

RAS

Hi

There are a lot of other comments on the other thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...=#post42962748 .