Help and Advice re Benefit Entitlements

Tank1959

I am registered Disabled at the high rate my wife my full time Carer. Wife hit Retirement last September and lost her Carers allowance. We were told to claim Universal Credit, but as I am 64 I still get job related ESA. We arent entitled to UC as wifes Pension is an income? works out we have lost a lot of income, no help with Rent or Council Tax and to be honest we are so confused we don't know where to turn or what to do. 

KxMx

You could try the benefits calculators:
https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

Or contact local CAB for an advisor to check everything through for you, and advise on any further steps.

elle_may

Tank1959 said:

I am registered Disabled at the high rate my wife my full time Carer. Wife hit Retirement last September and lost her Carers allowance. We were told to claim Universal Credit, but as I am 64 I still get job related ESA. We arent entitled to UC as wifes Pension is an income? works out we have lost a lot of income, no help with Rent or Council Tax and to be honest we are so confused we don't know where to turn or what to do. 

You can get help for council tax. As you got carers allowance, you have a entitled allowance for this. Tell your council. I had to tell mine and show proof of it from dwp. 

4justice2

Plenty of people willing to give advice, but you need to be precise about what you're getting first.....
"registered disabled at high rate"..do you mean DLA or PIP, and at what rate?
You can't get both CA and State Pension,  (depending on your wife's SP rate), how much is she getting?
"Job related ESA" there's no such thing. Do you mean ESA in the Work Related Activity Group? Is this Contribution Based ESA or Income Related ESA?  
You need to give accurate info before anyone can assist!!

Newcad

Have you spoken to an advisor? ie Who told you that you can't claim UC?

You have become what is known as a 'Mixed Age Couple' (MAC) for benefits, ie. one above State Pension Age and the other below.
Many MAC's claim UC as well as Pension, and other benefits.
They have to claim UC for help with the rent until both reach SPA and can go back to Housing Benefit.

If it is UC who have told you that you can't get UC because of your wifes pension then they may be (often are) wrong and not taking into account all that they should.

Next question - When did you first claim ESA?
If this is 'old style' or 'legacy' ESA then you may now be able to get the Severe Disability Premium (and other premiums) added if you wife is no longer claiming CA for looking after you..

You can find asvisors local to you by putting your postcode in here: https://advicelocal.uk/find-an-adviser

Rubyroobs

Newcad said:

Have you spoken to an advisor? ie Who told you that you can't claim UC?

You have become what is known as a 'Mixed Age Couple' (MAC) for benefits, ie. one above State Pension Age and the other below.
Many MAC's claim UC as well as Pension, and other benefits.
They have to claim UC for help with the rent until both reach SPA and can go back to Housing Benefit.

If it is UC who have told you that you can't get UC because of your wifes pension then they may be (often are) wrong and not taking into account all that they should.

Next question - When did you first claim ESA?
If this is 'old style' or 'legacy' ESA then you may now be able to get the Severe Disability Premium (and other premiums) added if you wife is no longer claiming CA for looking after you..

You can find asvisors local to you by putting your postcode in here: https://advicelocal.uk/find-an-adviser

They won't get sdp if living with someone else.

Rubyroobs

Many mixed age couples in your situation end up worse off now that they need to claim UC rather than Pension credit as it used to be. I would ask CAB to check. You need to make sure that the LCWRA ( assuming you are in the support group of ESA )and carers elements were taken into account in the calculation. There may still be no entitlement to UC as state pension and ESA ( assuming it's contributions based ) are deducted from a UC award in full.

Newcad

Rubyroobs said:

They won't get sdp if living with someone else.

 That is general guidance, yes - but general guidance is not the full story.

Whilst you can't get an SDP if someone is claiming CA for looking after you, you can get SDP whilst living with someone provided that you can be 'treated' as living alone.

The most usual scenario for that happening is if the partner also has DLA/PIP/AA, or is registered blind.

There is a higher SDP rate for couples who live together and both qualify for SDP.

We don't yet know enough about the circumstances here to say one way or the other if that could apply here.
(If it is possible then it would be a single SDP because the partner is above SPA).

It's possible that if Tank1959 can get a SDP added to the ESA before making a claim for UC, then that could make a difference when it comes to making a UC claim.

But as said above, to work things out properly we need more details, or Tank1959 needs to talk to a benefits adviser and give them the details.