What sort of help could my Dad get

qupe75

Hello all.

I am writing here about my father.

He is 61 and self employed. He should have taken a salary with his boss but the boss has milked him for years. Anyway back on topic, he has Parkinson's disease and has had it for about 16 years at least. It is really affecting him these days and there are a fair few weeks he will not be able to go into work and obviously not be paid. Therefore having no income coming in.

He gets contracts for his company of over a 500k to £1 million pounds but is only on a basic salary.

He is struggling to work and yet still tries, despite his memory getting worse. His concentration levels are very short now and he is always lethargic. He's blind in one eye and has had a toe amputated years ago which has severally affected his ability to get around and actually had a 2nd operation on the same foot a few weeks ago.

Basically he is trying to get pension credits to help him pay his bills etc and so he can retire but is struggling. His Doctor said years ago he would write a letter for him to retire him but he is proud and wanted to continue on.

He lives in London and still has a large secured loan on his property.

Can anyone suggest any routes that may be able to help him?

I don't know much about the benefits systems. I have no idea if Pensions Credits would be better than Disability Allowance, if he'd be able to claim disability allowance.


I have suggested he sells up and clears his debts and retires but he has lived in his home for 40 years and doesn't want to move, which I understand.

Sorry it's a long read. Many thanks for any help.

nannytone_2

if he doesnt actually have a mortgage, but a loan that is secured on the property, he won't get any help with it regardless of what benefit he is on.
it looks like his only option is to sell up.
if he retires through poor health, and has no savings, he would be entitled to pension credity.
also worth considering, is a claim for DLA if he has care/mobility needs.

qupe75

Thank you for your response.

I am going down next week to look at things, he is a bit confused by things. I am not sure if they are a Mortgage, as in a 2nd Mortgage, his 1st Mortgage is nearly paid off. He just said to me on the phone that the 2nd Mortgage, that is secured on the property, has 7 loans on it in total with the same provider. How the hell can a bank allow that? I need to check how this works too.

As far as I know Pension Credits will not help if the loan was for home improvements, would they help with the interest if it was for consolidation purposes?

McKneff

Are you sure he is self employed.

In one sentence yu say he is self employed and then in another yu say he gets basic salary.

If he gets a salary, he is not self employed. and he should be paid at least SSP from his employer.
Does he submit invoices to his boss, I
Is this the only company he works for, if so he is not really self employed. HMRC decides who is self employed, not employers.
Does he pay his own tax and NI. If he does and has been off work sick he could claim sick pay from the DWP.

Its all a bit contradictory, can you clarify.

qupe75

Sorry for the confusion.

Yes he is self employed but he works for a company that pay him a basic day rate, he pays the tax and NI. This is his main form of employment. He use to have his own business he ran as an extra income builder but has not used that for years.

He should have taken a commission salary for the contracts he gets the firm but he didn't.

sleepless_saver

He can claim for disability living allowance whether or not he is working, and it sounds like it would be worth doing. Best to get help with filling the form in.

If he wants to know how much he will get if he leaves work, he can run his details through the benefits checker.

He will not get any help with the interest on a secured loan for consolidation. It sounds like at some point he will have to think seriously about downsizing. Does he have any pensions apart from state pension?

qupe75

Thanks for the help everyone.

No he has no other pensions. I keep telling him he should downsize but he will not. It's not helping his health.

I do think a lady he knows is influencing him quite a lot in not moving, she seems to keep on at him not to move, and not really seeing the effect it's having on him.

She tells him to keep it as an inheritance for his kids, but I couldn't care two hoots about that. I want him to be able to enjoy the years he has left to the best of his ability.

nannytone_2

it won't be an inheritance anyway, because if he defaults on his loans, he will lose it anyway!

it's only an original mortgage thgat he could get help with ( if he were on the right benefits)
any second mortgage or loans secured on the property, wouldnt be considered.
so really, unless he wins the lottery, losing the house is almost certain.
he has the choice to sell it, and come out with something, or have it repossessed and lose the lot!

you need to explain to him exactly how dire his situation could become.

qupe75

I know about the loan side but trying to get him to listen, and remember at the minute, is not easy. Plus he has that nagging voice in his ear, who he sees daily encouraging him to stay all the time.

I am down there at the end of the week so I will try again to make him aware of how dire things are, just feel it might fall on deaf ears

Thanks all for the help re the benefit side, I didn't know much about that side but you have all backed up everything I have said to him alrerady.

I'll see what I can do when I go down.

McKneff

Let us know how you get on, if he's computer literate, get him to join this site, we'll sort him out:D

sleepless_saver

Perhaps you could try showing him the figures. If he is entitled to pension credit, he would be getting £137.35 a week. He would get his council tax paid. Everything else, fuel, food, loan repayment etc he would have to meet from the £137.You could use the budget tool on MSE to help make his current living costs clearer to him. And leave him with the figures on paper so he can't forget them!

If he were to get DLA that would obviously help a bit but he can't rely on having it permanently (because the rules are likely to be changing).