Benefit Help After Death of Partner

flossymcfly

Hi all, 

Apologies, I have a very minimal knowledge of benefits so I'll try to explain myself as best I can.

My aunt and uncle have claimed benefits all their life (we are in Scotland if that makes a difference). They had rent and council tax paid plus my uncle was in receipt of DLA at the highest rate for care and mobility and my aunt received carer's allowance. My uncle also received his state pension and my aunt was due to receive hers early May.

Unfortunately, my uncle was in an accident last week and we have been told he will not pull through, he is expected to pass away any day.

What do we do with my aunt's benefits? I assume her carer's allowance will cease upon his death but there will still be some time before she receives her state pension. She's not able to work - she has never worked and wouldn't even know how to be in a workplace environment (no judgement please).

Thanks for any help available

calcotti

If she has less than £16,000 of capital/savings she may be eligible to receive Universal Credit.

Try a benefits calculator

https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/

The CA can continue for 8 weeks after his death.

If she applies for UC the Housing Benefit will stop and help with rent will be through UC instead.

The first UC payment is one month and one week after the claim is made.

However the UC will stop when she reaches pension age and she’ll then need to apply for Housing Benefit.

Even if she doesn’t apply for UC if the HB is in his name then the HB will stop when he dies and she will not be able to apply again until she reaches pension age.

Does she have any information on how much State Pension she may get - it may be quite low if she has never worked. Had she made her claim for SP. If her SP will be less than £182.50/week she may be eligible for Pension Credit - but this would need to be applied for.

flossymcfly

calcotti said:

If she has less than £16,000 of capital/savings she may be eligible to receive Universal Credit.

The CA can continue for 8 weeks after his death.

If she applies for UC the Housing Benefit will stop and help with rent will be through UC instead.

The first UC payment is one month and one week after the claim is made.

However the UC will stop when she reaches pension age and she’ll then need to apply for Housing Benefit.

Even if she doesn’t apply for UC if the HB is in his name then the HB will stop when he dies and she will not be able to apply again until she reaches pension age.

Does she have any information on how much State Pension she may get - it may be quite low if she has never worked. Had she made her claim for SP. If her SP will be less than £182.50/week she may be eligible for Pension Credit - but this would need to be applied for.

Thanks so much. I have no idea about the state pension, my uncle dealt with all the financial side of things and she dealt with the housework so she's not got a clue how to go about anything.

Will need to go up and try and see what records etc there are. As far as I can glean, the house was a joint tenancy (council house) so that will need to be updated. She mentioned getting a letter a few weeks ago saying they need to pay rent now but she doesn't know what got done about it or why. I'm presuming that maybe some system somewhere has an end date for her carers allowance when she moves to her pension? Not sure how that works.

Very little savings as far as I'm aware, however, uncle did like to lift money from the bank and keep cash, auntie has no idea if there is money in the house or where. No wills etc so nothing to consider there but I'm going to mention power of attorney to her - not necessarily for me to do, she can make that decision for herself but it's something to consider 

calcotti

Be aware that she will not get a State Pension automatically. He should have had a letter by now inviting to apply so it's certainly important to check that she has made a claim - but as noted before she may have limited entitlement if she has never worked. She will have got NI credits if she was claiming Child Benefit fo a number of years. If SP is low the Pension Credit will be eligible.

The CA will stop when she reaches pension age if she is entitled to some SP that exceeds £67.90.

(The numbers I've used the current rates but they are going up from 11th April.)

NedS

You may find this helpful when the time comes:

https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once

toomuchinfo

She will have got NI credits towards her pension whilst she was receiving Carers Allowance and for any time she claimed child benefit if they had children.

calcotti

toomuchinfo said:

She will have got NI credits towards her pension whilst she was receiving Carers Allowance…

Thanks for adding that. I’d forgotten to include that.

flossymcfly

toomuchinfo said:

She will have got NI credits towards her pension whilst she was receiving Carers Allowance and for any time she claimed child benefit if they had children.

Thanks. I'm assuming she will have got child benefit for at least 18 years - 3 kids but not sure what the rules were around further education in the 90s - and carer's has been received for 14 years now. She just can't remember whether the child benefit was in her name or uncle's. He dealt with all the money so it could have been in his name. We will cross that bridge when we come to it when she receives the letter.

I applied for her pension for her about a month ago but the initial letter didn't say anything about figures she might receive

flossymcfly

Hi everyone, 

I just wanted to pop back and thank everyone for your help. Sadly, uncle did pass away but we have applied for bereavement support for auntie so that should tide her over until she starts to receive her pension and we can apply for pension credit. It's a minefield to work through!

poppy12345

Sorry for your loss. Whose name is the housing benefit in? If it's in her husbands name then it will end. To claim for help with any rent she will need to claim Universal Credit.