council tax reduction/disability

sunnyone

wildwestfan wrote: »

I would take issue with this statement which is often stated. No one ever says which actual law it is or even if there is such a law. It totally depends on the type of benefit. If it is a single person on JSA then I agree it is a bare minimum.

However if it is someone on ESA plus DLA then it is usually a very comfortable amount as is pension credit with all the add ons.

Sometimes I find myself wondering how much disposable income non workers think workers have left after paying housing and essential work costs. I think they could be surprised to find the worker has less cash, less free time etc.

It would be a dream to have the amount "the law says we need to live on" to spend each week but we were daft and made provisons for our own future so we have to pay for everything ourselves but we prefer it that way.

It would be much less than if we were fit and healthy enough to go back to our careers but still a massive income each week in comparison to what we get now.

What would a couple both on individual contributions based ESA support group claims and HRC/MRC and HRM/LRM get in income based benefits per week? We own outright and pay full council tax apart from a council tax band reduction due to me being a full time wheelchair user or no doubt we would be entitled to a fortune on top of income based ESA/DLA.

We could even get the carers premium for each other!

Income based benefits are very generous when you have a DLA award, you get big allowances on top of the basic rates.

Indie_Kid

sunnyone wrote: »

Income based benefits are very generous when you have a DLA award, you get big allowances on top of the basic rates.

But not if you claim the mobility or LRC part of DLA and receive assessment rate ESA.:( You only receive the basic amount of ESA.

ESA and DLA aren't a huge amount if you've got extra costs. Especially that for many of us, our disability related costs are more than our DLA.

wildwestfan

Indie_Kid wrote: »

But not if you claim the mobility or LRC part of DLA and receive assessment rate ESA.:( You only receive the basic amount of ESA.

ESA and DLA aren't a huge amount if you've got extra costs. Especially that for many of us, our disability related costs are more than our DLA.

So just how much do you think you should be given each week?

You obviously think you are very hard done by instead of thanking your lucky stars that you live in a country prepared to support you whilst you are considered unable to support yourself. The LRC and LRM of DLA plus ESA main phase will be about £150 a week. Plus housing costs if you have them. Seems reasonably generous to me. In fact more than my State Pension after 45 years working!

Morglin

Well, some of us did pay in for many, many years for this support! Many of us are still paying a lot of tax.

We all support each other - I pay to educate, feed and the NHS for other people's kids, I pay for people to have Help to Buy schemes etc., to name but a few.

I support workers with their tax credits and childcare costs.

I support pensioners.

That's how it all works - we ALL need support, subsidies, pensions, healthcare etc., at some point in our lives, and we all pay towards that, in various ways.

I agree many workers are on low wages, which is why we top them up with tax credits, but they can, in time, move onto better paid jobs - someone who cannot work has to rely on 'what the law says you need to live on' which comes with any means tested benefit letter, so it does exist.

There is a great deal of urban myth about the 'vast amounts' of money' disabled people are supposed to be getting! (a la the Daily Mail lol)

Lin

maggieann2luke

wildwestfan wrote: »

So just how much do you think you should be given each week?

You obviously think you are very hard done by instead of thanking your lucky stars that you live in a country prepared to support you whilst you are considered unable to support yourself. The LRC and LRM of DLA plus ESA main phase will be about £150 a week. Plus housing costs if you have them. Seems reasonably generous to me. In fact more than my State Pension after 45 years working!

Low rate DLA = £84.00 every 4 weeks. Inc. Related ESA = £0.00. Not entitled to any other benefit help at all as husband works more than 24 hours a week. Government states a couple can live on £115.00 a week. Reasonably generous?

wildwestfan

maggieann2luke wrote: »

Low rate DLA = £84.00 every 4 weeks. Inc. Related ESA = £0.00. Not entitled to any other benefit help at all as husband works more than 24 hours a week. Government states a couple can live on £115.00 a week. Reasonably generous?

Couples are expected to support each other. Do you get help with housing costs?

sunnyone

Morglin wrote: »

Well, some of us did pay in for many, many years for this support! Many of us are still paying a lot of tax.

We all support each other - I pay to educate, feed and the NHS for other people's kids, I pay for people to have Help to Buy schemes etc., to name but a few.

I support workers with their tax credits and childcare costs.

I support pensioners.

That's how it all works - we ALL need support, subsidies, pensions, healthcare etc., at some point in our lives, and we all pay towards that, in various ways.

I agree many workers are on low wages, which is why we top them up with tax credits, but they can, in time, move onto better paid jobs - someone who cannot work has to rely on 'what the law says you need to live on' which comes with any means tested benefit letter, so it does exist.

