I'd appreciate advice for my mother...

ohreally

My mother has recently became widowed and i'm trying to assist her sort out her fianances (my dad always took control of this).
When dealing with people at the DWP, they looked at me with disbelief when i told them that my parents never claimed any benefits at all such as pension credits etc.
Can anyone advise,on a general level,what mum may be entitled to claim as i'm fairly certain that there must be elements of assistance available for her. She is paying the full community charge although i arranged for her to get a single person rebate two weeks ago, i suspect her level of income should reflect a more appropriate amount such as a rebate?
In brief she is over 60 years of age, owns her own home, i don't know how much savings she has but i would imagine savings would be at a very modest level. Old age pension at single person rate and a very small pension from my late dads employer (i don't know how much but again it will be modest).
is there any where she can go for a benefits check or similar?
Thanks.

TAZ

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/penret/pr_managing_on_a_low_income.asp

this web site might help you work out what she is entitled to.

if she is only on minimum income you may be able to claim council tax benefit, does she have any medial problem that she may need help with.
i do all my mums boyfriend paperwork and claims and if i can be of any help just drop me a line

Fran

It would be worth her going to her Citizens Advice bureau as they will be able to check that she gets all benefits she is entitled to (perhaps a family member or friend can go with her?), and they can also advise on any other problems or questions she might have due to the bereavement or about the financial situation.

She might find Cruse bereavement support of use too.

margaretclare

ohreally wrote:

My mother has recently became widowed and i'm trying to assist her sort out her finances (my dad always took control of this).
When dealing with people at the DWP, they looked at me with disbelief when i told them that my parents never claimed any benefits at all such as pension credits etc.

Can't imagine why they should look at you with disbelief - maybe your parents were like us, with enough to live on comfortably without need to claim benefits! However, there is this stereotype around that *all* retired people are by definition poor, downtrodden, miserable etc. Not true of all of us!

If your Mum has only SRP (state retirement pension) NOT old age pension - please!!!! plus some small savings, then she should be eligible for pension credit. Have a look at this: http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/pensioncredit/home.asp

It's said to be very difficult to claim - no it isn't, not difficult at all.

Your Mum is going to be on a learning curve, learning to take charge of her own finances, and as she's only a spring chicken, only 60!!! she can learn all of this. It's such a ba-a-a-ad idea allowing your husband to take total control of all the family finances - in the very nature of things one or other of us is going to be left alone, and it's not doing the new widow any kindness at all to have it all done for her.

One book which is excellent for women is 'A Girl's Best Friend is her Money' available from Amazon. Excellent reading for any woman aged 9 to 90.

Best wishes

Aunty Margaret

Ted_Hutchinson

Entitled To Provides a means to calculate your UK benefits and tax credits online.

ohreally

Thank you all. I will peruse the links this afternoon,hopefuly i can give mum some good news.