Becoming a carer

MoneySavingMiss95

poppy12345 said:

Ok, so you told them she's in hospital, rather than report changes to her health condition. Are you also aware that her PIP will stop if she's in hospital for longer than 28 days. The day she goes in and comes home doesn't count. When she comes out of hospital it will restart again. 

I told them she had deteriorated to the point of being paralysed hence being in hospital, they did not tell me the PIP would stop just to keep them updated. She relies on this money to pay her bills.

Spoonie_Turtle

I think if this level of health stays for the three months and doesn't look like it'll substantially improve within a year, you'll need to initiate a formal change of circumstances to fill in PIP forms with an updated picture of her health. 

Any increased award can be backdated to when that's initiated, whereas if you wait for the review without doing a CoC there will be no backdating.  Plus it'll be less likely you get an accurate decision if at the time of review her health no longer matches what's on the forms, and it'll be more difficult to fight for the correct decision than it needs to be.

Edit: just to explain further, the person on the end of the phone you spoke to won't have had her forms in front of them, so they have no idea how much of a deterioration being hospitalised represents.  They won't have made a note other than the being in hospital part because that can affect payment of PIP depending on how long she's in there, per poppy's post.

poppy12345

MoneySavingMiss95 said:

poppy12345 said:

Ok, so you told them she's in hospital, rather than report changes to her health condition. Are you also aware that her PIP will stop if she's in hospital for longer than 28 days. The day she goes in and comes home doesn't count. When she comes out of hospital it will restart again. 

I told them she had deteriorated to the point of being paralysed hence being in hospital, they did not tell me the PIP would stop just to keep them updated. She relies on this money to pay her bills.

It will only stop if she's in hospital for longer than 28 days as I advised in my previous comment. You should also be aware that when you ring DWP department you're speaking to someone from a call centre, who mostly has very little benefits knowledge other than to sit reading from a screen. See link for confirmation. https://www.turn2us.org.uk/get-support/information-for-your-situation/hospital-and-benefits/benefits-that-stop-being-paid-if-you-go-into-hospital

Bigwheels1111

Some things to think about during this process.
Council tax reduction, plus band lowering.
Once the ramp or bathroom has been installed you can fill a form out and send to council.
Band c will become band B.
Water, meter or unmetered?.
Its call water help, water sure etc.
Different water companies call it different things, 30-50% discount if extra water use is needed.
For eg, has accidents as can’t get to the loo in time, more washing of clothes and sheets etc.
Blue badge even if on Lower mobility, possible without but needs Dr to help.

Danien

So, things you need to do:

Phone PIP and tell them once your Mum is out of hospital, otherwise once four weeks passes from when your Mum went in, PIP will stop as they'll assume she hasn't come home yet.

Check on the benefits checker if your Mum might qualify for universal credit. You said your Mum relys on PIP to pay bills, so it's entirely possible that she will qualify if she has a low income.

Three months after this recent deterioration report the deterioration to PIP, and another review form will need to be completed - unless she has received a decision on the current review and was awarded maximum PIP - on which case you don't need to do another review or contact them.

Bigwheels1111 has also suggested some other things you can do.

Whether you can get extra help to fund your Mum's care needs at home is dependent on how she is assessed when ready for discharge. You said the OT has already been out, so they will be able to arrange for practical needs for your Mum. Her own finances is what is used to assess what she needs to pay towards care, abd your Mum will have a financial assessment to see how much she needs to pay. This will give you some information 

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/paying-for-homecare/

Something you're probably aware of is the possibility that your Mum may need more care than can be provided at home by the care services provided which is normally a maximum of 4 visits a day. You then have a choice of paying for additional visits over and above those 4 visits, or possibly negotiate the visits to be only when you aren't there, or of course there is the option of a care home. I can totally understand that you may not want this for your Mum - our family were always agreed that my grandparents would never go into a care home and we would all be sure that would never happen, whatever it took.

I hope your Mum is improving in hospital and will be able to come home soon.