There is a great deal of urban myth about the 'vast amounts' of money' disabled people are supposed to be getting! (a la the Daily Mail lol)

Lin

As I said above income based benefits based on our circumstances would be generous, this isnt the daily mail reader but a fact from the disabled couple concerned.

There is a massive diffrence between what we get contributions based ESA/DLA and income based ESA (because of the premiums that we would be entitled to) as we both have have DLA awards and I think its wrong because the disability is the same regardless (so the costs etc. of the disability is the same), why should a DLA award for some be worth @ double the money in your pocket than what it is for others?

Its the same with child tax credits, some familys get @ double the amount of money in their pockets than others for the same DLA/PIP award.

Meri

This is guidance for council tax disability discount


https://www.gov.uk/council-tax/discounts-for-disabled-people


I get this as have a Wet room just for my use.


You can access other discounts as listed here;
http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/help-council-tax


There are four types of help you can get with your council tax bill: discounts
exemptions
local support/council tax reduction schemes
discretionary payments


Why is it when disabled people ask for help so many 'assume' they are well off or have plenty of money from the state?


I would have thought users of this forum would be more informed and not believe all the scapegoating rhetoric from 'daily hell' etc.


Being a disabled person means we have extra disability related costs, for instance as a electric wheelchair user I have huge electricity bills due to all the electrical equipment I need to assist me, many have to also pay charges for care, this is not free, and when we do have carers in our homes that costs too, they use our soap, loo rolls, kitchen equipment, medical gloves ( and yes we have to buy these) and many places we have to pay for them to go out with us like on buses, the disabled person may get a freedom pass but the carer does not.


I could go on but sure this been covered in other threads.


People have no idea of how much extra costs we have and that is why DLA was designed to offset some of those costs but not them all such as charges for care.


I have an NHS wheelchair but to have the it NHS mandated I have to pay for insurance, things like this use all the so called extra funding some disabled people get .


Its not till you become ill for a long period of time that you would have any idea of all the knock on costs of being ill and or disabled.

sunnyone

Meri wrote: »

This is guidance for council tax disability discount]


Why is it when disabled people ask for help so many 'assume' they are well off or have plenty of money from the state?


I would have thought users of this forum would be more informed and not believe all the scapegoating rhetoric from 'daily hell' etc.


Being a disabled person means we have extra disability related costs, for instance as a electric wheelchair user I have huge electricity bills due to all the electrical equipment I need to assist me, many have to also pay charges for care, this is not free, and when we do have carers in our homes that costs too, they use our soap, loo rolls, kitchen equipment, medical gloves ( and yes we have to buy these) and many places we have to pay for them to go out with us like on buses, the disabled person may get a freedom pass but the carer does not.


I could go on but sure this been covered in other threads.


People have no idea of how much extra costs we have and that is why DLA was designed to offset some of those costs but not them all such as charges for care.


I have an NHS wheelchair but to have the it NHS mandated I have to pay for insurance, things like this use all the so called extra funding some disabled people get .


Its not till you become ill for a long period of time that you would have any idea of all the knock on costs of being ill and or disabled.

You are assuming that the people posting are not severely disabled themselves and dont know all about the extra costs of disability but we know all about these and unlike many other disabled people we have to pay for everything ourselves out of minimal benefits where as some get generous income related benefits, care packages for minimal costs, houseing adaptions funded etc.

These are facts from someone who has been disabled for over two decades and has seen the numbers for themselves published by the goverment in the leaflets they send you/available freely on the .GOV website and who has also been assessed by the social services etc. many times and been given details why we failed the financial assessments despite being in need of care/adaptions etc.

My self funded carers use my household items etc; we have to pay to insure my NHS powerchair and we dont get a generous grant towards my drive from WAV, we had to spend more than half our savings on mine.

The people on means tested benefit are not more disabled than those on contributions based benefit, the same level of disability should get the same amount of disability/sickness related benefits. They have at least the same costs disability related costs and more often than not they have higher disability related costs because they dont have council funding for carers etc.

There should be a more even field for those with a bit of savings and small private pensions (and it isnt easy to get them to pay out due to disability unless you work in the public sector) instead of everything for one group and nothing for the other because they fail the means test by a small amount per week and/or have saved a little pot.

Indie_Kid

sunnyone wrote: »

You are assuming that the people posting are not severely disabled themselves and dont know all about the extra costs of disability but we know all about these and unlike many other disabled people we have to pay for everything ourselves out of minimal benefits where as some get generous income related benefits, care packages for minimal costs, houseing adaptions funded etc.

But aren't you and your husband both on contributions based ESA support group? Whereas a couple on income based would get far less. If so, you're hardly on "minimal benefits".

Those on income based benefits haven't had the option to pay into the system. They can't have a working partner or savings without their income being affected. Whereas those on contributions based benefits can have a partner and savings without their benefits being affected.