Help Please

fryster2006

Hi Everyone,

I need some advice on what to do, here is some brief background information:

I am married with 4 children and another on the way. All my children are under 16 and we recieve working tax credits, middle rate dla care component and dla higher rate mobility component for our disabled son. My wife recieves carers allowance for looking after our son. Our fifth baby due in July has been diagnosed with a serious heart condition that will need various surgery after birth and ongoing follow-up. I have been signed off work sick for the past 4 weeks and have recieved full pay up to now, however I believe that this will soon stop and I will recieve sick pay. Basically, I feel that I should give up work to help my wife bring up our two disabled children at least until they are a bit older. What is the best way of going about things? I have to give 10 weeks notice, what benefits can I claim and how long do they take to come through ( I'm obviously worried about food being on the table and bills paid).

When our baby is born can I qualify for carers allowance as well as my wife, and would this be the best way of claiming?

Sorry if this is a bit muddled, thankyou!

jobbingmusician

Sorry to be in a rush, and in any case I'm not a benefits expert.

Do you know about https://www.entitledto.com ? Go visit it, and see if it helps. I would guess you have questions about how soon after giving up work you would be entitled to benefits, and I'm afraid I don't have the answer to this. With any luck someone with a bit more knowledge will be along soon, or try your local CAB. Good luck with this! - I'll keep my fingers crossed that everything works out well for you.

I think there is only 1 lot of carers' allowance per person, but am not sure whether you and your wife could get carers' allowance each as its for 2 different children....

tigtag02

It may be worth joining the forums on heartline - its full of parents of children with heart conditions and they will not only have benefit knowledge (including lots of things that are not always obvious) but support to you and your wife too in dealing with this news and subseqent birth/ops.

Of course, someone more knowledgeable is sure to be along her soon too

mclaren_2

fryster2006 wrote: »

When our baby is born can I qualify for carers allowance as well as my wife, and would this be the best way of claiming?

You can claim CA and IS if your claiming for the second child. Only one CA + IS payment will be made per person. That is to say that your new born gets med rate / high rate care - if (s)he does not get htis, then you will not beable to claim.

You can get IS yourself right now. Becuase you are working, it is currently effecting the benifits you get, so you might want to look carefully at the means tested benifits (mainly income support) and add it up if you think it is worth it.

fryster2006

Thanks for the quick replies, mclaren please post once more so that you don't have 666 posts anymore! lol

fryster2006

If I gave up work what will the dwp stance be on it? Would they award me income support / housing benefit etc. or would they be fuuny about me 'vountarily' giving up work? As I don't claim carers allowance myself yet, will they expect me to work or are they sympathetic at all?

bonnie_2

You can't claim dla for a baby until it is 3 months of age. You also cannot claim carers allowance twice in one family. however if the baby does get dla then you will get extra taxcredits for it.

mclaren_2

fryster2006 wrote: »

Thanks for the quick replies, mclaren please post once more so that you don't have 666 posts anymore! lol

I have 1,.527 posts lol

mclaren_2

fryster2006 wrote: »

If I gave up work what will the dwp stance be on it? Would they award me income support / housing benefit etc. or would they be fuuny about me 'vountarily' giving up work? As I don't claim carers allowance myself yet, will they expect me to work or are they sympathetic at all?

Your wife gets x amount per week IS but because you are working, Y is being deducted per week as it is means tested. If you gave up work, you would get Z amount which would be more than you all get right now.

The DWP do not want people to go on state benifits, but in your case, you are entitled to go on them as you feel you need to.

They will want to know why you are giving up work, but if you explain this to them, they will accept it and put you on IS.

As for CA and not being able to claim for more than once in the household - this i do not think is true. It has been said on other forums, and helplines, that each person that needs care, can get help from a carer, and that carer will be paid CA for that person.

But the part where child will not get DLA for 3 months, i think is correct.

My advice would be for you to talk to the CAB.

Talk to them with all the options you have, and they will give you the best advice availible, but my advice, apart from CAB is to get the IS forms, fill them in, and send them off.

TAZ

bonnie wrote: »

You can't claim dla for a baby until it is 3 months of age. You also cannot claim carers allowance twice in one family. however if the baby does get dla then you will get extra taxcredits for it.

i think you will find that this information is wrong, the rules say that any one person cannot claim for caring for more than one person, however if your wife claims carers for child 1 you can claim carers for child 2 .
this i know as true as i know a couple that both receive dla and carers for looking after each other.

Mrs_B_12

You definately can claim CA if your second disabled child qualifies for DLA after the correct amount of time.

I'd recommend having a look at https://www.specialkidsintheuk.org for more information and other parents in the same situations and similar.