Sorry Me Again!!

Penny-Pincher!!

Hello Again

fatbelly

I think the important thing about form-filling is to 'tell the story'. Sometimes the questions don't allow for that, so you have to discretely add information. For instance, daughter's DLA is income coming into the household for her care needs so should probably be entered but clearly marked daughter's DLA

As for sundry items, I know the courts use this phrase and allow up to £10 per week aginst it. Play safe and allow £5?

Hope that's some use.

penrith

My understanding of these forms are that:

(1)All income including DLA is counted towards total household income.

yes
(2)They then allow you what the law says you need to live on each week(income suport rates) plus 25% of that value and deduct this from your total income.
yes
(3)Then they deduct your actual rent & council tax (after HB applied if applicable), plus water rates and any service charges.
yes
(4)They also allow for other relevant expenses???
yes

What I would like to know is:
(1)If the above seems accurate?
yes
(2)My young daughter receives DLA (shes registered blind)-do I put this as income as they only ask for applicant & partner?
a tricky one, you could maybe write it down but specify that it is for your daughter and not applicant or partner. You could also say that the whole DLA for your daughter is spent on items she needs and give a breakdown showing how it is all spent on her needs.
(3)There is a section for relevant expenses (examples given are:insurance, hire purchase, fares, repairs to property, other sundry items)I dont understand this-can anyone advise?
i suppose this means (only a guess though) relevant expenses to your disability e.g. if you had a hire purchase agreement and insurance policy to pay for a electric scooter/wheelchair that you needed because of your disability.
(4)I wet the bed about 4-5 times a week and having Lupus, FMS & Raynards I suffer from the cold-so we probably pay more for heating etc-as its on constantly. Would these be counted as extra expenses?
yes it is. I remember reading this. You have to supply a number of quarterly heating bills showing the amount you have paid so as to demonstrate that your heating costs are higher than the 'average' bill. the excess you pay is then taken into account when working out how much you have to pay towards the care you get from social services.

given your medical conditions that you've outlined, do you need to do more washing than the 'average' person?, need to keep your washing machine maintained (insurance policy?)?, need to buy replacement bed sheets more often than the 'average' person? maybe these are expenses that you could argue are specific to your disabilities and therefore these expenses should be taken into consideration when working out how much you need to pay social services for the care package?

i think i mentioned in another thread on this topic that i knew of someone who applied for this kind of help. IN their particular case, they were on IS and the applicant got high rate care and mobility DLA and their partner got DLA (high rate care, low/or none mobility-can't remember) and i know they didn;t pay anything towards their care package from social services. Maybe getting income support is treated as a ''passport benefit'' so you automatically don;t go through the process of having to list your incomings and outgoings, i don't know....

penrith

Glad you've had a positive response penny-pincher!

Have PM'd you.

Curry_Queen

That's excellent news Penny-Pincher :T ... I'm so pleased for you