Need some advice RE benefits etc

[scifisam]

and it's usually worth letting the HA know what's going on (and that you've got a claim in for UC) if you're not going to be able to pay on time, rather than just not pay - they will be used to circumstances like this.

Yup - I said that too, but it's buried in a very long post so well worth highlighting. It doesn't put your home at risk (though it could feel like it would), it does the opposite.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Yup - I said that too, but it's buried in a very long post so well worth highlighting. It doesn't put your home at risk (though it could feel like it would), it does the opposite.

oops, sorry, i missed that...

 

[scifisam]

oops, sorry, i missed that...

Nah, like I said, easy to miss and worth reiterating.

HAs can be shitty fucking landlords, IME, but in this area they're reasonably good, and the law is on your side too.

 

[mentalchik]

OK, first of all, about PIP, it is basically for permanent conditions that affect your ability to look after yourself and get around. It's not connected to work at all. I get PIP and I work full time. You might be eligible - it depends on your diagnosis and how it affects you - but the diagnosis does have to be for something that's not likely to stop in the next year or so.

Govt description that is pretty accurate

Universal Credit has a disability element. It's fairly easy to start a claim for it, and it gets them off your back for a while because they don't ask you to do anything to prove it until you're actually assessed, you just won't get the disability element until you've been assessed (and then it'll be backdated). I get a tiny, tiny amount of UC due to disability - my last assessment was years ago, but my condition is never going to change, and I think maybe they just can't be arsed reassessing me for the sake of pennies a week.

Universal credit is always better starting a claim for sooner rather than later, so it's good that you've started it now. They pay a month in arrears, and pay once a month. It's based on your net income (after tax, NI, and pension payments), so you'll need to upload your payslips. But it adjust very quickly if your income changes. So if you upload your payslips now, maybe you won't get anything this month, but as soon as you get your next payslips and upload them they will adjust your next payment to be higher. The online universal credit website is actually pretty good TBH.

You're not currently eligible for "new-style ESA." That specific phrasing is important. You aren't eligible right now because you're not unemployed - you're still technically employed, and you get Statutory Sick Pay. But it doesn't really matter, because you will be entitled to universal credit. All it means is that, for now at least, you don't need to think about ESA, JSA or anything else, just universal credit.

The govt link

Since you're getting SSP, that will be taken into account as income for UC, so the amount you get will be reduced. But that doesn't mean you get nothing even at basic rate, because you definitely will be eligible for "the housing element of universal credit."

When you apply for universal credit, you basically have to tick the box on the universal credit application form to confirm that you pay rent, and add all the details of your landlord and your rent. It will be a bit simpler with a housing association landlord than private, because they can check it so easily. It will be lower if you have a "spare room." It's 14% if you have one spare bedroom, so if your rent were £150 pw you'd only £129 (£150-£21) and would have to make up the rest out of your universal credit and SSP. Your council might have a facility to apply for a discretionary housing payment for the rest - you might or might not get that, but definitely won't if you don't apply.

Another govt link

That will also be paid in arrears. If you can pay your rent in advance for the next month, that'll help, but the HA really are not going to evict you for being one month behind due to UC payments coming in late. They might send you threatening emails and letters (my HA used to send me letters and emails every single week - and I wasn't even in debt, their systems just took too long to update! I eventually emailed over screenshots showing that - according to the rent account the HA maintain - I was in credit on the dates they claimed I was in debt, and asked them to stop harassing me, and they did), but they would never take you to court because no court would evict you for this cause.

I can understand you not wanting to go to the HA's benefit advice team if you have a spare room. Some HAs can be total arseholes. But if you contact them and tell them you're in the middle of applying for benefits due to being off work sick, they will take that into account when thinking about sending out threatening letters.

Council tax reduction has to be applied for separately. It might be worth phoning the council to ask for help doing that - they can actually be helpful, especially with someone in your situation, and they have teams whose entire job is helping people apply for it.

If you don't have enough to pay ahead a bit on your rent, you might end up a bit behind, but not so much that you'll be at risk of losing your home as long as you do star tgetting the rent paid. Honestly. It's a shitty, shitty system but it's not impossible to use.

