Benefits when being medically retired in your 30s

pinnks

Our daughter, 31, just found out she is being medically retired from a job paying about £40k following physical injury (HR procedures have been properly followed, so it is going to happen).  She also has some mental health issues but is fully capable of living alone, holding down any normally-physical job and recently got back into jogging and ran in a 5km fun-run. 

She has started looking for work but may, or may not, be successful before her last salary hits the bank. She therefore needs to look at what help may be available in the worst case scenario of having no work.

She will remain on full salary until her final day, after which she anticipates an ill-heath pension of about £5,000 per year (numbers not yet available but that is an educated guess).  She is buying her home, with a mortgage of just over £130k and lives alone.  Savings are about £5,000, so that will not last her long once her salary stops.  Like many, her mortgage payments are rocketing…

I tried a benefits calculator but it comes out showing her only entitlements are to £38pw new style JSA and £18pw Council Tax support (looks to be about 50% of the full amount for the property before the 25% single person reduction, so she would still need to find about 25% of the full amount).  She apparently doesn’t qualify for UC.  She applied for PIP when initially recovering from her injury but was rejected.  Whether that would now be different is not known. 

I guess she could apply for a Support for Mortgage Interest loan but frankly, we would prefer to cover that part if there is no other option as having a loan to pay interest on a loan grates.

This looks dire to me – am I doing something wrong, or is this how it is?

Flugelhorn

hopefully it will not be long before she can get some work - even if it is temporary / part time etc - can she take in a lodger? 

pinnks

Thanks - a lodger might be an option but I am trying to ensure that all bases are covered on the benefits front too as it does seem to be a minefield to navigate.  And having read in one thread on here that there is, in principle, no reason why a person who had earned £110k in the current year should not qualify for UC, I am left wondering if I am not seeing the whole picture...

Flugelhorn

Good point re UC as her savings are under the limit - is it because she is still technically earning? Out of my depth - need someone who understands the system better

Brie

Has she challenged being turned down for PIP?  Many get rejected as they don't phrase things in the language that would get through.  So she might say that she could run for a bus but not say that means she would be flat on her back for 2 weeks.  She might say she has anxiety but not fully explain what that means - that she is nervous about leaving the house or completely cannot interact with strangers or whatever.  It might be helpful to get someone at citizen's advice to help her with an appeal.

pinnks

As far as I am aware, I put "not earning" into the calculator.  It seems to have said her £5k pension estimate, plus the JSA/CT payments amount to more than £367 per month, so no UC but I join you in being out of my depth with all this. Clearly she can't claim until her actual final day/salary but that cliff-edge is looking somewhat severe.

pinnks

Brie said:

Has she challenged being turned down for PIP?  Many get rejected as they don't phrase things in the language that would get through.  So she might say that she could run for a bus but not say that means she would be flat on her back for 2 weeks.  She might say she has anxiety but not fully explain what that means - that she is nervous about leaving the house or completely cannot interact with strangers or whatever.  It might be helpful to get someone at citizen's advice to help her with an appeal.

Thanks.  Not sure where she is on that but certainly something to talk to her about.

peteuk

pinnks said:

Brie said:

Has she challenged being turned down for PIP?  Many get rejected as they don't phrase things in the language that would get through.  So she might say that she could run for a bus but not say that means she would be flat on her back for 2 weeks.  She might say she has anxiety but not fully explain what that means - that she is nervous about leaving the house or completely cannot interact with strangers or whatever.  It might be helpful to get someone at citizen's advice to help her with an appeal.

Thanks.  Not sure where she is on that but certainly something to talk to her about.

It could also be the three and nine months eg has she had the problem for 3 months and is it likely to effect her for more than 9 months.   But just because she cant do her current job doesn't automatically mean she can apply for pip, she’s is obviously capable of doing a full time role. It might be she is actually able to fully function.  Might be worth requesting the assessment report. 

Alice_Holt

pinnks said:

Our daughter, 31, just found out she is being medically retired from a job paying about £40k following physical injury (HR procedures have been properly followed, so it is going to happen).  She also has some mental health issues but is fully capable of living alone, holding down any normally-physical job and recently got back into jogging and ran in a 5km fun-run. 

She has started looking for work but may, or may not, be successful before her last salary hits the bank. She therefore needs to look at what help may be available in the worst case scenario of having no work.

She will remain on full salary until her final day, after which she anticipates an ill-heath pension of about £5,000 per year (numbers not yet available but that is an educated guess).  She is buying her home, with a mortgage of just over £130k and lives alone.  Savings are about £5,000, so that will not last her long once her salary stops.  Like many, her mortgage payments are rocketing…

I tried a benefits calculator but it comes out showing her only entitlements are to £38pw new style JSA and £18pw Council Tax support (looks to be about 50% of the full amount for the property before the 25% single person reduction, so she would still need to find about 25% of the full amount).  She apparently doesn’t qualify for UC.  She applied for PIP when initially recovering from her injury but was rejected.  Whether that would now be different is not known. 

I guess she could apply for a Support for Mortgage Interest loan but frankly, we would prefer to cover that part if there is no other option as having a loan to pay interest on a loan grates.

