SSP any other help?

Trevstanx

Hi all first post.

My partner currently works for both of us as I have been out of work since November with a messed up hand which I seen a neurologist and she diagnosed me Parkinsonism due to an abnormal Datscan 4 month ago she said that most probable diagnosis is Young Onset Parkinson's Disease as I am 36 years old but that's a different story.

Anywho my partner is very stressed and depressed with my current and her current situation and spoken to her manager who said that she should take some time off to recover and speak to the doctor on how she is feeling... She has been off work since 6th July.

She works 33 hours over 3 days a week at £7.20 ph and we get £21.88 WTC per week... I currently have an application in for PIP since the start of May and have my assement Friday coming.

When she goes on SSP we will get £88.45 pw and have to pay Rent £80 pw//Council Tax £116 pm so that would eat up the SSP/WTC without the other bills (Water/Electric/Gas/Food) coming in to play.

We have a little bit of savings of around £1500.

Are we entitled to any benefits to help us through this situation?

Thanks for any help.

Trev

Darksparkle

Best advice I could give would be to use a benefit calculator such as entitledto or turn2us as help with rent/council tax will depend on your council.

Trevstanx

Hi thanks for the reply is I used turn2us says we a entitled to the WTC we currently get full Council Tax support and £74.49 help with rent even with the savings we have.

It will be enough to get by till we both get on our feet again and we have the savings to help us through if we need them.

The benefits system is a minefield knowing what you are entitled to as I though we may be entitled to ESA but with my partner getting SSP I believe were not.

Cheers for pointing me in the right direction, I'll pop to the council tomorrow.

Trev

Darksparkle

You mention you are out of work, has your employment ended? Or are you on sick leave too?

I wonder if you may be able to claim
ESA but someone worth more knowledge should be able to help.

Trevstanx

My employment has ended November but worked for a year minus 12 weeks in between that I got SSP.

I found this on entiledto but can't post the link due to being a newbie-:

Contributory Employment and Support Allowance provides financial help to people who are unable to work because of illness or disability.

The contribution conditions

You qualify for contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) if you have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions. There are two contribution conditions you must meet:

First contribution condition - in one of the last two complete tax years, you must have paid Class 1 or 2 contributions on relevant earnings at the lower earnings limit for at least 26 weeks. This means you must have worked for at least 26 weeks of the last two complete tax years; and
Second contribution condition - in both of the last two complete tax years, you must have paid or been credited with, Class 1 or 2 contributions to the value of 50 times the lower earnings limit.
The 2 tax years that are relevant are the ones that were completed before the benefit year in which your period of limited capability for work began.

The tax year runs 6 April - 5th April
The benefit year runs from the first Sunday in January.
The lower earnings limit for the 2014/2015 tax year was £111 per week, for 2015/2016 it was £112 per week.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will treat any credits that are earned as a carer as actual National Insurance payments.

Relaxation of the first contribution condition

The rules are complex and there are situations where the first contribution condition can be relaxed for certain groups of ESA claimants meaning that these specific groups can use National Insurance contributions paid in any tax year to satisfy the first contribution condition. This could apply to you if:

you were entitled to Carer's Allowance in the last complete tax year immediately before the benefit year in which your Limited Capability for Work began
you were in qualifying remunerative work and entitled to the disability element, or the severe disability element, of Working Tax Credit for at least two years immediately before the first day of your Limited Capability for Work began
you are entitled to be credited with earnings or contributions following release from prison where a conviction is quashed, or would be if an application was made, in respect of any week in any tax year before the relevant benefit year
you are entitled to be credited with earnings equal to the Lower Earnings Limit on the grounds that you are a spouse or civil partner of a member of Her Majesty's Forces and accompanied that member of Her Majesty's Forces on an assignment outside the UK or treated as such by the Secretary of State
If you think this could apply to you seek advice on your situation.

Find out if you meet the contribution conditions

To find out whether you have paid enough National Insurance contributions to qualify for contributory Employment and Support Allowance you should phone the Department for Work and Pensions on 0800 055 6688 (or 0800 023 4888 if you have a speech or hearing impairment).

Other conditions for ESA

As well as having paid enough National Insurance contributions you must also satisfy the other conditions for Employment and Support Allowance. To make an initial claim all you must do is provide a medical certificate. However, after an ‘assessment phase’ (which should be 13 weeks but can take longer) ESA is only payable if you meet the ‘Work Capability Assessment’ rules.

Unlike means-tested benefits, there is no income and savings test for contributory ESA. However, your ESA is reduced by half the amount of any pension or permanent health insurance payment received in excess of £85.

Even if you claim contributory ESA you may also be entitled to income-related ESA to ‘top-up’ the amount you get. To find out your entitlement to income-related ESA please continue through the calculator.

Changes from October 2014

From 27 October 2014 the waiting days have been increased from 3 to 7 which means you will not be paid for the first 7 days of your claim.

Changes from April 2012

From April 2012 contributory ESA is time limited to one year for those in the work related activity group.

There is no time limit for income-related ESA or contributory ESA claimants in the support group.

Does this mean I may be entitled to Contributions based ESA? And possibly could have claimed it 8 month ago?

Thanks Trev.

Darksparkle

That's what I was thinking of yes.

TELLIT01

It certainly looks as if you could have been claiming ESA from the time your SSP ended. You need to make a claim a.s.a.p. I'm assuming your GP will still provide you with medical certificates. Basic rate of ESA Conts is £73.10 per week.

Trevstanx

Is ESA Conts not means tested so can continue claiming it when my partner goes back to work? And how long can you claim it?

Yeah I should be fine getting medical certificates as I am still unable to work atm, the Neurologist is hopefully with the right medication and physio I may be able to return to work.

Thanks for all the help!

Torry_Quine

Contribution based isnt means tested

nannytone_2

support group isn't time restricted.
work related activity group is 365 days.

the first 13 weeks are paid at the assessment rate of £73 ( it may be longer depending on how long it takes to get a medical in your area)
after the medical you are either placed in one of the groups or failed and benefit stops

McKneff

Please also remember that if your PIP claim is successful, you will get it backdated to when you applied for it.

Good luck with it all.