Help with PIP question needed please.

swingaloo

I am trying to help my nest door neighbour who is having several problems at the moment health and work wise.

Im sorry its a long read but it needs context.
He is working but for the last 6 months has been having severe mental health problems all of which are documented and he is on medication but it doesn't seem to be helping. He has had so much time off work and he is now signed off for a further 8 weeks so its almost certain that he is now going to lose his job. This is not altogether a bad thing in a way as the job is worsening his mental state. He has also probably going to have to give up his driving license due to a new health issue so again that is having a knock on effect. He also has a heart problem and has has a cancer and stroke.

So the situation is that he will very soon be out of work and will need to claim Universal Credit.
He is very worried about this as he has never claimed benefits before and is terrified of form filling. He usually asks me to help with anything of this kind. I have known him since he was a child so he will ask for help.
I'm worried about how he will manage and so have been looking at any benefits he could qualify for.

I have looked at the PIP criteria and feel very much as if he should qualify for the daily living. He has problems managing his money, socialising and has several other issues around dealing with situations and people due to a massive lack of self confidence etc, etc. 
With this in mind I am going to help him start a claim and again if he has to have a telephone assessment he has asked if I will be with him as he gets tongue tied and mixed up on the phone and if he has to go to an interview the same applies. There is a place locally he can go to for benefits help so I am going to go there with him and ask advice as well.

The situation is that he lives with his elderly father. His father is housebound but needs care daily. Until now he has a neighbour come to sit with him during the day while the son is at work and make sure he gets meals and help with shopping and numerous other things. Obviously his son takes care of him while he is working but now he is off work and likely to be so for a while I wondered if he could claim carers allowance. Previously he couldn't because he was earning over the limit to qualify.

Now my questions are-
1. At the moment he is on statutory sick pay, can he claim carers even though he is still employed but not earning?

2. I know he can claim PIP but will claiming PIP eliminate the chance of him claiming carers or would one contradict the other? He is capable of looking after his father, he already helps with dressing and toileting but the issues he has that I think may make him qualify for PIP are different.

3. I think the father gets benefits but I am not sure what they are. If the father gets Universal Credit would the son claiming carers allowance affect that?.   Edited to add- I just found out that the father gets contributions based ESA and is in the support group. Is that the same thing as the Disability Premium which gets cancelled if you have someone claiming carers allowance for you. Looking on the website it says the disability premium  is £42.50 if you are claiming it alongside contributions based ESA but the father gets slightly more than that and it says on his paperwork that the extra is because he is in the support group.

Thank you for reading if you got this far. Any advice would be appreciated. 

tacpot12

My information is that he can claim SSP and Carers Allowance at the same time.

Claiming PIP himself doesn't preclude him from claiming Carers Allowance, but he needs to be careful about how he explains what he can't do for himself and how he can provide care for his father. e.g. he can't say he can't cook a meal, if some of the care he is giving his father is to cook him meals. It would be worth making notes before trying to complete the PIP form, and then reviewing these against some notes you have made as to how he will spend 35 hours a week caring for his father. Depending on your postcode, you may be able to apply online for PIP. If not, it will be a call to the PIP new claims phone line -  the phone number and the information he/you will need on the call are given here: Personal Independence Payment (PIP): How to claim - GOV.UK 

If he claims Carers Allowance it should not affect his father's benefits. When someone starts to claim Carers Allowance, it can result in the person being claimed for losing the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) if that person was living alone (The SDP can be paid on top of a benefit such as ESA or included in a calculation for Pension Credit). However, the father should not have been receiving the SDP, as his son already lives with him.

swingaloo

Thank you for the reply, that is really helpful.

It looks like what the father gets is not the Severe Disability Premium then. On his form it just says 'Extra payment because you are in the support group'.

I understand what you say about the conflict when form filling so will have to do it carefully. I can see a defined line between the help the son needs and the care he gives his father but of course that needs to be properly explained ton any form for the assessors.

tacpot12

The Support Group component of Employment and Support Allowance isn't cancelled when someone is receiving carers allowance or living in your home. It's paid in recognition of the severity of the reason that you cannot work, so it will not stop if your neighbour claims Carer's Allowance for looking after his father. (The Support Group component is £47.70 at the moment).