SSP and severe lack of funds

urbanviking

Hi all, first of all may I say I am a newbie here so mods please feel free to move this topic if you feel I have posted in the wrong place.

I have recently undergone emergency surgery on my spine to prevent paralysis, it was quite a serious operation and recovery time will be long (and sore) I am in receipt of SSP base rate and the Income Support top up, I now also receive Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit. I live in a council house so the rent is fully covered but I do have to pay a small amount each month on Council tax.

My partner is pregnant and due to give birth in early January and as she was not working at the time of becoming pregnant nor in the prescribed time limit before she does not qualify for any maternity benefits, we did however receive the sure start grant which has had every penny thoroughly wringed out of it.

We have been on a low income for quite some time even when I was working so are used to living on not very much and we have done everything we can to make sure we live in our means. We've never taken loans or credit cards but as I was made redundant from 2 self employed basis jobs a few years back I did not qualify for benefit and had to dig deep into my overdraft and still years later am £2500 o/d. As I have never borrowed I have no credit rating so cannot get a loan, I have been accepted for an Aqua card recently purely on the basis to build a credit history for me. Now that's a brief potted history I shall explain about my current situation.

After my SSP and I.S top-up once I have taken out my electric, water, landline (I do not have a mobile phone), fuel for my car ( I have been housed in a very rural area due to being homeless for the past year, you take what comes first so no buses car only) My car incidentally is tax exempt as it is from 1971, insurance is about £140 year for partner and I, no garage costs as I am a classic car engineer and get all parts for free and do all my own work and free MOT's so I can safely say I'm doing that cheaply I think.

Moving on there's the charges for my overdraft for usage and interest which are getting on for £70 a month but often more as I'm having to go into an unauthorised overdraft constantly, a service charge for where I live, incidentally going back to the fuel costs my car returns about 30-35mpg which is fairly average according to my research and I'm having to make a lot of journeys to hospital for my follow ups from my surgery and physio and also for my partners midwife appointments.

We are going without washing powder, rationing hot water to one day a week heating only one room, I've installed LED bulbs in the house as they use even less power than energy savers. We have not bought any clothes for more than 5 years, my partner is having to use my clothes for maternity wear as I'm quite a large man at 6'2" and a 40" waist, we spent the sure start grant on baby items and have been Freecycling like a demon, obtaining pram, car seat, and various other items such as sterilisers etc. We're only using the washing machine once a week, tops.

We are eating a lot of tinned food, jacket potatoes but not from the oven only microwave as it's cheaper to run. We occasionally have some meat if it's reduced but not often, I'm worried about the health of my partner as her diet is not healthy for a pregnant woman and for our child, Also my back is not healing properly as I believe that my limited diet is affecting it which is not a good thing for a very imminent birth. The long and short of it is we are trying all we can to spend as little as possible and get the most we can, we end up with just over £20 a week for food for the two of us. I just don't know what else I can do, I can't see any more savings to be made and we're going under and there doesn't seem to be any more help available, I've been to CAB and we're getting all we're entitled to.

I'm trying in every way to make assets from liabilities for instance the phone/broadband I try to get enough freebies or use cashback sites for my online grocery shopping to reduce fuel costs in getting the shopping and getting some money back thus paying for part or all of the phone bill I'm just at a dead end now, I feel like I must be missing something as everyone else seems to be able to get by and I truthfully don't feel as if I'm living beyond my means far from it infact but I'm rapidly slipping under the waves. Does anyone know what I can do? Where else can I get help? Thank you for reading, I hope someone can help.

miduck

You need to split your post up, or summarise - it is impossible to read.

pmlindyloo

First of all you are entitled to Healthy Start vouchers which should help.

See here on how to apply:

http://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/

Is your partner on a joint claim with you for your income support 'top up'?

Things will get easier when your partner gives birth as you will be entitled to Child Benefit and Child Tax credits. Not much help at the moment I know.

Reading through your post you seem to have explored all the avenues.

Are you paying the charges on your overdraft? If you are then the only other thing I can suggest is to write to the bank/telephone them, explain the situation and ask for this to be treated as a debt (ask them to freeze charges) and make a repayment plan. You may prefer to get help from CAB with this.

Then open a basic bank account and have all your benefits paid into this. You will not be able to have an overdraft with a basic bank account.

I do not understand how you are paying any Council Tax. Since you are receiving IS you should be getting full council tax benefit. Have you checked this?

In case you have missed anything why don't you post on the Debtfree wannabe board (not just for people with debts)? They are a great bunch of people who are brilliant at cutting down and making ends meet.

urbanviking

Thanks for the reply, like I said I'm new to all this forum stuff. Could you explain what you mean by split post up please? Thank you.

pmlindyloo

urbanviking wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, like I said I'm new to all this forum stuff. Could you explain what you mean by split post up please? Thank you.

It just means that you could put in some paragraphs or leave a line between each point in your question. Putting it in one long block of print makes it very difficult to read.

You should see an Edit button under your post. Click on that and you can make your question easier to read by putting in some paragraphs etc.

GlynD

urbanviking wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, like I said I'm new to all this forum stuff. Could you explain what you mean by split post up please? Thank you.

Miduck is correct mate, you need to break your post into easily read paragraphs. It makes my eyes funny just looking at it.

I can get the gist however and think you should be entitled to DLA. both for mobility and care.

urbanviking

pmlindyloo, thank you for your reply. I am receiving the healthy start vouchers, sorry not to mention it in original post. I am intending to freeze my bank account but am having trouble opening a new basic account as they all seem to want a credit rating, even a negative one but I have no credit rating at all so it's proving a bit difficult but I'm sure I'll find one eventually. I will post on the debtfreewannabe board in a while and see what other help is available. Thank you for your reply.

urbanviking

Oh I see what you mean by split it now, paragraphs coming up as soon as I work out the edit function. Thanks for the advice.

urbanviking

How's the mk2 version look?

Richie-from-the-Boro

£2500 overdraft, for a number of years now, the interest and charges are running at £30-50 monthly, and no credit rating at all. Any help offered is going to have to be benefits related or charitable with no pay back requirement.

- the Mk II version is much better.

GlynD

urbanviking wrote: »

How's the mk2 version look?

That's better mate. You neeed to apply for income related ESA https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/overview and DLA https://www.gov.uk/dla-disability-living-allowance-benefit/what-youll-get

It'll take a while and maybe a couple of medicals but the dosh will all be backdated to the day you apply. Depending on the rate of DLA you are awarded you may be able to claim a motability car and/or carer's allowance too.

I'd also recommend a chat with the Citizens Advice people in your area.

Are you ex-forces by any chance?