This looks dire to me – am I doing something wrong, or is this how it is?

     Unfortunately this is how it is. The UK welfare safety net is threadbare.

You have identified the available benefits. New Sytle JSa will be reduced by the pension income, see:
https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/resources/new-style-jobseekers-allowance#:~:text=New style JSA is not,from your new style JSA.

Note that if see is unfit for work, then the benefit to claim is nsESA rather than nsJSA  (see poppy's post & link below for more info).

There will be no UC entitlement as her standard weekly amount of c.£85 is extinguished by nsJSA and the pension income.

She won't have eligibility for SMI, as it requires the claimant to be in receipt of a means-tested benefit such as UC:
https://www.gov.uk/support-for-mortgage-interest/eligibility

It's worth pursuing PIP, as many flawed assessments are overturned at tribunal.  Get advice from the local advice charity on eligibility and possibility of a successful challenge:
  https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/ 

If the injury was incurred at work, then the other benefit to consider is Industrial Injuries Benefit:  
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/getting-benefits-if-you-got-ill-or-were-injured-at-work/

poppy12345

UC is a means tested benefit so any earnings she receives at the moment will reduce her UC by 55p for every £1 of earnings she receives each month. When she starts to receive her pension then this will reduce her UC £1 for £1 because it's classed as "other income."

To claim for help with the mortgage through SMI then she needs to be receiving UC for at least 3 months in a row. https://www.gov.uk/support-for-mortgage-interest/eligibility

If she has a limited capability for work she can apply for New style ESA but if her earnings per week are currently more than £167 she will need to wait until her earnings stop. Pensions of up to £85/week are ignored. For every £1/week over this amount there's a 50p/week deduction in the ESA. 

They will look at her NI contributions from the previous 2 tax years (currently 2020/21 and 2021/22) to be entitled to payments and it pays £84.80/week, increrasing to £129.50/week from the 14th week if placed into the Support Group. (25 and over) from the 1st Sunday in January the years change to 2021/22 and 2022/23. She will also need a fit note to claim this. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-style-employment-and-support-allowance

pinnks

Alice_Holt said:

pinnks said:

Our daughter, 31, just found out she is being medically retired from a job paying about £40k following physical injury (HR procedures have been properly followed, so it is going to happen).  She also has some mental health issues but is fully capable of living alone, holding down any normally-physical job and recently got back into jogging and ran in a 5km fun-run. 

She has started looking for work but may, or may not, be successful before her last salary hits the bank. She therefore needs to look at what help may be available in the worst case scenario of having no work.

She will remain on full salary until her final day, after which she anticipates an ill-heath pension of about £5,000 per year (numbers not yet available but that is an educated guess).  She is buying her home, with a mortgage of just over £130k and lives alone.  Savings are about £5,000, so that will not last her long once her salary stops.  Like many, her mortgage payments are rocketing…

I tried a benefits calculator but it comes out showing her only entitlements are to £38pw new style JSA and £18pw Council Tax support (looks to be about 50% of the full amount for the property before the 25% single person reduction, so she would still need to find about 25% of the full amount).  She apparently doesn’t qualify for UC.  She applied for PIP when initially recovering from her injury but was rejected.  Whether that would now be different is not known. 

I guess she could apply for a Support for Mortgage Interest loan but frankly, we would prefer to cover that part if there is no other option as having a loan to pay interest on a loan grates.

This looks dire to me – am I doing something wrong, or is this how it is?

     Unfortunately this is how it is. The UK welfare safety net is threadbare.

You have identified the available benefits. New Sytle JSa will be reduced by the pension income, see:
https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/resources/new-style-jobseekers-allowance#:~:text=New style JSA is not,from your new style JSA.

There will be no UC entitlement as her standard weekly amount c.£85 is extinguished by nsJSA and the pension income.

She won't have eligibility for SMI, as it requires the claimant to be in receipt of a means-tested benefit such as UC:
https://www.gov.uk/support-for-mortgage-interest/eligibility

It's worth pursuing PIP, as many flawed assessments are overturned at tribunal.  Get advice from the local advice charity on eligibility and possibility of a successful challenge:
  https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/ 

If the injury was incurred at work, then the other benefit to consider is Industrial Injuries Benefit:  
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/getting-benefits-if-you-got-ill-or-were-injured-at-work/

Thank you, even though it confirms that "this is how it is" - at least I don't need to be scratching my head, wondering what I have missed. 

We can have another look at/think about PIP, and I don't know all of the details around the original claim as it "was what it was" and life moved on, but I have a feeling (took a look at GOV UK on eligibility today) that given her physical recovery and the overall mental health position, that even if an appeal could have been successful during the initial months of her physical recovery, it feels more likely than not that a new claim would not succeed.  But still something to take another critical look at...

The injury is not work-related but thanks for covering that possibility and for covering the SMI - I hadn't even looked properly at that having concluded that the bank of mum and dad will seek to cover that rather than lump debt on top of debt...

So, it looks as though we need to do our planning based on nsJSA/CT Support plus whatever the pension looks like and hope it is not too long before she is gainfully employed, even if that is a stop-gap, while she considers the longer term...