Partner needs care... can I afford to give up work?

Rubyroobs

itsthelittlethings said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Disclaimer: as advised above, get some advice about whether you can claim Pension Credit because if you can, you'd likely be much better off if you have to give up work completely than on working age benefits.

If you had to claim UC, doing a rough and ready manual calculation* based on the information given, you would receive a maximum UC payment of £688.05 which leaves £368.05 after paying rent.  Plus his pension, and plus the requisite disability benefit award. 

HOWEVER this is based on him being awarded the LCWRA element which requires either the highest rate DLA/PIP care/daily living or AA, or a WCA, and would only be payable from the fourth month after claiming UC, AND you qualifying for the carer element which you can only claim if he has a DLA mid rate care or higher, PIP daily living, or AA award.  (DLA/PIP only applicable if he already claims it since before reaching pension age.)

*Calculation:
£628.10 UC standard couple allowance
£201.68 Carer element
£423.27 LCWRA
£260 Housing (assuming it's the same as HB but we'd need more info to be sure)
= £1,513.05

- £825 Minus state pension
= £688.05

If you claimed UC like this you can still work if it's alright to leave your partner long enough to do some work; at the moment if you claimed whilst still working and earthing your current amount you would only have a small deduction if he had LCWRA and you the carer element (800 - 411 work allowance, x0.55 = 389x0.55 = 213.95 deduction) so you'd still get a little UC topup on top of your wages. 
But obviously you don't feel you can continue your current work and give him the care he needs, otherwise you wouldn't be here asking.  I just added it in for completeness really to show that you could still work and earn a bit if it were at all feasible (and perhaps any extra money could go towards paying for some care every week even if your local authority won't pay, for you to have a break).

I really hope you can get personalised advice based on a variety of scenarios though, so you know what your options are and could be.

He's 78, would he still have to apply for LCWRA?

If he gets Attendance Allowance or higher rate of PIP daily living then he would get the LCWRA added after a three month wait period.