Lost an intestine and therefore work, struggling to get any benefits!

RatQueen

I'll try to keep this one short, but would appreciate any and all help you can offer!

Background: I'm 30, work part time (27 hours), married to CH, 32, self employed joiner since age ~18, never had so much as a broken bone. Home owners, no children.

In September CH had to stop working as he was feeling very very unwell and had no energy at all, lost 2 stone, generally a bad show. To follow: ambulances, hospital visits, scans and tests, emergency subtotal colectomy (large intestine removed), two other emergency procedures and a 7 week stay. He was then discharged home with a giant open wound on his belly (now healed!). He has not been able to work since mid September, but as his recovery has done wonders he should be starting slowly working come February. He has a stoma now (small intestine pulled through abdominal wall to allow output into an ostomy bag).

I have been/am CH's carer regarding everything from helping change his ostomy bag to tying his shoelaces.

I applied for ESA on his behalf weeks ago. Initially this was declined, it turns out a NI payment from 2013-14 had been overlooked, we had no prior knowledge of this so paid the outstanding £150 immediately. The person I spoke to at/re ESA advised that once NI and DWP agreed the payment had been made, all would be fine and the claim would be backdated from 27th Sept.

A letter came last week to advise that ESA has been granted at £73.10/week from 18th January 2018, but we are entitled to under £1/week for any time prior to this.

I rang today to get clarification and was told that this is due to a fine for late NI payment. While I understand that to a degree, surely having missed one £150 payment 4 years ago doesn't mean we lose 17 weeks of ESA!?

PLEASE can someone help?! We have no savings, I had to borrow £1000 from my mother just to pay the mortgage, I'm at my utter wit's end.

marliepanda

How much was the fine for late submission?

RatQueen

marliepanda wrote: »

How much was the fine for late submission?

I was never aware of any fine. I rang National Insurance the moment I got the DWP letter advising there was an underpayment as this was the first I'd heard of it. Paid it over the phone, all was fine, rang DWP back to advise payment was made, all was fine again and no mention of a fine on either call! Eek

marliepanda

RatQueen wrote: »

I was never aware of any fine. I rang National Insurance the moment I got the DWP letter advising there was an underpayment as this was the first I'd heard of it. Paid it over the phone, all was fine, rang DWP back to advise payment was made, all was fine again and no mention of a fine on either call! Eek

Your initial post says you called and were told the ESA was reduced because of a fine. Did they not tell you what the fine was?

RatQueen

marliepanda wrote: »

Your initial post says you called and were told the ESA was reduced because of a fine. Did they not tell you what the fine was?

Oh, sorry!

-The first letter stated no ESA due to underpayment of NI.
-NI then paid over phone, no fine mentioned.
-Another letter arrives, ESA now granted. Due to confusion (first part of letter states £73.10/week as of January, second part states under £1/week entitlement) I rang DWP this morning to query. I was told that because the payment was late there was a fine so we would receive no payment for the period of 27 Sept-22nd January, only from 23rd January 2018. The woman couldn't provide any clarity or reasoning so has requested a callback for later in the week.
-Cue me freaking out!

marliepanda

If there's a fine to pay, there's a fine to pay. The ESA I'm assuming based on your working hours is contribution based, contributions which were late and have been reduced due to a fine.

I imagine they'll expect you to manage on your income. On the plus side you say he should be working again from next month so not too much longer to cope.

RatQueen

marliepanda wrote: »

If there's a fine to pay, there's a fine to pay. The ESA I'm assuming based on your working hours is contribution based, contributions which were late and have been reduced due to a fine.

I imagine they'll expect you to manage on your income. On the plus side you say he should be working again from next month so not too much longer to cope.

My issue is that the fine was never mentioned, and when I asked how much the fine was I was just told "you just don't get benefits for a few weeks" - which doesn't make a huge amount of sense to me, and I don't know how a historic underpayment of £150 equates to a loss of approx £1240.

Unfortunately my income is around £800 a month, my husband's income is £0 and has been since September and when he returns to work it will be for half-days at a time, so he will only be able to bring home around £100/week. As our mortgage and bills come to more than I earn, it's gone beyond managing on our income I'm afraid - hence the borrow of £1000 from my mum.

I suppose I'm struggling to accept that we are entitled to nothing despite CH having life changing emergency surgery and being put out of work through no fault of his own. As if it hasn't been stressful enough, haha!

marliepanda

RatQueen wrote: »

My issue is that the fine was never mentioned, and when I asked how much the fine was I was just told "you just don't get benefits for a few weeks" - which doesn't make a huge amount of sense to me, and I don't know how a historic underpayment of £150 equates to a loss of approx £1240.

Unfortunately my income is around £800 a month, my husband's income is £0 and has been since September and when he returns to work it will be for half-days at a time, so he will only be able to bring home around £100/week. As our mortgage and bills come to more than I earn, it's gone beyond managing on our income I'm afraid - hence the borrow of £1000 from my mum.

I suppose I'm struggling to accept that we are entitled to nothing despite CH having life changing emergency surgery and being put out of work through no fault of his own. As if it hasn't been stressful enough, haha!

Fines for late submission could easily be £1000. I am not an expert on NI fines, nor will the person you spoke to about your ESA payment. All they will know is what their system tells you. If you want to discuss your fine, call HMRC.

It seems he WOULD have been entitled had he kept his NI up to date (which is his responsibility as SE, many SE don't pay NI and therefore don't qualify for contribution based benefits) and indeed IS now entitled, but he has been fined because he didn't keep things up to date.

Expenditure isnt taken into account when looking at your entitlement. I'm not really sure what else to tell you

Darksparkle

Are you in a position to increase your hours to 30 or more? You may then be able to claim working tax credits.

pmlindyloo

I would definitely query this. Perhaps telephone again - the next person you speak to may be more helpful.

There may be a fine from HMRC (see this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-happens-if-you-dont-pay-paye-and-national-insurance-on-time)
but the DWP should not be fining you.

As regards your financial situation then here are a few suggestions:

Telephone your mortgage company and explain the situation. They may allow you a payment holiday/pay interest only for a while/extend the term.

Check with your utility providers and see if you are in credit and ask for a refund.

If you have any creditors telephone them and ask if you can pay reduced payments for a while.

Can you up your hours at work? Get a second job to tide you over - bar work/supermarket at the weekends?

Check whether you have critical illness cover - lots of people forget they have this.

Reduce your expenditure to the bare bones - lots of good articles on this website.

Good luck and a speedy recovery for your OH.

elsien

Will he still have ongoing care needs, and would he be entitled to PIP? Non means tested, so being in part time work wouldn't affect it.
Council tax benefit, in the short term? Maybe run some figures through ugh entitled to, and see what comes up.