Not eligible for benefits, but not well enough to work full time!!

lazer

Pandora wrote: »

No idea where I should post this or if anyone can help, but thought it was worth a try!! Be warned though, it's not fun to read

Basically, I'm not well enough to claim JSA (because I'm not able to attend the Job Centre or work at all the times they say I have to be available due to my disability), but I'm not ill enough to claim ESA (failed my ATOS assessment) and I'm just not eligible for Income Support

I work 7.5 hours a week which is about £200 a month.
I get DLA (higher rate care and lower rate mobility) which is about £400 a month. (Passed the ATOS assessment for this only a couple of weeks before failing the ESA one!!)
I get Housing Benefit which is about £200 a month.
So my monthly income is about £800, but my outgoings are at least £900 a month!
I've used up all my savings, and have almost maxed out my overdraft, and there's no way of me getting any more credit even if I wanted to.

I stopped buying clothes and shoes over a year ago - apart from when I spent £6 on a new pair of work shoes because my other ones were literally falling apart.
My food budget has been reduced to around £40 a month.
I've stopped socialising as even going to a friend's house is going to cost a little bit of money, and there's no way I can afford to have anyone round to my house as that would cost even more.

So I've cut my spending as much as possible but now it's getting to the point where I'm going to have to eliminate spending on everything ever so slightly frivolous in order to pay my essential bills. And when I say 'frivolous' I mean phone, internet, tv, lights, heating, food.......

All this is really affecting my mental health (on DLA for bipolar and anxiety amongst other things) which means I've been missing work a lot which is now putting my job at risk. I'm not sleeping and spend most of my days and nights crying, I'm having suicidal thoughts again, and just don't know what I can possibly do to improve the situation.

I just don't think I have it in me to go through the hell of trying to apply for ESA or JSA again as I'm pretty sure I will just get rejected again.
I'm not really up to leaving the house and I'm struggling to even make phone calls. All I have is the internet.

Things are getting worse day by day and I have no idea how much longer I can survive.

If anyone has any advice at all it would be much appreciated.

JSA is only around £70 a week or so - and they would subtract what you earn from it (disregarding the first £5 - how generous of them) - so even if you did grt JSA it would probably only be an extra £20 a week or so - so that is probably why it is not worth the stress

pmlindyloo

lazer wrote: »

JSA is only around £70 a week or so - and they would subtract what you earn from it (disregarding the first £5 - how generous of them) - so even if you did grt JSA it would probably only be an extra £20 a week or so - so that is probably why it is not worth the stress

Although OP's salary would be deducted form JSA (except the £5 disregard) remember that she would also be entitled to the disability premium.

When you are on a tight budget every single pound counts.

rogerblack

Pandora wrote: »

My rent is £420 a month but as I'm single and under 35 I'm only entitled to £200 a month housing benefit (I do get the disability allowance) which means my entire wage is used up paying the other £200 leaving me w

You can in principle work up to 16 hours and earn £95/week under ESA - as 'permitted work'.
This does not affect your benefit.
Council tax support - if you were to claim income-related ESA (if you don't have the contributions) would be full.

Anonymous1990

paddedjohn wrote: »

Its idiots like you making comments like this that gets peoples back up, there are enough fraudsters out there without adding to the problem

Why don't you step back and consider a few points.

The poster might've only just about been declared fit for work and they might've only done this by braving through massive amounts of pain and discomfort. To me if this is the case then they SHOULD play it on a bit and make sure they fail because if this poster is being forced to work even though they might be under extensive amounts of pain then this is wrong on a humanitarian point of view.

You're just too narrow minded to think about anything else apart from the T & C's of the benefits and frown upon others. Open your mind and learn.

paddedjohn

Anonymous1990 wrote: »

Why don't you step back and consider a few points.

The poster might've only just about been declared fit for work and they might've only done this by braving through massive amounts of pain and discomfort. To me if this is the case then they SHOULD play it on a bit and make sure they fail because if this poster is being forced to work even though they might be under extensive amounts of pain then this is wrong on a humanitarian point of view.

You're just too narrow minded to think about anything else apart from the T & C's of the benefits and frown upon others. Open your mind and learn.

When you get a job and start contributing something into the system you will realise what a load of crap you are spouting. The OP came on here for help to get their entitlement, not help on how to fiddle the system which could see them done for fraud and in a worse situation in the long run.

Horseunderwater

rogerblack wrote: »

You can in principle work up to 16 hours and earn £95/week under ESA - as 'permitted work'.
This does not affect your benefit.
Council tax support - if you were to claim income-related ESA (if you don't have the contributions) would be full.

Roger you keep quoting this magic £95/week for permitted work. That is 2 years out of Date it is currently £99.50 which is 16 hours nat min wage rounded up to nearest whole 50p. This will go up on Oct 1st to 16 hours at £6.31/hour(£100.96) which I think will be either £101 or perhaps £101.50 - not sure yet as figure usually only changes when they announce the new rates for benefits in the early part of the new year.

Confuseddot

Op have you thought of posting a statement on the debt free wannaebe board to see if they can help with your spending, to see if there are any other ways you can save money. Not saying its a lot of money but 400 is more than anyone on jsa only would be getting a month.

Erinnire

have a look on entitled to. I did a dummy calculation with your scenario @ £46.50 earnings a week (7.5h @ £6.20) it says you should get £150pw in Income Support, plus your wages, plus DLA. That's more like a little over £1000 a month. Not including housing benefit or council tax benefits either.

~Chameleon~

This Severe Disablement Premium, is it only payable to those eligible for means tested benefits? What about someone in receipt of DLA (HC/LM) but who doesn't claim any other benefits?

Pandora_2

Hi, thanks for everyone's comments and advice.
In order for me to even attend my ATOS assessment I had to take extra medication which is probably why I failed it. That's a great solution for a few hours, but impossible to do every day in order to go to work
Went to the doctors yesterday and she has given me a weeks supply of sleeping tablets so that I can get some sleep meaning I will spend less time stressing about things, and she says I will feel better generally and be able to think more clearly once I start sleeping again. (I must say I do feel a bit better this morning!!) We also went through some practical things I can do to try and keep my mood up, but on the whole she was actually really happy with the way I'm dealing with things and isn't too worried about me! Luckily the suicidal feelings have gone for now otherwise it would have been a different story at the docs!!
I'm making a list of everything I need to do to either make savings (switch utilities providers etc) and to up my income (get onto the council about HB etc) and will be working on this for the next few days. I know I need to get everything sorted asap, but I'm just going to do one thing then take a break and work through it slowly so that I don't get too stressed and overwhelmed.
Thanks again everyone. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now