Turned down again for Funeral Payments - help!

tantriclady

I was a full-time carer for my daughter who died recently. I was on carers allowance and income support.

Her father, my ex husband was unemployed but refused JSA after using his redundancy money to pay off some of his mortgage. He was refused benefit for 6 months so was living on credit cards.

After the funeral I applied for funeral costs. It was refused because he did not have benefit.

He now is recieving ESA and so qualifies. I reclaimed but have been turned down because after my income support ran out 8 weks after my caring role ended, they put me on ESA Contribution based. This is because they gave me NI credits whilst I was caring but, unfairly, it means I do not qualify for funeral costs and so neither does he.

This is inherently unfair as I was a carer and am now treated the same as someone who previously worked. Meanwhile the funeral company are chasing and on £71pw (both he and I) neither of us is in a position to pay their bill.

Appeal won't work as it's clearly laid down in the regs.

What can I do?

pmlindyloo

tantriclady wrote: »

I was a full-time carer for my daughter who died recently. I was on carers allowance and income support.

Her father, my ex husband was unemployed but refused JSA after using his redundancy money to pay off some of his mortgage. He was refused benefit for 6 months so was living on credit cards.

After the funeral I applied for funeral costs. It was refused because he did not have benefit.

He now is recieving ESA and so qualifies. I reclaimed but have been turned down because after my income support ran out 8 weks after my caring role ended, they put me on ESA Contribution based. This is because they gave me NI credits whilst I was caring but, unfairly, it means I do not qualify for funeral costs and so neither does he.

This is inherently unfair as I was a carer and am now treated the same as someone who previously worked. Meanwhile the funeral company are chasing and on £71pw (both he and I) neither of us is in a position to pay their bill.

Appeal won't work as it's clearly laid down in the regs.

What can I do?

Sorry for your loss.


Application for a funeral grant hinges on you and your ex being on a qualifying benefit.


You can appeal a decision and I think this is the way forward.


Although you are on contribution based ESA you appear to have an underlying entitlement to income based ESA. Your ex may also qualify under the terms that he was awaiting a decision on his benefit.


It might be a good idea to get some advice from CAB to help you appeal.


The only other thing I can think of is to apply for a budgeting loan but again being on contribution based ESA will mean that you would not qualify and your ex would not qualify as he has not been on a qualifying benefit for 2 6 weeks.


This is a difficult one which why I think you need some further advice.


if the grant is refused then you will have to treat the funeral expenses as a debt and speak to CAB/Stepchange for help with this.


Are there any charities which might help you with the expenses?

tantriclady

Thank you that is of some use - I never thought of the underlying entitlement angle.

I can do my own appeal but just needed a handle for it as regs are watertight on QB's.

My ex claimed ESA backdated to cover the date I first made claim but his backdate will not be active until after my deadline of 11th December ends!

I will push this and see what happens.

As for debt management, I've had advice about my situation and am paying the max I can afford on those.

Thanks again.

Terry

BigAunty

Although it doesn't address the application's refusal versus the rules, you could contact your local MP to make them aware of the grey area that you fall within. They are supposed to work for you. Make the MP aware of your situation.

Edit - did your ex appeal the Deprivation of Capital decision? I once came across a court case summary where someone,( perhaps approaching state retirement age but if not, definately mature) had some benefits refused because they'd used their redundancy to pay down their mortgage, I can't remember which benefits or the level/type of legal case it was. However, the judge overturned the authorities decision because he thought paying down a mortgage at the defendents age was a sensible one and said something like his employment prospects were not so good. I've never been able to find a link to that case study again, sorry.

missapril75

@tantriclady

Were you turned down because your income support had ceased by the time you applied or did you fall foul of the "parent of the deceased person who doesn't get a qualifying benefit (unless they're under 18, estranged from the deceased person, a young person for whom Child Benefit is payable, a full-time student, a member of a religious order, a prisoner, a hospital in-patient, an asylum seeker or they're ordinarily resident outside the UK)"?

Is it possible to argue estrangement? (DWP rules on estrangement are not as straightforward as some may think. Have a look at the information here)

Contact does not necessarily mean estrangement is not a factor.

Dunroamin

missapril75 wrote: »

@tantriclady

Were you turned down because your income support had ceased by the time you applied or did you fall foul of the "parent of the deceased person who doesn't get a qualifying benefit (unless they're under 18, estranged from the deceased person, a young person for whom Child Benefit is payable, a full-time student, a member of a religious order, a prisoner, a hospital in-patient, an asylum seeker or they're ordinarily resident outside the UK)"?

Is it possible to argue estrangement? (DWP rules on estrangement are not as straightforward as some may think. Have a look at the information here)

Contact does not necessarily mean estrangement is not a factor.

How could someone possibly claim estrangement from a child for whom they were a carer up til their death?

Have I misunderstood what you're suggesting?

missapril75

Dunroamin wrote: »

How could someone possibly claim estrangement from a child for whom they were a carer up til their death?

Have I misunderstood what you're suggesting?

'fraid so

First condition is receipt of a qualifying benefit. So I was after clarification as to whether the refusal was because an application was made beyond the 8 weeks of continuing IS.

But there is a further exclusion where even a qualifying benefit is in payment and that is where there is another parent (the ex) who doesn't get a qualifying benefit.

The reason presumably being that such a parent without the QB is someone who could pay.

So, the OP may have been turned down because the other parent doesn't qualify - JSA having been refused on grounds of deprivation of capital.

However, according to that bit I reproduced, if there is estrangement between that other parent and the child who died, the payment might still be allowed.

The possible estrangement is about the non carer parent. The ex.