Benefit entitlement for widow?

Neelienew

HB and CTR are based on income and savings. She will need to inform them of her change of circumstances.
Unless she claims JSA she will have no income.
When she reaches State Pension age she will have a reduced pension but will be able to claim Pension Credit.
As I said before, at age 59 she is six years away from pension age.

pmlindyloo

OnlyMe_08 wrote: »

Thanks pmlindyloo.

Judging by your comments, if she declared no source of income at the moment, the council cannot further suspend her HB & CTR?

When she does reach SPA, will her entitlement also be based on NI contributions of her late husband, as well as her own?

I will discuss with her to explain the situation.

Thanks.

Regarding the no source of income I have found this link http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/Pages/Services/Housing-benefit-current-claim.aspx


which would require a claimant to declare how she is supporting herself with a declaration from family/friends if they are helping financially.


Housing benefit officer who posts on here may be able to say whether this is standard.


Logically they would want to know how she can support herself and that she hasn't got any money/income 'tucked away'. Since this is public money I suspect that some sort of investigation would take place hence the need for 'further information'.


As to the pension question I will let someone else answer it as this isn't an area I know much about. Sorry.

Dunroamin

OnlyMe_08 wrote: »

To answer your first point, financial assistance could come from her children. I guess she's got used to being a 'housewife' for quite some time.

To your second point, I assumed that HB/CTR is based on income, in this case bereavement allowance, so if she no longer have this as a source (and was the her only source of income), HB may increase?

Is eligibility for HB/CTR based on other benefits? If not, I guess she can continue as it is?

Is she in private rented accommodation or social housing? Does it have more than 1 bedroom?

OnlyMe_08

Dunroamin wrote: »

Is she in private rented accommodation or social housing? Does it have more than 1 bedroom?

Hi Dunroamin

She's in social housing - 1 bedroom (what if private rented?).

Her circumstances have changed to the extent of the passing of her late husband, who was receiving state pension / pension credit (and in turn supporting her) - she herself had no other source of income.

sammyjammy

Her HB and council tax claims will have been closed. They would have been notified by DWP that the Bereavement Allowance had ended. They would not know the circumstances for this ending and would therefore close the claim if no contact from claimant.

She will need to make a new claim to her Local Authority.

jacques_chirac

Has anybody asked her if she might like to work? I'm not sure I would like to have to be dependent on my children at that age (or any age).

Dunroamin

Neelienew wrote: »

HB and CTR are based on income and savings. She will need to inform them of her change of circumstances.
Unless she claims JSA she will have no income.
When she reaches State Pension age she will have a reduced pension but will be able to claim Pension Credit.
As I said before, at age 59 she is six years away from pension age.

It's possible, if unlikely, that she might have 35 years' NICs and get a full pension, but as she'll retire after 2016 her pension will be based on her own contributions rather than her husband's. As long as she has at least 10 years' NICs she'll receive a pro rata pension, based on number of years/35.

I agree that it seems likely that she'll have to claim pension credits, based on her pension income and savings.

Dunroamin

OnlyMe_08 wrote: »

Hi Dunroamin

She's in social housing - 1 bedroom (what if private rented?).

Her circumstances have changed to the extent of the passing of her late husband, who was receiving state pension / pension credit (and in turn supporting her) - she herself had no other source of income.

If she's in 1 bed social housing, she'll get all her rent paid by HB.

margaretclare

She has in essence been dependent on late husband, being a 'housewife', who received state pension / pension credit.

Do you mean it was the late husband who received SRP/pension credit? Because she can't receive this at 59.

I'm not familiar with being a housewife, never been one, but I do recall being widowed coincidental with redundancy, aged 56. And a mortgage to pay.

It's too young to resign oneself to a life on benefits, a long time yet to live. Lots of things to do out there but you have to go out and look.

Mojisola

OnlyMe_08 wrote: »

I guess she's got used to being a 'housewife' for quite some time.

So she must be reasonably happy doing housework, etc, and is an experienced carer - there's plenty of work out there for her with all the elderly people needing someone to cook, clean, do washing and shopping for them.