In a mess! Any help/advice appreciated.

help_me_please_please

HI All,

I'm hoping this is in the right place, please feel free to move if not! Anyway, there is a lot to this so I will write what I can and would be appreciative of any help anyone can give me.
Basically i'm in a real pickle and it goes something like this:

• My partners mum passed away in 2010, she had been a carer for his grandmother and this left his grandmother needing care. My partner gave up work in April 2010 (he'd previously been employed by the same company for approx 2 years - can find specifics if needed) to look after his grandmother full time as she needed 24 hour care. At this time he began claiming Carers Allowance and his grandmother claimed Attendance allowance.
• At the same time, my partner and I rented a property and his grandmother gave up her council flat and came to live with us. I continued to work full time and We carried on paying full council tax etc etc.
• In March 2013, his grandmother sadly passed away.
• The carers allowance and attendance allowance ceased at the same time.
• When my partner went to the job centre to claim job seekers or whatever was available, he was told that he couldnt claim anything as he should have claimed JSA from the time he quit work etc, and that it could not be backdated. He asked at the same time as applying for carers and was told that the attendance allowance was the only other benefit which could be claimed.
• Anyway, i'm now in the situation where i'm paying full rent, full council tax all the bills and keeping a roof over our head completely on my own.
• What I don't understand is, if my partner cannot claim anything then what would happen if he didn't live with me etc etc?
• I'm really needing help, my montly outgoings are about £200 more than my incomings, i've sold pretty much everything I own and am getting into more and more debt daily!
• Does anyone have any idea where I can turn?

HB58

I'm guessing the claim has been refused due to lack of NI contributions and you earn too much for your partner to get income-related benefit. If he was on his own, he would probably get the ir benefit - but he's not and partners are expected to support each other.

Whilst claiming carer's allowance, NI credits will have been made on your partner's account, but these count only towards the State Retirement Pension, not contributary benefits.

rogerblack

help_me_please_please wrote: »

• When my partner went to the job centre to claim job seekers or whatever was available, he was told that he couldnt claim anything as he should have claimed JSA from the time he quit work etc, and that it could not be backdated. He asked at the same time as applying for carers and was told that the attendance allowance was the only other benefit which could be claimed.

JSA could have been claimed for 6 months, on a contributory basis.
It can never have been more than that.

After this time - your husband would move onto income-based JSA - at which point if your income is greater than around a hundred pounds a week - because your income is treated as one - he will not qualify.

He can not claim contributory JSA at the moment, because he does not have contributions paid for 2011/12 and 12/13.

Have you investigated if you are eligible for housing benefit and council tax support?

nannytone_2

he wont be entitled to income related JSA, as you work full time.
i presume that he cant get conts based JSA as he didnt work, and pay NI for both tax years 11/12 and 12/13.

he would have been credited with NY through carers allowance, but not of the sufficient class to enable him to claim JSA.
if he were alone, he would get income based JSA.
have you tried claiming housing benefit/LHA and council tax support?

your income would be taken into consideration and an assessment made as to entitlement

help_me_please_please

Hi Everyone, thanks so much for your responses, it really is appreciated. I will try to answer the questions which have come up so far:
* I'm trying to find out whether I'm entitled to housing or council tax help, however it seems to be going round in circles as when I call them, i'm asked to visit a website to use a calculator, however this calculator doesn't seem to accommodate my situation - i've just sent an email to any address I can find in the hope that someone will help!
* I earn £16000 per year and bring home £1100 per month. We don't have any children.
* My rent is £525 per month.

Please let me know if anything else is needed.

nannytone_2

if you are over 25 then you would be entitled to working tax credit on a jopint income of around 18k.

try the calculator at https://www.entitledto.co.uk

cattermole

The Gov website is very confusing then because I thought you got Class 1 credits on CA which entitle you to JSA.

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

pmlindyloo

cattermole wrote: »

The Gov website is very confusing then because I thought you got Class 1 credits on CA which entitle you to JSA.

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

If anyone can make sense of the 'rules' section on contribution based JSA here:

http://www.lawcentreni.org/EoR/benefits-and-tax-credits/jobseekers-allowance.html

they will correct me if I'm wrong in saying that NI credits are only used in the second condition of entitlement.

cattermole

Yes that's how I would read it.

Not sure what it means though in terms of entitlement to JSA after 2 years on CA?