Benefits advice needed please.

swingaloo

Thank you for reading this.

I have looked on a couple of benefit calculators but still have a quandary.

I will explain our situation and then the dilemma.

3 of us live in a rented house, the rent is £580 a month. I am over pension age and also work part time. Son works full time in low wage job and hubby no longer works because he is disabled.

Hubby gets PIP, standard care and mobility. Also gets ESA and Industrial Injuries payment. He also gets a small work pension. He is younger than me and is a few years away from state pension age.

Now the dilemma

I want to give up work. This is not a case of giving up work to live on benefits, I have worked all my life but my job is very physical and I am struggling to manage now even on a part time basis so would like to fully retire.
My son is with us at the moment but will not always be as he would like to get his own place but at the moment its not possible.

I earn around £500 on a 4 week month and about 620 on a five week month. At the moment we do not claim any housing benefit or council tax benefit and never have done.

I looked at the calculators to see if we would be able to get any help if I was no longer working and the result said we would get full housing benefit and also pay zero council tax. It also said we would get help in terms of pension credit and the weekly amount of help from the 3 was over £200.

Obviously thats more then I earn in a week so if its correct we would be much better off. Please dont think Im trying to get out of working as I would be better off on benefits as this is not the case, I have worked well past retirement age even switching to part time to keep bringing money in because working full time and caring for my husband was getting too much and the job was getting far to heavy for me.

I thought that we would qualify for very little, if anything, as m son is with us but it seems its something to do with the 'non dependant reduction' kicking in because of the type of benefit my husband gets.


So I am seriously thinking of leaving work if its feasible. Ive done the calculators a couple of times but to be honest I find it hard to believe we could get all the help it says we can.

I am going to ring Citizens Advice tomorrow to make an appointment to see an adviser.

I am also going to go to the Council Office and see if its correct that we wold get help.But- and this is my question, would the council not give me an answer until I have actually finished work or would they tell me how I would stand.
I guess Im just worried that they will just think Im trying to get out of work but I cant just keep working indefinitely. If we cant get help then I will have to carry on working.

Are the calculators usually accurate? If they are then Ive been struggling on getting up at 5am for the last few years needlessly but I have always worked to keep a roof over my head and this is all a bit alien to me.

Thank you for reading.

pmlindyloo

Did you put in your details as a couple with a non dependant adult with you as the claimant?

To be perfectly honest you need to go to CAB for a 'better off calculation'.

There may be different options available to you - putting the claim in your name and claiming pension Credit, putting the claim in your husband's name and adding you to the claim, or you claiming Carer's Allowance and Income Support as a couple.

Very complicated because your husband is receiving Industrial Injuries Benefit and (presumably) contribution based ESA as well as a works pension. Industrial Injuries Benefit and the works pension may affect any income related benefits that you claim as a couple so you definitely need some professional advice as to which are the best benefits to be on.

missbiggles1

How much is your state pension or are you deferring it?

swingaloo

Thanks for the replies.

To answer the questions-

I did the calculator as my husband claiming as the benefits he already gets are in his name. It asked for the amount of each benefit he gets which I filled in. It asked about another adult in the house and I ticked 'relative' and the amount he earned. I answered it all accurately apart from where it asked 'Does your partner work' and I put 'No' to that as I was trying to get an answer based on me not working. It asked about any private pension he was getting and I filled in that amount. I answered each section honestly and left nothing out (apart of course my wage as Im trying to see if we would be entitled to anything if I did not get a wage) and as I say I was amazed at the results it gave which is why Im asking how accurate other people have found them to be.

I did it as a claim for a couple and at the end of the calculator when it got to the pension credit bit it said that you can claim these as a couple as long as one of the claimants has reached pension age with of course I have.

His ESA is not contribution based, he has the 'enhanced' part. We dont claim income support.

I do get my pension now, I have not deferred it and it is 576 per month.

I will call the CAB tomorrow to make an appointment. Thank you for the help and advice.

pmlindyloo

I think you need to check your husband's ESA as to whether it is contribution based or not.

With your income and state pension and his industrial injuries and work pension I would be very surprised if he was getting income based ESA.

There is no such thing as ESA enhanced rate. Do you mean that he is in the support group?

swingaloo

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I think you need to check your husband's ESA as to whether it is contribution based or not.

With your income and state pension and his industrial injuries and work pension I would be very surprised if he was getting income based ESA.

