Dad in hospital what happens with his benefits?

silvercrown

My dad claims DLA and ESA but he deals with it all himself and my mum has now been thrown into a panic because my dad has been rushed into intensive care and she has been told she has to tell the benefits agency immediately - obviously she is finding everything very overwhelming and spends as much time at the hospital as she can and then spends the rest of the time on the phone to people calling to ask how he is. Basically it's not looking good. He has multiple organ failure and is on a ventilator/dialysis and god knows what else. The doctors say it's a long road ahead - looking at weeks/months in intensive care. Does anyone know what will happen with his benefits? Obviously my mum is going to call and let them know the situation but I'd like to get a handle on things first so that she can be prepared for whatever they tell her (and it will sink in more as she tends to forget what she's told due to all the stress). Also wondering what will happen to her if my dad doesn't recover - she's 60 and receives a very small private pension (about £70 a week I think she said). She was getting a carer's allowance but this was stopped (maybe to do with her starting to get her pension I don't know) she doesn't have any other income other than a 2 hour cleaning job. Would she be able to claim JSA or anything? I am 99.9% positive they don't have any kind of life cover. The type of work my dad did before he got sick were just minimum wage type things where they weren't thinking of extra outgoings to have to pay like life insurance - now unfortunately it would have been a good idea. Any advice much appreciated.

sheeps68

I'd ask if there was a welfare rights officer or a social worker who can deal with it on his behalf.
I inform DLA when I come out and thats OK up to 20 days. No idea with ESA etc

RAS

You do not need to do this "immediately".

Check how long he can spend in hospital before it affects his benefits.

I think is was 6 weeks but am not sure now.

pmlindyloo

Here is the link that tells you everything you need to know about what happens re: benefits and hospital stays.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/disabledpeople/healthandsupport/hospitals/dg_4000474

cattie

Hospitals usually supply details of in patients to DWP, so even if you fail to tell them of a hospital stay, as many people do as they are too ill to even think of notifying DWP, the benefits will be adjusted once the benefits office receives the information and duration of the stay.

There is no rush to inform DWP about this, so don't let your mother get all worried and anxious over it, she has enough to worry about as it is.

I wish your father well.