Benefit qualification with savings

Mindy1712

we have paid for critical illness insurance for 23 years, my husband had a heart attack 18m ago which enabled us to claim the insurance policy. Which we have saved to cover our future £70k. This money is my husbands pension for when he reaches 65.
unfortunately I suffered a severe mental breakdown and have found it too debilitating to return to work. This is after working from 16 years old for 37 years without any breaks (we don’t have children so no maternity/parental leave) in high pressure jobs.
i find now that I can not claim any income support or help with prescriptions. 
We could pay off our mortgage which would leave us with £10k.

does anyone have any ideas for me to claim anything evan if just prescriptions. I know we have savings but my husband has no pension plan, and we paid for this for many years. 

Any ideas

calcotti

Unfortunately savings not held in a pension plan are taken into account. Had the money been paid into an approved pension plan it would be ignored until he reaches state pension age.

If you have paid NI between April 2017 and April 2019 you can apply for new style ESA which is for people with a health condition that limits your ability to work and is not means tested. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-style-employment-and-support-allowance-detailed-guide

If you have a health condition that makes it difficult for you to carry out specified activities you can apply for PIP which is also not means tested.https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/

For Universal Credit you are allowed to use savings to pay down debt such as a mortgage without it being considered deprivation of capital. If savings are below £16,000 you are eligible to apply for UC - but what you will get (if anything) depends on your overall circumstances. Benefit calculators here https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

If you want to stay in the house you are going to have to pay off the mortgage at some point.

Spoonie_Turtle

On UC or ESA you don't get any help for paying off a mortgage so it would seem wise to do that and then you at least have the security of your own home. With £10k left the deduction of UC would be £69.60 per month (£4k above £6k, 16x£250, so 16x£4.35) however if you were to claim ESA you might have no UC payable anyway - as calcotti says, it will depend on your individual circumstances.

For prescriptions, once you have lower savings you could apply for help on the Low Income Scheme https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-low-income-scheme 
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/help-with-health-costs/nhs-low-income-scheme-lis/

calcotti

Should have said too that my comments about new style ESA and PIP apply to you both. If you both have health conditions that affect your ability to work and/or affect your ability to do the prescribed activities you can both apply for new style ESA and/or PIP as they are individual benefits. In the case of your husband you say his heart attack was 18 months ago so he may not have a full year of NI for the 2018-19 tax year which is needed for an ESA application - it will depend how much he was earning when working. NI record can be checked by contacting HMRC https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

To help you plan for the future you may both wish to get a State Pension forecast https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Does your husband receive any ongoing payment from the insurance or was it a single lump sum?

On the face of it if you have no other income and reduced your savings to £10,000 you would have a UC entitlement of £524.44/month (£594.04 - £69.60 for the savings as described by spoonie) plus Council Tax Reduction to help with your Council Tax. If either of you were found to have Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity the UC would increase by £341.92/month. If you receive UC with no earned income you are entitled to free prescriptions.

For ESA if you were found to have Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity you would get £113.55/week (equivalent to £492.05/month). Any ESA is deducted from the UC payable but If you were both eligible for this it would pay you slightly more than UC. However ESA does not give entitlement to free prescriptions, you would have to apply under the Low Income scheme.

Any PIP awards would be additional money.

strawb_shortcake

In the interim you can get a pre payment certificate for just over £10 a month which will cover all of your prescriptions.
My Husband had a heart attack similar time to your Husband, he's decided to go to uni and retrain as he wouldn't be able to do an active job like he's used to. He made the decision months ago and given the current climate it seems even more the better idea with jobs being thin on the ground.
Good luck