In my area, there are benefits advice surgeries run at local libraries, and they might be easier to access than the CAB if your area has something similar. The CAB is very hit or miss, because it's volunteer run, so there might be someone really efficient and well-informed or you might, like I once did, get a trainee lawyer who meant well but made me sit there for half an hour while she confirmed what I'd said about PIP and ESA not being the same thing. So it's worth a try if need be, but don't give up if they can't help you, because they're not the only resource.

I'll help you with the actual application if it would make it easier for you. Anyone would find it hard, especially when they're already ill.

OMG thank you so much, reading your post has massively eased my mind...you guys are all brilliant and i now feel embarrassed i was in such a state yesterday. I am stuck with the NHS taking it's time and the fuck ups i've had to endure....haven't even got a proper diagnosis yet...in the three months iv'e endureded this as well as the constant pain i've lost so much muscle in my right thigh its ridiculous. Anyhoo i feel a bit more positive now, can't express how much i appreciate this advice, have always been a very independant, self reliant person and this is all very bewildering for me. I now understand how people get so bogged down by the system and am angry that we are so demonised.
Special shout out for Scifisam and epona for going out of their way to help

 

[marty21]

OK, first of all, about PIP, it is basically for permanent conditions that affect your ability to look after yourself and get around. It's not connected to work at all. I get PIP and I work full time. You might be eligible - it depends on your diagnosis and how it affects you - but the diagnosis does have to be for something that's not likely to stop in the next year or so.

Govt description that is pretty accurate

Universal Credit has a disability element. It's fairly easy to start a claim for it, and it gets them off your back for a while because they don't ask you to do anything to prove it until you're actually assessed, you just won't get the disability element until you've been assessed (and then it'll be backdated). I get a tiny, tiny amount of UC due to disability - my last assessment was years ago, but my condition is never going to change, and I think maybe they just can't be arsed reassessing me for the sake of pennies a week.

Universal credit is always better starting a claim for sooner rather than later, so it's good that you've started it now. They pay a month in arrears, and pay once a month. It's based on your net income (after tax, NI, and pension payments), so you'll need to upload your payslips. But it adjust very quickly if your income changes. So if you upload your payslips now, maybe you won't get anything this month, but as soon as you get your next payslips and upload them they will adjust your next payment to be higher. The online universal credit website is actually pretty good TBH.

You're not currently eligible for "new-style ESA." That specific phrasing is important. You aren't eligible right now because you're not unemployed - you're still technically employed, and you get Statutory Sick Pay. But it doesn't really matter, because you will be entitled to universal credit. All it means is that, for now at least, you don't need to think about ESA, JSA or anything else, just universal credit.

The govt link

Since you're getting SSP, that will be taken into account as income for UC, so the amount you get will be reduced. But that doesn't mean you get nothing even at basic rate, because you definitely will be eligible for "the housing element of universal credit."

When you apply for universal credit, you basically have to tick the box on the universal credit application form to confirm that you pay rent, and add all the details of your landlord and your rent. It will be a bit simpler with a housing association landlord than private, because they can check it so easily. It will be lower if you have a "spare room." It's 14% if you have one spare bedroom, so if your rent were £150 pw you'd only £129 (£150-£21) and would have to make up the rest out of your universal credit and SSP. Your council might have a facility to apply for a discretionary housing payment for the rest - you might or might not get that, but definitely won't if you don't apply.

Another govt link

That will also be paid in arrears. If you can pay your rent in advance for the next month, that'll help, but the HA really are not going to evict you for being one month behind due to UC payments coming in late. They might send you threatening emails and letters (my HA used to send me letters and emails every single week - and I wasn't even in debt, their systems just took too long to update! I eventually emailed over screenshots showing that - according to the rent account the HA maintain - I was in credit on the dates they claimed I was in debt, and asked them to stop harassing me, and they did), but they would never take you to court because no court would evict you for this cause.