There is no such thing as ESA enhanced rate. Do you mean that he is in the support group?

Sorry, my mistake earlier-

It is contributions based and he is in the support group with the 'enhanced disability premium'.

pmlindyloo

swingaloo wrote: »

Sorry, my mistake earlier-

It is contributions based and he is in the support group with the 'enhanced disability premium'.

Sorry, but this doesn't make sense either

You cannot get the enhanced disability premium unless you are receiving income based ESA.

We will probably go round in circles because I cannot see the award letters. Perhaps you are looking at an old award letter before you became a couple????

In any case, you need some advice so make that appointment with CAB

Smodlet

Most definitely get proper advice. The only thing I wanted to add is, if you do qualify for guaranteed pension credit, it is really worth having for the other benefits it conveys such as free prescriptions for yourself and your husband, assuming he does not already qualify; full council tax reduction, to which, from what I have read on several threads on here, you would be entitled even with your son working, due to the type of benefits your husband receives. You would also (assuming it is not revoked before winter) be entitled to the Winter Fuel Payment (amount depends on circumstances) and, if you are with one of the participating energy providers, to the Warm Home Discount (£140 flat rate, I think) The Cheap Energy Club comparison tool on here is one of the few which shows those providers who offer it and those who do not.

I must reiterate that you need to check these things out for yourself however, it certainly sounds worth pursuing and why should you feel you have to apologise for claiming what is merely your due when you have worked all your life? Best of luck.

swingaloo

Thank you very much.

swingaloo

Well, having used both the Entitled 2 and Turn 2 Us calculators both of which gave me roughly the same outcome, I have today been to the council to see if we are entitled to Housing Benefit as both calculators said we were.

I tried to get an appointment with the CAB but all I have been ale to do is give the lady on the phone a brief outline and she is now going to pass my details on to the local branch who will 'Hopefully call you back within the next 5 days to make an appointment'. Nothing is simple.

When the lady at the council did the calculation it seems that we are entitled to help, but, nothing like the figure given on the 2 websites, its actually just less than half.

I took in the exact figures I had written down when I used Turn 2 Us and also took the award letters for my husbands benefits. When I asked the lady at the council why the big difference in figures she told me that it happens all the time and that the calculators are not accurate.

It seems that even though the calculator asked for the other person living in the house and his wage for the 'non dependent reduction' it did not actually take his wage into consideration and so gave a false reading.

I also mentioned about applying for Pension Credits and got told that if I got any then it would just get taken off the housing benefit anyway.

So, it looks like I cant give up work for the foreseeable future.

pmlindyloo

swingaloo wrote: »

Well, having used both the Entitled 2 and Turn 2 Us calculators both of which gave me roughly the same outcome, I have today been to the council to see if we are entitled to Housing Benefit as both calculators said we were.

I tried to get an appointment with the CAB but all I have been ale to do is give the lady on the phone a brief outline and she is now going to pass my details on to the local branch who will 'Hopefully call you back within the next 5 days to make an appointment'. Nothing is simple.

When the lady at the council did the calculation it seems that we are entitled to help, but, nothing like the figure given on the 2 websites, its actually just less than half.

I took in the exact figures I had written down when I used Turn 2 Us and also took the award letters for my husbands benefits. When I asked the lady at the council why the big difference in figures she told me that it happens all the time and that the calculators are not accurate.

It seems that even though the calculator asked for the other person living in the house and his wage for the 'non dependent reduction' it did not actually take his wage into consideration and so gave a false reading.

I also mentioned about applying for Pension Credits and got told that if I got any then it would just get taken off the housing benefit anyway.

So, it looks like I cant give up work for the foreseeable future.

You have either misunderstood or the person at the council is an idiot!

Guarantee pension Credit would give you automatic entitlement to HB up to your personal circumstances.

I am happy to have a go at trying to find out what you would be entitled to but based on the fact that I can't see your paperwork I suggest that you go for that CAB appointment.

But if you want me (and others) to try........

So, I (we) need to know exactly what benefits your partner is receiving.

if you can't make sense of them use the amounts shown in a bank statement but need to know how much per week

So, for example, ESA - contribution based/income based - amount
which group

PIP - which rates - standard/enhanced care mobilityt

Industrial Injuries benefit - amount per week.

Works pension amount per week

Non dependent's earnings per week

Your present earnings per week

Your state pension per week.

Any other income/benefits/savings/own another property?