Impossible Carer's Allowance & Benefits Situation

Another_Username_4

I am a full time carer for my partner, who receives DLA, but the recent government benefit changes have caused us problems. We do not live together at the moment but we are engaged and plan to get married.

Until recently I was in receipt of Income Support and Incapacity Benefit. The local Citizen's Advice Bureau advised me not to claim Carer's Allowance as this money would be deducted from other benefits and we would not be any better off. Even the benefit office advised the same.

Recent government changes now mean I have lost my Income Support and Incapacity Benefit and have had to re-apply for JSA or ESA. I opted for ESA. This is currently ongoing and nobody at the benefit's office can advise how much benefit I will now receive. Maybe somebody here knows.

I recently failed the new government health interview and have been told I must now claim JSA, despite my own helth issues. Since I am unable to work, mainly because my partner needs constant attention (epilepsy and related back injuries), I am trying to go down the ESA route. The problem is that, if we move in together I planned to claim for Carer's Allowance, my partner will lose more than £150 of her benefits - this information from the benefit's office itself. As you will understand this is going to put us in an imposslble situation where we simply aren't going to be able to afford to survive.

We don't know where to turn anymore and I can assure you we are not trying to play the system. The only option us is to continue to live apart and claim separately.

Maybe somebody knows a way out of this impossible situation.

Thanks

John

Notmyrealname

> As you will understand this is going to put us in an imposslble situation where we simply aren't going to be able to afford to survive.

No it won't. For a start it costs more to run two households than one.

Firefox1975

Get another carer for your OH

you go to work - you have been signed off as fit for work. why would they lie to you?

it might not be what you wish - but that is what it is.

princessdon

Has your partner had their assessments yet?

rogerblack

Dunroamin wrote: »

You can't claim ESA because someone else is too ill to work!

Yes, you can.
The non-functional descriptor.
'...or if it causes a severe risk to the health of any person'

If a claim will succeed is another question.

System

Another_Username wrote: »

We do not live together

Another_Username wrote: »

Since I am unable to work, mainly because my partner needs constant attention (epilepsy and related back injuries),

Am I missing something? Surely the first quote makes the second one a load of rubbish.

If the partner needs CONSTANT attention then you must be living with them and should be claiming as a couple. If you don't live with them then they are not getting CONSTANT attention.

sleepless_saver

She may lose some of her benefits, but surely the relevant question is whether you will have enough to live on as a couple if that is what you want to do.

She will have her DLA, you can claim carers allowance, as a carer you claim IS for you as a couple (thus avoiding the problems you are having with ESA and JSA), plus you will get full housing benefit (irf renting) and council tax benefit.

Have you put the figures through a benefits calculator http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx and worked out what you will get and thought about how best to manage on it? Sounds doable to me.

Anubis_2

She wont loose £150 in benefits at all, she will loose the severe disability premium, which she would loose anyway, once you move in, carers allowance or not.

You will claim carers allowance, with IS top up and premiums. Your Carers allowance will be deducted from your IS, but made up with CA. You will also receive a carers premium on top.

smileytiger

I'll never understand why money is the deciding factor in these cases.
Pehaps i should show my disabled OH the door and tell him to claim in his own right - which he could if he didn't live with me & my full time wages. I don't because i love him & work to support him.
Honestly it's a joke - no offence OP but if you love and want to marry her then it's you 2 versus the world for better or worse - not lets weigh up how much money we can or can't get.

Another_Username_4

Well I don't know where to start with so many replies. Firstly, thanks for so many of them.

Clearly there are some people who think we are trying to play the system. I have worked for much of my life until I met my partner and also ran my own business, if that makes any of you feel any better.

The fact is I want to be a full time carer for my partner, which I already effectively am, though I don't actually claim any additional benefits or allowances for this. If I am then able to work from home thereafter, which I plan to do, then that would be a bonus.

My partner has two forms of epilepsy and also has back problems. She is in a wheelchair some of the time due to severe pain. It is therefore essential that she has somebody with her at all times.

"For richer or for worse". So that is the definitive answer to everything in the real world? There comes a point when our lives and our plans may have to be altered because we will simply not be able to afford to meet the necessary daily costs of living.

I am finding this too stressful to deal with at the moment so you'll have to excuse me if I make a few mistakes along the way.

Hopefully the benefits calculator will be of use, thanks for this. I didn't know there was such a thing on the internet.

As for the reduction in my partner's benefit, I may have been incorrect in my original statement. It was probably her ESA which would be reduced by us living together. That is to expected of course. She was, however, told over the phone, that the fact of my applying for Carer's Allowance would mean her own ESA would be reduced by more than £75 per week. I think she may have originally been given some incorrect information by the benefits people.

Yes, my partner has already had her assessment, hence her being on ESA now.

What you are saying, Anubis, makes perfect sense and I thank you for your reply. As I say, I may not have stated my case quite coherently to begin with due to the stress and thanks to the people on the benefits number, some of whom don't seem very helpful these days, but it is starting become a little clearer now.

Thanks

John

dandelionclock30

marybelle01 wrote: »

And equally, I find it amazing how "I can't afford to live on this amount of money" never seems to translate to "I know, I'll go out and get a job".

.

Because getting a job at the present is very very difficult and what is available is often much less than the person will get on benefits so they wouldnt be any better off.
Also well people with a good work history are struggling to get work.Its exceptionally difficult for people who have had a massive gap in emplyment due to disability suddenly to springboard into any job at all.