Savings vs. debts! Deprivation of assets?

oxcat1

Sorry - I realise that sounds a little desperate. It isn't meant to! I suppose I had just been led to believe it might be more? At the moment it looks as though we would be best off if my husband didn't work at all, and instead claimed carers allowance and then I claimed oncome-relwted ESA, with carer's allowance as our only income.

I must be confusing things as that can't be right, can it?

Mojisola

oxcat1 wrote: »

Sorry - I realise that sounds a little desperate. It isn't meant to! I suppose I had just been led to believe it might be more? At the moment it looks as though we would be best off if my husband didn't work at all, and instead claimed carers allowance and then I claimed oncome-relwted ESA, with carer's allowance as our only income.

I must be confusing things as that can't be right, can it?

It could be. The system is like that in some circumstances.

rogerblack

oxcat1 wrote: »

Please can I just clarify: if my husband earns £150.00 a week, before tax, from freelance work (irregular and unpredictable), it is likely that we will not be eligible for income-related ESA? Or at least not much more than several pounds a week?

If you have been working as an employed earner in 2011/12 and 12/13 (any work done in the current tax year does not matter) - you will likely for at least one year be entitled to contribution based ESA. This is not affected by your partners income.

http://www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect/moneyandlegal/otherbenefits/Pages/ESA-how-much.aspx

Assuming you're both over 25.

Contribution ESA will be (once the assessment period passes) between around 100 and 105 pounds a month, for either the work-related or support group.

If you are eligible for this, it is not affected by your income.

On top of this may be paid for your partner, an income-based supplement - which works out to 41 pounds added onto your basic allowance.

This takes you to around 145 pounds a week or so - or about 628/mo.

But.
Because your income is 600 pounds a month - subtracting 20 pounds a week allowance from this comes up to 520, leaving 100 pounds a month income-based ESA to be paid.

If you are eligible for contribution based ESA, then this will be paid unaffected by earings at the rate of about 105 pounds a week, and because this is larger than 100 pounds a month, no income-based ESA will be paid, only the contribution based ESA.

In principle, various premiums that may be payable based on carers allowance or other things may change this somewhat - but the basic outline remains the same.
Contribution based benefits are payable only for you, but any ones reliant on you being part of a couple are income-based and will be drastically reduced by earnings of over 20 pounds a week by a partner.

Above figures are rough - I haven't properly taken the premiums into account - this is just the basic ESA allowances for a single/couple.

StormyWeather_2

oxcat1 wrote: »

Please can I just clarify: if my husband earns £150.00 a week, before tax, from freelance work (irregular and unpredictable), it is likely that we will not be eligible for income-related ESA? Or at least not much more than several pounds a week?

So with earnings of about £600 PCM, before tax, out of which we have to pay rent, utilities, council tax, food, credit card bills, etc, we will not be eligible for additional assistance?

I know from a previous claim that I wasn't eligible for contributions-related ESA as I hadn't paid sufficient NI contributions, and at that stage my husband was working full-time, so I received pension credits - of little use to me now!

Is that right? A combined income of £600 PCM, plus my DLA which is not counted, means that we are unlikely to eligible for any further assistance?

Thanks.

Have you applied for housing benefit and council tax support?

pmlindyloo

The idea of a funeral plan is excellent as this will reduce your savings to a level which will have little affect on means tested benefits. I am not being insensitive, just a firm believer that everyone should have one as they lock in the costs at today's prices (ie are inflation proof.) They are not counted as deprivation of capital.

Next you must find out whether you are eligible for contribution based ESA. If you are then any other income/savings do not affect it.

If you are not eligible for contribution based ESA then there are several options open to you but they are all rather complicated to explain and depend on certain other criteria (eg which level of DLA you are on)

Options are:
1. Husband continues with his job. Depending on his earnings you can apply for HB and CT support and maybe working tax credits.
2. Husband goes freelance and you apply for housing benefit, council tax support and tax credits (the latter has criteria so you must make sure that OH is fulfilling the correct hours)
3. Your OH leaves his work and you make a claim for income based ESA and add your husband to you claim. You also claim HB and CT support.
4. Your husband leaves his job and applied for Carer's Allowance and then Income Support as a couple. Again you will receive HB and CT support.

