HB/ESA and Severely Disabled Premium - advice needed

pmlindyloo

OK, a couple of suggestions.

Have you been to the council to register as homeless?

I am sure Shelter has advised you that you can stay until they get a court order and this is what the council would probably insist on before they helped you.

However, the council do have an obligation to give you advice and help you find accommodation.

From what you say it hinges on whether you actually need an overnight carer. (I'm not being argumentative here ). Do you want a carer coming regularly to stay overnight or can you manage (albeit with difficulty) on your own?

I recognise the fact that you can get the higher rate of DLA for overnight care even if you actually do not receive it so that is not an issue.

So the decision is - do you want/need a carer?

If you decide you do need/want one and can afford it (have you contacted Social Services for an assessment?) then go for the 2 bed place.

If they do not award you the LHA for the 2 bed place (and I think they would as long as you have evidence of who is going to start doing the overnight care) then you can apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment to cover this.

If you don't want/need a carer then ask the council for some help regarding finding a one bed place privately or stay where you are and register as homeless.

In any of the circumstances I advise you to go to the council and speak to them in person. They have a responsibility to help you.

Good luck.

tomtontom

Have you looked into the cost of care? If you are in London your DLA will not even get you one night, let alone several.

Would it be possible to get a lodger?

tinselworm

Thank you

I've contacted the council to ask for the forms to go on the housing register. Two separate people have said the forms will be emailed to me but I haven't received anything and phoning back isn't getting me anywhere - they just keep saying they've been sent. I tried to go to the council homelessness department the other day but they were queuing out the door and I just couldn't stand up for long enough and also mentally I was in a really bad place having just found out I was being evicted - I'll try again next week.

I haven't contacted social services no, perhaps that's the first step, I'll look into that on Monday.

Yes, I've been advised as to my rights re the eviction and I know pretty much what they are, in fact I've just insisted that they re-serve the section 21 notice on me as the one I had turned out to be invalid, so I'm pretty clued up on that and it buys me some extra time.

If I'm being honest, I suppose I could need an overnight carer, yes. I don't *currently* have one because I have nowhere to put anyone but also because I am stubborn and so far have not asked for care, because that means admitting 'being disabled', right? (I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, so I'm not just swinging the lead here...)

I think basically what I need is an appointment with the housing benefit folks at the council to discuss all this but I live in Lewisham and trying to get to see anyone is like pulling teeth.

This flat could be a really good solution. The agent wants to show it to me on Friday and I would like to be able to take it because although I know I have rights to stay in this flat until the court forcibly evicts me I do *not* want the hassle of being taken to court and evicted because the stress would really harm me with my health the way it is. But I don't want to take it if I'll end up with a £350 a month shortfall because I won't be entitled to the 2-bed rate.

This is why I was asking about the premiums, as to whether I would get any extra HB from it - apparently not.

And this agent is literally the only one in town who will touch me with a bargepole, and that's only because he knows I'm a great tenant, so I really don't want to p*ss him off. Bad situation all round.

tinselworm

tomtontom wrote: »

Have you looked into the cost of care? If you are in London your DLA will not even get you one night, let alone several.

No, I haven't yet. Like I said, I'm just starting to look into all this because of my current situation.

Would it be possible to get a lodger?

Potentially, although it could be awkward with my disability issues and I'm not sure if I'd be allowed to, I think my tenancy agreement would probably forbid it.

tomtontom

£350 is far less than you'll pay for a regular overnight carer, could you use your DLA money to pay the extra?

I would also look at the practicalities of having an overnight carer, if you are used to having your own space it can be quite stifling to have someone there. That could just be me though - I cancelled mine after a week because I was more unsettled with a relative stranger in the house than being on my own

Another option that might be available to you is sheltered housing, if you are disabled you don't have to meet the usual age criteria. That gives you the balance of your own space but sometime to call on if need be.

tinselworm

tomtontom wrote: »

£350 is far less than you'll pay for a regular overnight carer, could you use your DLA money to pay the extra?

I would also look at the practicalities of having an overnight carer, if you are used to having your own space it can be quite stifling to have someone there. That could just be me though - I cancelled mine after a week because I was more unsettled with a relative stranger in the house than being on my own

Another option that might be available to you is sheltered housing, if you are disabled you don't have to meet the usual age criteria. That gives you the balance of your own space but sometime to call on if need be.

Heh, yeah, I can see how you would feel like that - I would feel the same about a lodger, actually

I have contemplated just using my DLA to pay the difference and I've done a full budget planner to see if it's doable, but I'm currently using a lot of my DLA just for every day living stuff and the tedious business of paying bills, and the shortfall is just too much, it would leave me barely anything.

I have looked into housing associations etc, but all of the housing association properties in this neck of the woods are filled by the local council list, so you have to get onto that first, which is what I'm trying to do, if only someone would send me the forms.

Also, I am very aware that time is not on my side.

Edit, because I'm terrible for an afterthought:
I suppose the question really is this: In order to qualify for the 2-BR rate, do you have to prove to the council that you *have* a carer that needs the extra room, or is the 'reasonable need' for one (as proved by higher rate care entitlement) enough for you to qualify for the higher rate? You know, in the same way that you don't *have* to spend your DLA care component on an actual carer - the fact that you 'reasonably require' one is enough to give you an entitlement to it?

Clutching at straws, possibly.

sunnyone

Your needs dont change just because you get awarded DLA, you either need an over night carer or you dont, DLA is about need on paper and not need that is provided on a day to day basis but the need for a second bedroom is about the care actually given on a day to day basis.

You are grasping at straws and it wont work, they require proof that an over night carer is using the room.

Care is very, very expensive (and you will have to pay for it too, all your DLA care is taken into account for the financial assessmen with SS) and and the chances of getting over night care via social services is about zilch, a normal regime is that they visit three times a day or so, get you up and make you cearal or toast, help with meds if needed, maybe a micro meal during the day, get you ready and into bed (often at sevenish wether you like it or not) and they will leave out what you need for over night.

If you need help for the loo at night they will say "wear pads", they are used to making excuses to refuse us, they are experts at it so
unless you can demonstrate that you regularly come to serious harm over night you might as well give up now. The only alternative is to pay the @£16ph yourself or have someone who claims carer allowance for looking after you (which means you lose some of the allowances which make up your income based ESA @£60pw, the SDP)

Your best bet is social housing, as well as being homeless you can try for disability points to get to the top of the band and if you need adaptions around the home it will be much easier to find an adapted property or to have the home adapted for you, private landlords dont like having perminant adaptions to bathrooms etc.

Care will cost more in London I think, I payed £16ph for overnight care when my husband was in hospital.

Indie_Kid

sunnyone wrote: »

Care is very, very expensive (and you will have to pay for it too, all your DLA care is taken into account for the financial assessmen with SS)

It's not. Each council has it's own criteria for how much DLA care is taken into account after disability related expenses.

nannytone_2

my council take a maximum of £26.50 a week from people on any means tested benefit.
this amount applies to people that receive either middle or higher rate care. those on low rate care contribute nothing

sunnyone

I pay for all my own care, care IS very, very expensive and all councils do expect people who get DLA care componant to contribute to their care package from that componant, it varies like everything else from area to area, as do the allowances that they allow for disability expenses vary from area to area.

Many areas wont fund care at all for many disabled people or they get 15 minute visits, they will only help people with critical care needs, a coupel of years ago it was substantial care needs upwards but now its only for the minority. You used to get help with housework, now its personel care only (Im talking about physical disabilities as that is what the OP is posting about, not sensory disabilities which must be much better funded in in nannytones areas than they are here)