I can understand you not wanting to go to the HA's benefit advice team if you have a spare room. Some HAs can be total arseholes. But if you contact them and tell them you're in the middle of applying for benefits due to being off work sick, they will take that into account when thinking about sending out threatening letters.

Council tax reduction has to be applied for separately. It might be worth phoning the council to ask for help doing that - they can actually be helpful, especially with someone in your situation, and they have teams whose entire job is helping people apply for it.

If you don't have enough to pay ahead a bit on your rent, you might end up a bit behind, but not so much that you'll be at risk of losing your home as long as you do star tgetting the rent paid. Honestly. It's a shitty, shitty system but it's not impossible to use.

In my area, there are benefits advice surgeries run at local libraries, and they might be easier to access than the CAB if your area has something similar. The CAB is very hit or miss, because it's volunteer run, so there might be someone really efficient and well-informed or you might, like I once did, get a trainee lawyer who meant well but made me sit there for half an hour while she confirmed what I'd said about PIP and ESA not being the same thing. So it's worth a try if need be, but don't give up if they can't help you, because they're not the only resource.

I'll help you with the actual application if it would make it easier for you. Anyone would find it hard, especially when they're already ill.

Excellent stuff - Councils and I presume HA's have a portal to the DWP, (it's very exciting, like being in the future!) and we confirm rent and flat size details when they request - and can also ask for direct payments if the tenant is not passing the payments to the landlord, the tenant can also request this when they claim.

 

[mentalchik]

Right so i have to go to the job centre for an appointment next Monday to confirm my identity....fuck me i can only just bring the required stuff from the various lists as everything is online...

 

[LakieLady]

Sorry, bit late to the party.

You can qualify for PIP if your health conditions aren't permanent. The qualifying condition(s) must have been present for at least 3 months at the date of the claim, and likely to persist for a further 9 months afterwards.

You can claim while on SSP, but won't get anything unless your maximum UC entitlement (ie, all relevant allowances for you and any children, plus rent) exceeds the amount of SSP.

If they want bank statements, you can upload screenshots from your online bank account(s). Once your UC claim is open, ask the work coach dealing with your claim for a link at the appointment where you verify your ID etc so you can do this. Take your tenancy agreement along with proof of ID.

Boring bureaucratic stuff follows:

Most importantly, when you do the claim, answer "yes" to the question that's along the lines of "Do you have a health condition that puts you at a disadvantage with regard to getting or keeping a job? (Sorry, can't recall the exact wording.) Get FIT notes from your GP and either upload them via a link or taking them into the job centre. If they won't give you a link (they can be arseholes about this), put a note on your journal every time you get a new FIT note, telling them the period it covers, and keep the FIT notes in a safe place as they have been known to ask for them months down the line.

Answering "yes" to the health/disability question should kick start the work capability assessment process. After a couple of months, you'll get a form UC50 (work capability questionnaire. If you can, get advice from CAB or similar re completing this. If you can't, download the PDF here LCW descriptors and bear them in mind when completing the form. If you are of the opinion that there would be a "substantial risk" to the health of you or anyone else if you were found not to have Limited Capability for Work, put that in the additional info box. You might also want to tell them that you consider that "paragraph 4 of schedule 8 of the UC regulations" applies. (I always do this when I do UC50s with clients). A while after sending this back, you'll get invited to an assessment.

For PIP, if you can't access local advice services, imo it's worth subscribing to Benefits and Work here Benefits & Work so you can get their free guide to completing the form. I think the sub is around £20, but well worth it imo. They deliver excellent training for welfare rights workers, and the woman who runs it is very good. The PIP form looks fairly innocuous but the legislation that underpins it is quite technical and there's shedloads of case law (so much that I can't keep up with it and come across a new bit practically every damn week). It's hard to get the form right if you don't know at least some of that stuff. Also worth taking a look at the PIP descriptors here PIP descriptors .

Remember that to be able to do something for PIP purposes, you have to be able to do it safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable timescale (PIP regulation 4 (2A)!). That regulation has been the key to every one of my tribunal successes.

Good luck.