Can I claim any benifits

pothole65

Hi the I am new to the forum and was recommended by a friend to look up this site.
I have a question about claiming benefits, a little bit of background information, I am 65 and living on a private pension of £583 a month, my wife is 64 and works as a teaching assistant in a school, but due to the corona virus she was furlowed because of her age and my heart condition.
They asked her to return but as she only has 18 months until she claims state pension, she quit her job as she did not feel safe despite what the government are claiming.
So the only money coming in is my £583 a month I have savings of £2400 my wife has savings of £7000, my question is would we be able to claim for anything due to the low income coming into the house, which is owned by us no mortgage or rent to pay.
Thankyou.

elsien

You need to put the figures through one of the benefits calculators such as turn2us or entitled.to.
Was your wife not furloughed because the schools were closed/only operating a very limited number of places, rather than because of her age and your heart condition?
Is your wife able to look at any jobs where she may feel safer? There will still be an expectation for her to be looking for work, and there may also be queries about why she left her previous job. There are people with vulnerable household members who have carried on working throughout, with suitable precautions. 

NedS

Based on what you have told us, you would be entitled to £594.04/month standard allowance for a couple over 25. From that entitlement, they will deduct your pension income (£583/month) leaving you with £11/month Universal credit. This will be further reduced by your savings leaving you with no entitlement to UC. So based on the information given, I do not believe you would be entitled to receive any UC, but as suggested above, please check using one of the online benefit calculators.

bigbill

Have her try this: https://www.gov.uk/how-to-claim-new-style-jsa
And possible Council Tax help via your local Council each has its own rules about savings etc.

Rubyroobs

The benefit you would claim is Universal credit but as above your private pension would cancel out any payment. However if your heart condition prevents you from looking for work you could potentially hand in sick notes and wait to be assessed for work capability and if awarded LCWRA then that would mean you would get an additional element on your UC award meaning you would potentially get some UC. However your wife would still have work commitments, so would be asked to look for work when things return to normal. The work capability process can take some months, particularly at the moment when no face to face assessments can take place, however I believe they have to keep your claim open when a Work capability process is pending.

elsien

Rubyroobs said:

The benefit you would claim is Universal credit but as above your private pension would cancel out any payment. However if your heart condition prevents you from looking for work you could potentially hand in sick notes and wait to be assessed for work capability and if awarded LCWRA then that would mean you would get an additional element on your UC award meaning you would potentially get some UC. However your wife would still have work commitments, so would be asked to look for work when things return to normal. The work capability process can take some months, particularly at the moment when no face to face assessments can take place, however I believe they have to keep your claim open when a Work capability process is pending.

If the OP has retired he wouldn't be assessed for work capability anyway, would he? 

poppy12345

elsien said:

Rubyroobs said:

The benefit you would claim is Universal credit but as above your private pension would cancel out any payment. However if your heart condition prevents you from looking for work you could potentially hand in sick notes and wait to be assessed for work capability and if awarded LCWRA then that would mean you would get an additional element on your UC award meaning you would potentially get some UC. However your wife would still have work commitments, so would be asked to look for work when things return to normal. The work capability process can take some months, particularly at the moment when no face to face assessments can take place, however I believe they have to keep your claim open when a Work capability process is pending.

If the OP has retired he wouldn't be assessed for work capability anyway, would he? 

If they are state pension age then no, otherwise yes.

calcotti

poppy12345 said:

elsien said: If the OP has retired he wouldn't be assessed for work capability anyway, would he? 

If they are state pension age then no, otherwise yes.

Which, at 65, they aren’t.

Spoonie_Turtle

elsien said:

Rubyroobs said:

The benefit you would claim is Universal credit but as above your private pension would cancel out any payment. However if your heart condition prevents you from looking for work you could potentially hand in sick notes and wait to be assessed for work capability and if awarded LCWRA then that would mean you would get an additional element on your UC award meaning you would potentially get some UC. However your wife would still have work commitments, so would be asked to look for work when things return to normal. The work capability process can take some months, particularly at the moment when no face to face assessments can take place, however I believe they have to keep your claim open when a Work capability process is pending.

If the OP has retired he wouldn't be assessed for work capability anyway, would he? 

OP is not at state pension age yet though. However what would happen to the LCWRA element when they do, I don't know - page 9 of this document seems to imply it would continue https://www.housingsystems.co.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Briefings/2020/02-2020%20UC%20and%20Turning%20Pension%20Age%205th%20March%202020.pdf?ver=2020-03-13-104729-083

Oh actually, this thread explicitly says someone over SPA can indeed have a WCA https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/15093/

elsien

My mistake - I didn't think the state retirement age had increased as yet for that age group.

Rubyroobs

Or I think if state retirement age and in receipt of a disability benefit they may be awarded LCWRA  but it does depend on the rate of PIP or DLA as to whether this is automatically awarded. In fact I think recently I had a client who was over state retirement age and waiting to be assessed for Attendance allowance and was still sent a UC50 work capability assessment form when he requested it ??