moving into Mum's council home to care for her

daisyfield

Hi all. A year ago, I had to move in to help care for my Mum, who has a terminal illness. At the time, I was working, but now I am unemployed, but am seeking work and at moment, do adhoc work with an agency, I am worried that if she was to pass, i would be left homeless. I already know about the succession stuff. I called a local council and asked if there has already been one on her tenancy and because her tenancy dates back to 1975, they said there are no notes of any successions, even though her and my dad divorced in 1985. she said his name was just taken off the tenancy. They were also quite vague like "I'm sure they wouldn't make you homeless as the house is 3 bedroomed and would want that for another family and would probably put you in a smaller place". Probably? I can't rely on that.
The reason i called another council was because where she is in receipt of benefits (Attendance, pension credit, housing and council tax benefits), I didn't want to call her council office in case she would get into trouble for me moving in. What do you think. Should I call them and ask about my prospects? Anyone know of someone else in a similar position and what they did?
Thanks in advance

pmlindyloo

This is a very useful link to read:

Council tenancy succession - Shelter England

I would call your mum's council and ask.  Your living there as a non dependant will not affect your mother's benefits as she is receiving Attendance Allowance.

daisyfield

ok, thank you for responding. What about her pension credit? have you known people in a similar situation and what happened to them if so please?

Rubyroobs

daisyfield said:

ok, thank you for responding. What about her pension credit? have you known people in a similar situation and what happened to them if so please?

You absolutely need to let Pension credit know that you moved in and what date. Did you start claiming carers allowance when you moved in or before? I guess she won't be receiving severe disability premium if you are claiming carers but best to check  that it has stopped if she was receiving it at some point.

daisyfield

I'm currently receiving UC while I look for a permanent job. I'm unable to claim carers element of UC as it will affect her pension credit.

swingaloo

All councils seem to have differing criteria. Here there is no chance of succession unless you have been on the tenancy for at least 3 years. 

TELLIT01

You really do need to contact your mother's council.  If they discover a situation which may have caused overpayment at a later date that is likely to be more of an issue than you moving in with her.  In the event of her death, you would almost certainly be made homeless if they weren't aware you were living there.  You need to get the situation sorted to have any chance of getting accommodation for yourself.

poppy12345

If she hasn’t already contacted Pension Credit then she needs to do that because if it included SDP as mentioned earlier then this would stop. Unless you are either registered blind or claiming a qualifying disability benefit yourself. This would mean you will be able to claim Carers element of UC. 

Spoonie_Turtle

daisyfield said:

I'm currently receiving UC while I look for a permanent job. I'm unable to claim carers element of UC as it will affect her pension credit.

But you living there means she's no longer entitled to the SDA part of Pension Credit anyway, as poppy says.

Also if she has the single person discount for Council Tax, she may not be entitled to that unless you count as a live-in carer (but I don't think you will as you're not registered as living anywhere else - I'm not very familiar with the intricacies of council tax though so could be wrong).

daisyfield

poppy12345 said:

If she hasn’t already contacted Pension Credit then she needs to do that because if it included SDP as mentioned earlier then this would stop. Unless you are either registered blind or claiming a qualifying disability benefit yourself. This would mean you will be able to claim Carers element of UC. 

I dont think she is receiving SDP as part of her pension credit. She only applied for attendance allowance just before xmas. I have been told by DWP that if i claim for carers element, her pension credit would be affected.

poppy12345

Pension credit won’t be affected by you claiming carers element. It would only be affected if it includes the SDA (SDP in other benefits) 

One thing you should never do is to rely on advice from any DWP department. They are not benefits advisors.