Family member, 60, widowed, on ESA. What might she be entitled too, please?

mumtoomany

Hi, as stated in the title. R, female, was married for several decades. Her husband, sadly, died a couple of days ago. She is off work, having been dismissed while recovering from an operation, (Now looking at unfair dismissal, but that's a different story!) and is receiving ESA. Can anyone tell me, and thus her, what she is entitled to claim, and how to go about this please? Husband left almost no money, had no insurance. He was 66. Thank, mumtoomany.xx

p00hsticks

As husband was (just) above state pension age unfortunately I don't think R will be eligible for a Bereavement Support Payment. <EDIT> My mistake;  Other posters have pointed out that this is incorrect - to be eligible it is the bereaved, not the deceased, who needs to be under SPA so R should qualify providing her husband had the necessary NI contributions

Did he have any private pension ?  If so R may be entitled to either a spouses pension (if a defined benefit pension) or the pot (if a defined contribution one). 

Other possibilities that spring to mind depending on R's savings (if any) and where she is living (rented ? own home ? which country of the UK ?) are Universal Credit and Council Tax Reduction   

tacpot12

You could try putting her details into the Benefit Calculator at entitledto.co.uk

Details of how to claim any benefits will usually be on gov.uk, but Council Tax Reduction usually has to be applied for on the local council's website.  

elsien

Is the property they lived in rented or owned? 

mumtoomany

Hi, @p00hsticks. Thanks for the reply. No private pension and he'd only later enough NI for a reduced state pension. Savings of less than £3000, R lives in England. R has no savings but owns her own home outright. Thank you.

@tacpot12, and @elsien, thank you, I'll tell her to put her details in there. Council tax won't be reduced, adult child still living at home, so still two adults. 
 
Thank you both, mumtoomany.xx

elsien

Cancel tax won’t be reduced, but is the other adult earning/claiming benefits and paying a fair share towards the bills? Because if they weren’t before, this is when they need to start. 

Brie

I do think R would be eligible for Bereavement Support Payment if she was under SP age.  

poppy12345

p00hsticks said:

As husband was (just) above state pension age unfortunately I don't think R will be eligible for a Bereavement Support Payment. 

That's not correct. As R is under state pension age they could potentially claim it.https://www.gov.uk/bereavement-support-payment/eligibility

If their ESA is New style ESA then they should use a benefits calculator to check entitlement to Universal Credit. The ESA will be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. 

If it's the old contributions based then potentially could be entitled to the Income Related top up. 

sheramber

https://www.gov.uk/bereavement-support-payment/eligibility

Eligibility

Bereavement Support Payment is not means-tested. This means what you earn or how much you have in savings will not affect what you get.

When your partner died, you must have been:

• under State Pension age
• living in the UK or a country that pays bereavement benefits
• married to your partner, in a civil partnership with them, or living with them as if you were married

Your partner must have either:

• paid a certain amount of Class 1 or Class 2 National Insurance contributions in any one tax year since 6 April 1975
• died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work

You can still make a claim if you’re not sure whether your partner paid enough National Insurance contributions. The Bereavement Service will let you know.

p00hsticks

Brie said:

I do think R would be eligible for Bereavement Support Payment if she was under SP age.  

Yes, my mistake - I was thinking that it was the deceased person that had to be under state pension age, but it;s the bereaved that needs to be under that age. I'll go back and edit my post to correct it. 

Rubyroobs

Single person occupancy discount for council tax and possibly further council tax support. 
If in ESA support group then she should look at claiming Universal credit. 
Bereavement support payments if husband worked and paid NI contributions during his lifetime ( I think he does not need to have worked for many weeks ).