Benefits Advice

nannytone_2

unfortunately, getting into the ESA support group has very little to do with how ill/disabled you are ( excepting terminal illness which is automatic). it is more about proving that you meet one or more of the support group m descriptors.
i am physically fine but am registered blind. i meet support group descriptor 7 ii ' cannot read 16 point print and cannot read braille'. so i am deemed as unsafe for myself and others in an emergency. you need to look at the descriptors, find the one/s that you feel best apply to you and then gather evidence to support this.

OP ... you aren't doing anything wrong, but you are getting some strange advice.
at the moment, because you are on SSP, the benefit you should be claiming is income support ( for a top up for your wife). this entitles you to full housing benefit and council tax support, as well as the additional premiums.
once your SSP ends, then so will your entitlement to income support. you then have 2 choices.
you ( or your wife, or both of you) claim carers allowance. this means you would still be entitled to income support. you would receive a carers premium because of this, but it is a lesser amount than the severe disability premium, but has none of the rules of ESA.
you can claim conts based ESA, along with an income related top up for your wife. the income related top up would automatically give you full housing benefit and council tax support along with the additional premiums.
as i mentioned previously, the fact you have a terminal illness should mean that the claim is fast tracked and straight forward.
the choice is yours

TrainGeek1808

Thank you both.

I think I get it now - think I was getting confused with the before and after with the SSP end date, which is obviously two different processes with different options available to me.

I'll wait to hear from IS I think before seeing what they give me before tackling what I might be entitled to through ESA.

I thought I was a reasonably intelligent man before I got benefits thrown in my direction!!

Thanks again both

TrainGeek

alexjonsson

TrainGeek1808 wrote: »

Thank you both.

I thought I was a reasonably intelligent man before I got benefits thrown in my direction!!


TrainGeek

You're lucky you don't (seemingly) have children and nursery fees to worry about. Then it gets really interesting when you start thinking about Child and Working Tax credits, with child care components and how this affect everything!

A previous poster was right about the government being kind to sick people. At the moment we get £340 per week in benefits, and this doesn't even include any housing benefit as we don't claim. This is on top of mine and my wife's combined income of about £610 per week. So at the moment we're pretty sweet.

The cruel thing is that when I die, my wife will lose a lot of this and start being a normal struggling single mother. Unfortunately I don't have any decent life insurance policies, so my 'estate' is pretty worthless.

Indie_Kid

TrainGeek1808 wrote: »

I thought I was a reasonably intelligent man before I got benefits thrown in my direction!!

Thanks again both

TrainGeek

It is a pretty complex system.

Also:
You mentioned in a previous post the enhanced disability premium due to the enhanced daily living rate of PIP. Because you're part of a couple, it's about £20 a week and not £15.75. £15.75 per week is for single people entitled to EDP.

TrainGeek1808

alexjonsson wrote: »

You're lucky you don't (seemingly) have children and nursery fees to worry about. Then it gets really interesting when you start thinking about Child and Working Tax credits, with child care components and how this affect everything!

A previous poster was right about the government being kind to sick people. At the moment we get £340 per week in benefits, and this doesn't even include any housing benefit as we don't claim. This is on top of mine and my wife's combined income of about £610 per week. So at the moment we're pretty sweet.

The cruel thing is that when I die, my wife will lose a lot of this and start being a normal struggling single mother. Unfortunately I don't have any decent life insurance policies, so my 'estate' is pretty worthless.

Yeah we don't have kids, and never been in a Tax Credit position either - but being an accountant I do know how they work better than most benefits!

I am starting to get the feeling we'll be doing ok too once everything is sorted - something which did concern me initially, when I first got "the news" but I'm a lot more relaxed about it now.

Thanks

TrainGeek

thorsoak

With the diagnosis "life changing illness" you have enough on the plates of yourself and your wife - I am so glad that it looks as if the benefits situation will at least allay your fears for your financial future.

x

TrainGeek1808

Hopefully this doesn't complicate things further - but I'm sure it will(!) - but how is Universal Credit going to change things, and will this kick in before 2 September when my SSP ends?

Thanks

TrainGeek

pmlindyloo

TrainGeek1808 wrote: »

Hopefully this doesn't complicate things further - but I'm sure it will(!) - but how is Universal Credit going to change things, and will this kick in before 2 September when my SSP ends?

Thanks

TrainGeek

The last people to be transferred to UC will be those in ESA support group. This will not happen until 2017 at the earliest.

There will also be transitional protection so that people will not lose any money.

DLA/PIP/AA will not be part of PIP.

To be honest with the election coming up things may change anyway.

TrainGeek1808

pmlindyloo wrote: »

The last people to be transferred to UC will be those in ESA support group. This will not happen until 2017 at the earliest.

There will also be transitional protection so that people will not lose any money.

DLA/PIP/AA will not be part of PIP.

To be honest with the election coming up things may change anyway.

Thank you.

Nothing major to worry about at the moment then - I saw something when I was doing a 'What am I entitled to' check that it was kicking in soon but it didn't go in to detail about various bits like ESA Support Groups, etc.

Just seen McMillan advisor - everything seems OK. She's going to help with the ESA claim (which she says is better than IS once my SSP ends) about 6 weeks before the event. She also is going to look through my IS calculations when I get them, but she thought I'd worked it out correctly on page 2 (note I've amended it for the mistake I made which someone kindly pointed out).

I think we're getting there!

Thanks everyone for their help so far!

TrainGeek

xylophone

Another thought - is there an occupational pension scheme?

Ill health pension?