Or there might be some kind of combination of things.

I know this sounds very complicated which is why you need to go to CAB and ask them to do a 'Better off' calculation and explore the different scenarios.

As regards your debts - when you have sorted out what your OH and you are going to do then you can return to CAB and ask for help.

There are different options as regards debts - a debt management plan, negotiating a full and final settlement etc etc.

I think you have forgotten that you can claim HB and CT support on a low income - you do not have to be on a means tested benefit so whatever route you choose you should be OK.

But, you need some help to make the right choice so that you are able to maximise your income.

And one last thing! If you have been claiming DLA and your circumstances/care/mobility needs have changed you can ask for them to look at it again - get some advice for this too.

oxcat1

Thank you so much for all this help.

Lindy: a very helpful reply, thank you.

Regarding your possible scenarios:

1) husband has already resigned and somebody else has been appointed to his job. This was a deliberate decision as he wishes to spend more time with me, and to be around to take me to clinic visits, etc etc.

2) husband will be freelance, but I do not foresee any scenario in which he will be able to pick up sufficient hours of work to be eligible for working tax credits - 30 hours a week, I think you need?

3 & 4 both rely on him leaving paid employment altogether, don't they, and us relying entirely on benefits?

I think we had assumed that he would leave full-time employment, but continue to do some degree of freelance work, as job opportunities and my health allowed, getting some assistance to top-up our income should it fall too low.

I thought that would be the easiest scenario to work with, but actually it seems to be the most complicated, and the one likely to be the least rewarding financially, which is a bit of a shock?

I do receive DLA, both at higher rate indefinitely (although we have a car with the motability component).

I didn't realise you could apply for housing benefit and council tax assistance without also receiving other means-tested benefit. That would certainly be a relief, as our rent payments will quickly wipe out any earnings, without consideration of the debt repayments, etc etc.

Thanks again, so much. So, so complicated!
[ And I am very grateful that the thread has been 'tidied' - thank you. It was a bit upsetting!]

pmlindyloo

oxcat1 wrote: »

Thank you so much for all this help.

Lindy: a very helpful reply, thank you.

Regarding your possible scenarios:

1) husband has already resigned and somebody else has been appointed to his job. This was a deliberate decision as he wishes to spend more time with me, and to be around to take me to clinic visits, etc etc.

2) husband will be freelance, but I do not foresee any scenario in which he will be able to pick up sufficient hours of work to be eligible for working tax credits - 30 hours a week, I think you need?

3 & 4 both rely on him leaving paid employment altogether, don't they, and us relying entirely on benefits?

I think we had assumed that he would leave full-time employment, but continue to do some degree of freelance work, as job opportunities and my health allowed, getting some assistance to top-up our income should it fall too low.

I thought that would be the easiest scenario to work with, but actually it seems to be the most complicated, and the one likely to be the least rewarding financially, which is a bit of a shock?

I do receive DLA, both at higher rate indefinitely (although we have a car with the motability component).

I didn't realise you could apply for housing benefit and council tax assistance without also receiving other means-tested benefit. That would certainly be a relief, as our rent payments will quickly wipe out any earnings, without consideration of the debt repayments, etc etc.

Thanks again, so much. So, so complicated!
[ And I am very grateful that the thread has been 'tidied' - thank you. It was a bit upsetting!]

As regarding your husband going freelance then yes, as far as I can ascertain, he will need to do 30 hours a week.

However, these 30 hours do include other things.

If you're self-employed
Put down the number of hours you normally spend working in your business, either on work billed to the client or related activity, for example:
trips to wholesalers and retailers
visits to potential clients
time spent on advertising
cleaning the business premises
cleaning a vehicle used as part of the business, for example a taxi
book-keeping
research work
If you work from home, include time spent travelling to see customers.
If you have only just become self-employed, use the number of hours you normally expect to work in a week.

So it may be possible.

The other option is for your husband to claim Carer's Allowance where he can work but not earn more than £100 ish per week. Of course this will then be counted as income when calculating any means tested benefits. (eg income support)

If you can't make an appointment with CAB (choose one with a benefits specialist if you can) then you could try putting different scenarios into the benefit calculator here:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/benefits-check