Benefits Advice

merlin68

But would he not have to wait 13 weeks to go into support group or is it automatic.

nannytone_2

you wouldn't be worse off.
the criteria for receiving income support is that you or your wife is claiming carers allowance.
the one who claims the carers allowance, is the one who must claim the income support.
the reason you are claiming IS at the moment is because it is a top up to your SSP. once that finishes, you will have no entitlement to income support any more and will need to claim costs based ESA.
as you have a terminal illness, this should be straightforward and you will be placed in the support group.
you will claim for your wife and receive an income related top up for her.
because of this top up you will be entitled to 2 x severe disability premium and couples enhanced disability premium ( there is no disability premium as ESA is higher ... so this premium is included in the basic amount)
you will then have both lots of PIP along with full housing benefit and council tax support.

merlin68

I'm confused now as well. When we had is it worked out at £191 a week, but with your pip award being higher it should be £215. If anyone can work it out easier Nannytone? I thought you only got sdp if you lived alone?

nannytone_2

if you live with another qualifying disabled adult, then you both keep entitlement to SDA if you claim means tested benefit.

benniebert

nannytone wrote: »

Macmillan is a charity that helps people diagnosed with cancer.
if you don't have caner, why would you think they would help?
do you think the RNIB should help you? or any other charity set up for people with conditions that you don't have?
try googling fir a charity that deals with your specific condition

There isn't one only a very small forum.
The reason I asked is that the unit I go to for my 6 weekly checks is part of the oncology unit for the disease which has advanced into cancer. McMillians had an office in the reception so I asked.

TrainGeek1808

nannytone wrote: »

you wouldn't be worse off.
the criteria for receiving income support is that you or your wife is claiming carers allowance.
the one who claims the carers allowance, is the one who must claim the income support.
the reason you are claiming IS at the moment is because it is a top up to your SSP. once that finishes, you will have no entitlement to income support any more and will need to claim costs based ESA.
as you have a terminal illness, this should be straightforward and you will be placed in the support group.
you will claim for your wife and receive an income related top up for her.
because of this top up you will be entitled to 2 x severe disability premium and couples enhanced disability premium ( there is no disability premium as ESA is higher ... so this premium is included in the basic amount)
you will then have both lots of PIP along with full housing benefit and council tax support.

Thanks for your reply, but I'm still not understanding it I'm afraid.

My wife previously claimed DLA/PIP as we had no entitlement to anything else due to my income.

Since then everything has changed and we find ourselves in this position.

There's 2 situations, and I don't understand what I need to do when, and by the sounds of it what I've already done wrong.

Firstly - whilst I'm on SSP can I claim IS but I need to claim ESA from 2/9/15 when my SSP stops? That goes back to the posts earlier I think, so I do that early August? So in the meantime the IS figures I cslculated, are they still correct?

Secondly - this support group, my wife's benefit advisor said she could be entitled to the support group - this isn't something I know much about either as I've not looked at ESA yet.

This is what I've been dreading with the benefits - it's all way too complicated for the common public to understand.

Thanks

TrainGeek

merlin68

Tell me. I dont understand why your only claiming carers allowance for 2.5 weeks. I dont think the benefit adviser can say your wife would get in support group as its the decision maker who makes that call. Not many get in support group, you would.
I'm confused by the whole thing. I had to come of carers as dd was reassessed at 16 and they dropped her dla.
whats the matter with your wife if you dont mind me asking. Try the benefit calculator turn to us that will tell you which benefit your better of claiming.
the gd thing is my esa and hb were paid within a week of claiming.

TrainGeek1808

merlin68 wrote: »

Tell me. I dont understand why your only claiming carers allowance for 2.5 weeks. I dont think the benefit adviser can say your wife would get in support group as its the decision maker who makes that call. Not many get in support group, you would.
I'm confused by the whole thing. I had to come of carers as dd was reassessed at 16 and they dropped her dla.
whats the matter with your wife if you dont mind me asking. Try the benefit calculator turn to us that will tell you which benefit your better of claiming.
the gd thing is my esa and hb were paid within a week of claiming.

I was led to believe that CA was a bit of a 'non-claimer' as it affects other benefits. The McMillan adviser told us we could only claim it from 12/3 to 31/3 for my wife caring for me (ie from when my PIP started until my HB started - the theory I assume being the CA would offset against my HB?)

My wife has knee issues (failed operations) and arthritis in all her joints, and is deemed unfit to work. She's been through her PIP medical with no problems in the last 4 months. The support group she was told about was from her adviser who I don't have a lot of confidence in.

At least the ESA seems to be quite quick which is a bonus.

Thanks

TrainGeek

merlin68

Ca didnt affect our hb or council tax support at all. Plus it gives you the extra premium of £35 a week.
Maybe theres hope for me getting in support group as i have same as your wife plus severe asthma, copd and connective tissue disease, fingers crossed, im dreading the medical. Keep having to jump through all these hoops.
I'm so sick of filling in forms now.
Got to send esa all the bank statements now, so make sure you keep them lol.
I claimed ca for 15 years. Nannytone is the expert on benefits, i'm just muddling along.

pmlindyloo

I would wait until you see your MacMillan advisor on Tuesday!

Basically while you are on SSP you cannot claim ESA.

Instead you can claim Income support as a 'top up' to reach your applicable amount that the government says that you and your wife need to live on. Since you are the one receiving SSP then you are the one who makes the claim.

Both you and your wife are on the qualifying benefits (DLA/PIP) to be able to claim Carer's Allowance so one of you can claim or both claim for each other.

However, Carer's Allowance is counted as income for Income Support so although you would receive the CA it would be deducted from your Income support (so you would get less) but then a carer's premium is added.

Plus (and this is where it gets more complicated!) you are both entitled to disability premiums to be added to your Income Support. However, some of them can only be added if you don't receive Carer's Allowance.

Whilst you are on SSP and Income Support you will need to have a benefits calculation done to see whether you are better off claiming CA or not.

Income Support passports you to full HB and CT up to your personal circumstances (one bed allowance) (CT reduction is the amount according to each individual council - they each have their own 'rules').

After your SSP finishes then you have two options:

1. Someone claims Carer's Allowance (that person becomes the claimant) and you then claim Income Support as 'top up' for you both. All the same 'rules' apply as regarding disability premiums (see above)

2. You make a claim for contribution based ESA and add your wife to your claim getting an income based 'top up' .
Disability premiums can then be added but the same rules apply as regards CA and the premiums.

Nannytone is right (no disrespect, NT) but was trying to make everything clear in one post.

At the moment you can only claim Income Support with your SSP. What needs to be done is a calculation to see if you are better off claiming Carer's Allowance or not.

I also think NT is right and you would receive more money not claiming CA but worth checking.

Once your SSP ends then you can start the whole process again!

If you want to you can try the different scenarios on the benefit calculator on https://www.entitledto.co.uk but still, get it checked by MacMillan or CAB.

Hope this helps.