PIP application with incurable cancer

calcotti

Should you choose to claim UC here are a few bits of information

You have a basic couple allowance of ££498.89/month. If husband is already in ESA Support Group when you claim he will get the LCWRA element of £336.20 too. If you rent you will be able to get help with rent included too. 

His ESA will be deducted from the UC award. Any earnings you have may also reduce the UC entitlement. If you do not rent the first £503 of earnings will be ignored, a deduction of 63% of any earnings over this will be made. If you have help with rent the disregard is reduced to £287.

If you claim UC you should tell them that you care for your husband and that he has applied for PIP. If you do this and he is then awarded the Daily Living part of PIP you will be able to get the carer element (£160.20) added to your claim and backdated to when you started the claim.

You cannot claim if you have capital over £16,000. Capital below £6,000 is ignored. Between £6,000 and £16,000 there is a deduction of £4.35/month for each £250 or part thereof.

BooJewels

NeilCr said:

Do try and ignore the horror stories. Yes there are some but many more people get the "correct" award for their circumstances

As we say regularly on this forum folk don't tend to post that they have received PIP on the internet. But they do when there have been problems.

Good luck to you and your husband. I do think it's really impressive how you are dealing with this

Thank you Neil - I've been on-line long enough that I should remember that you do only ever hear the worst case scenarios - as it's the disgruntled who are most likely to shout up.    I need to think more optimistically - we're due a lucky break - and in all fairness, everyone we've dealt with so far has genuinely been really lovely.  Generally speaking, if you're decent with people, they are in return.

Thank you for your good wishes and kind words.  The one thing we truly have going for us is a robust - possibly sometimes inappropriate - sense of humour.  We try, as much as possible, to see either the upside or funny side of everything - we find it largely works for us.  Occasionally it deserts you, but a good belly laugh is very therapeutic.

BooJewels

calcotti said:

Should you choose to claim UC here are a few bits of information

[lots of really good stuff snipped]

Thank you again for the time spent explaining, it's appreciated.  That looks like it has some merit in the near future - maybe when ESA is settled, as you say.  I think UC has some advantages in that it qualifies you for some additional help, such as travel costs for treatment - which was why Macmillan recommended it - and the benefit of starting early is that whilst your savings will reduce it, they're likely to be diminishing anyway, so it will gradually increase over time.

If I may ask another question - how do they quantify your savings, as I've got mine in a bit of a muddle at the moment, in that not all of the money in my savings accounts is mine - in that I manage the affairs of elderly family members (all above board with an LPA) and as I've been selling things for them (and trying to stop them hoarding as much cash), I've been putting the dosh into separate savings accounts, which are sub accounts of our own - in agreement with them and other family members - but it looks like I've got a lot more than I have. 

It seemed perfectly sensible when we were working and not expecting to have to explain it, but it looks proper dodgy now.  It doesn't affect them being means tested either as one is way over any limits anyway and the other well below and has already been through that.  When my Dad was means tested for care funding, they simply asked what the balance was in his current account on a particular date - no questions about savings, cash holdings or anything else.

calcotti

Holding money for other people will complicate any claim for UC. If you can clearly show where the money came from and explain why you are managing it then you should get agreement for it to be disregarded as you are not the beneficial owner. I would definitely recommend having any such money in separate accounts - but it sounds as if you are doing this already.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/864936/admh1.pdf

“Ownership of capital

H1070 Only the capital where people are the beneficial owners is included when working out what capital they have.

H1071 People are beneficial owners of capital if they have a beneficial interest in it. ..

H1072 A person whose name the capital is in is called the legal owner. ...

H1073 People who are the beneficial owners of capital are usually the legal owners. People who are the legal and beneficial owners of capital hold that capital for themselves and can use it as they wish.

H1074 Legal owners who are not the beneficial owners of capital are holding that capital on trust for the beneficial owners. They cannot use the capital for themselves. It should be used for the beneficial owners.”

You would likely need to provide statements for all accounts accounts in you name.

BooJewels

calcotti said:

Holding money for other people will complicate any claim for UC. If you can clearly show where the money came from and explain why you are managing it then you should get agreement for it to be disregarded as you are not the beneficial owner. I would definitely recommend having any such money in separate accounts - but it sounds as if you are doing this already. [...]

H1074 Legal owners who are not the beneficial owners of capital are holding that capital on trust for the beneficial owners. They cannot use the capital for themselves. It should be used for the beneficial owners.” [...]

You would likely need to provide statements for all accounts accounts in you name.

Yes, we already had a similar conversation with Macmillan.  He was trying to find someone to ring me back with some guidance, but they didn't.  I think the H1074 best describes the situation.  There are two batches of money, each for a different relative.  Each in a separate numbered account, accounted for within the terms of the LPA, but they're savings pots under the umbrella of our main current account and I think the savings accounts are in my name, just because I happened to open them.  We did make an appointment with the bank to explain what we were doing and showed them the LPAs etc.

I can explain why I'm managing these funds - a different reason in each case - but I don't have any documentary evidence that can show where it came from - some of it, but not all.  We just have to live with the consequences of the decisions we made when the world was different.

BooJewels

Just wanted to update this thread and ask a further question, if I may. 

My husband got a text recently to say that the PIP assessment report had been received by the DWP and they'd write to him within 6 weeks, of their decision.  Obviously in the current situation this ended up being a paper report - he had no face to face assessment.  We're not getting post at the moment, so don't know when we're likely to get the actual details.

But I logged in to the banking earlier and there's a decently large payment gone in marked as [NiNo] DWP PIP - so he's clearly been awarded something and this must be the back-dated payment to his claim date.  But I can't fathom out what he might have been awarded, as I'm not sure how often and on what terms they usually pay.  I fathomed out the ESA one as that was more straightforward.  I think PIP is paid 4 weekly?  But is some of it in arrears and some in advance like I read about Carer's Allowance?

His claim was from Friday 24th January and he's been paid today - a Tuesday (same weekday as his ESA, if that's relevant) - any idea how I might work out what he's had and what he'll get going forward? I'm also aware that the actual amounts changed this weekend, but I've been working with the older 2019/2020 numbers, as that will be for the most of the period covered.

I was hoping that he'd at least get the standard rate of Daily Living, anything further would have been a bonus, but from my reckoning, it is looking like more than that.

poppy12345

PIP is paid 4 weeks in arrears. You can ring PIP (if you can get through) and ask what the award is and they will be able to tell you.

Nannytone

The back pie will be paid separately to the ongoing awards so the single payment you have received will be either his current award or the back pay and not both together

BooJewels

Thank you both.  The amount he's been paid is certainly more than a 4 week period of even the highest award, so must be the back pay.  But it's tricky to work out at what rate, as there are (I think) 4 permutations of amount that it could be - for him.  I really didn't expect him to get any mobility award, so the highest one is very unlikely.  I was trying to avoid ringing them as I'm sure they're already well and truly snowed under.  I'm just happy to know he's getting something and more curious than anything (so I can do some paper budgeting) about how much and when.

The closest I can get [mathematically] is that he's got the enhanced rate of Daily Living and the standard rate of mobility and been paid for the 10 weeks 4 days since his application - right up to today - I get that within a fiver of what he's actually been paid.

poppy12345

Backdated money is paid first, then the usual 4 weekly money is paid about 4 weeks later.