63yr old disabled man been to esa tribunal

emmalmann

Just done the entitled page and after going through the page and filling it out. They say that for the couple to get it one of them has to be over 65 which neither of them are am i reading this right.

princessdon

emmalmann wrote: »

Just done the entitled page and after going through the page and filling it out. They say that for the couple to get it one of them has to be over 65 which neither of them are am i reading this right.

AFAIK - That is for the savings guarantee

As long as 1 (ie your mother) is of state pension age then the age of the partner is irrelevant - she could have a 20 year old toy boy and if they have no income (which your father doesnt) they can add them to their claim.

I will happily be corrected as I know very little about it (apart from google to see if my parents qualified - which they didn't due to a private pension) but that is my understanding.

Ie if your mum was claiming now - she'd need to be 65 - she was eligible before the new pension age for women.

pmlindyloo

emmalmann wrote: »

Just done the entitled page and after going through the page and filling it out. They say that for the couple to get it one of them has to be over 65 which neither of them are am i reading this right.

Am getting confused now

Please confirm that they receive:

Pension Credit - joint claim
Council Tax benefit
Housing Benefit
plus
DLA

Or

Pension Credit - single claim
No council tax benefit
No housing benefit
plus
DLA

or a mixture of both!

emmalmann

The bottom one they do get housing benfit and council tax benefit

von

Try clicking on the link "Get a Pension Credit estimate" but put your mother's details as the claimant and your father as her partner and see if she's entitled to any more.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/pensionsandretirementplanning/pensioncredit/dg_10018692

pmlindyloo

OK, so if I have got it right then they receive single claim Pension Credit and Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit.

So if this is correct then they have 2 choices.

1. Put in a joint claim for Pension credit (ie get mum to add dad to her claim)

or

2. Make another claim for ESA because of change of circumstances.

Now if they choose number 2 you will need help from someone like Mutleyfrog (hope that's the right name - done from memory!) or any of the other members who have detailed knowledge of the system.

The fact is that your dad changed from IB to ESA and would have been protected for the amount of money he was receiving from IB for a while. (one year?) This wouldn't have continued for ever unless he was in the support group and even then I believe that it would have ended when he reached pension age.

Also, am not sure if he puts in a new claim for ESA based on a change of circumstances whether he would get his old IB rate.

Perhaps the experts could answer!

The reason I am saying this is because some time in the not too distant future then his income is going to be reduced so they perhaps could be looking at their expenditure and see if they could reduce it in some way. The Debtfree Wannabe board is a good place for this (lovely people over there and not just for people who have debts)

If I have got anything wrong about ESA then I apologise and others will quickly correct me!

sleepless_saver

pmlindyloo wrote: »

OK, so if I have got it right then they receive single claim Pension Credit and Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit.

I don't see how this can be the case as you cant make a single claim for pension credit if you're part of a couple - it's the joint income that is always used for income related benefits.

His IB/ESA may have been taken into account in the original pension credit calculation leaving them with £22 a week in pension credit.

If he is not getting ESA any longer, then his wife should ask to be reassessed on the grounds that their income has fallen.

OP, can you give us actual figures for mother's state pension and any other income (individually, not added up).

grummps

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Have just done a quick calculation on the link putting him in as 63 years old today and it seems that he could have been claiming Pension Credit for some time.

Does someone want to check my calculations?

PS Have just checked the OP's history and seems his dad is transferring from IB so it is possible that his financial circumstances mean that he wouldn't be entitled to PC if he has a partner/savings etc.

Many people claim contribution based ESA right up to their 65th birthday and get a top up of Pension Credit, instead of claiming Pension Credit alone.

I do.

like many others it is a way of proving to everyone that they are sick/disabled instead of languishing on PC with people criticising them as being scroungers and parasites.

You cannot claim any means tested benefit, ESA or JSA and Pension Credit, you have to choose which one you want, ESA if you are sick, JSA if unemployed and Pension Credit if you want to opt out of everything!

After 65 you are only allowed to claim PC, ESA & JSA are not available.

pmlindyloo

sleepless_saver wrote: »

I don't see how this can be the case as you cant make a single claim for pension credit if you're part of a couple - it's the joint income that is always used for income related benefits.

His IB/ESA may have been taken into account in the original pension credit calculation leaving them with £22 a week in pension credit.

If he is not getting ESA any longer, then his wife should ask to be reassessed on the grounds that their income has fallen.

OP, can you give us actual figures for mother's state pension and any other income (individually, not added up).

I think you have 'hit the nail on the head'.

i have played around with some figures on the turn2us benefits calculator and if you put in the OP's father receiving IB then his wife would only get a small amount of PC.

If you take out the IB from the calculations then the pension credit goes up by nearly £100.

If this is the case then the OH's father and mother should ring Pensions Credit and tell them that father is no longer receiving IB/ESA and they need the Pension Credit reassessing.

If my calculations are correct then they will not be worse off on Pension Credit.

Hope we're right

juanmanuelmarquez

Hi there,
Just to think that we were getting picked on, we are not alone. When i mean we i mean me and my mum. My mum is 59 years old and have worked but when they reached the age of 54 they were suffering from cancer, and just about recovered then suffered from amonnia and then iritus and the list goes on and on. they went to the atos medical thing and the reveiw came back as 3 points scored so was unable to get esa and now they have their tribunal.

its like who is the esa for if they dont pay people who really cant work.

what is this goverment playing, just seems to be getting fat and rich off our taxpayers money!