If my daughter became homeless and came to stay with me until she is rehoused would I lose benefits?

Hopeful20

Hi there, my daughter is in the process of getting out of an abusive relationship and has asked the council to re-home her and her 2 children. My question is, if she found herself homeless and came to stay with me until she is re-housed would I lose my benefits, I receive ESA and PIP and get SPD as I live alone? Thankyou 😀

calcotti

Unless she claims a disability benefit herself you will lose entitlement to SDP while she is with you. Does she claim any benefits herself?

Hannah_Scope

Hello @Hopeful20

I'm so sorry to hear about your daughters situation, but pleased to hear she is in the process of getting out. 

I just wanted to comment to ask if she has tried reaching out to Shelter or Crisis? There is also Victim Support and the GOV website should she need anymore information. 

Anything we can do to help, please let us know  

Hopeful20

Hi thanks for the replies, she will be going on to UC I think 

Hopeful20

She has been seeking advice from DAP 

poppy123456

Hopeful20 said:

Hi thanks for the replies, she will be going on to UC I think 

Your SDP will still end unless she claims a qualifying disability benefit herself, such as PIP daily living or DLA mid/high rate care.

calcotti

Hopeful20 said:

She has been seeking advice from DAP 

If you mean DWP be aware that DWP administer benefits but are not the right place to get advice, Would be better going to an advice agency https://advicelocal.uk

calcotti

Hopeful20 said:

Hi thanks for the replies, she will be going on to UC I think 

If she will be looking after you for 35 hours/week she could claim the carer element of UC.

Hopeful20

No it’s an organisation that deals with female victims of domestic violence [Removed by moderator - personal information] where we live. They have helped her fill out a housing application etc so now she has to wait for her points and bid for houses each fortnight, I just don’t know how much more she can take off her partner until then! 

calcotti

Hopeful20 said:

No it’s an organisation that deals with female victims of domestic violence ...where we live. 

Great - didn't recognise the initials and thought it might have been a typo. I suggest you may want to edit your last post to remove the place you live.

Tori_Scope

Just to check, is she and her children still living with her abusive partner at the moment @hopeful20? 

Community_Scope

Hi @Hopeful20,

I've removed your general location from your comment. We'd usually allow members to mention the general area in which they live. But, due to your circumstances, we thought it'd be best to remove your location to ensure the safety and anonymity of you and your family. You're not in any trouble, don't worry.

Best wishes,

Tori

Online community team

Hopeful20

Oh Hi Tori, thankyou 🙄👍

Hopeful20

She is basically staying where she can, she went back to the house they shared about 2weeks ago for the kids for Christmas but I’m not sure she will last too long. He is constantly gaslighting her and her mental health is really bad . This is why I posted to you for advice because I don’t know how to help her. I cannot risk losing my benefits and letting her come live with me because to be honest I use a lot of it to feed and cloth her 2 children because he financially abuses her too. 

poppy123456

If she does claim UC then she should report her health condition and send a fit note to support that. She will then need to go through the work capability assessment. (Same as ESA) 
She should also look at claiming PIP if her health condition affects her daily life.

Hopeful20

She’s just been on the phone crying to me, he hasn’t given her any money towards Christmas but because knows she wants to leave her he has gone out and bought her flowers and a card each from her children, something he hasn’t done in the 4 years they have been together! 

Tori_Scope

I've just sent you an email about this from [email protected] @hopeful20  

Hopeful20

Oh thankyou so much for your help with this and I will share the email with her as soon as Christmas is over ( she’s trying to stay for the sake of the children ) and we will action your suggestions. The lady from DAP has helped her to get on the housing list and did say if she needs any more help then get back in touch so I will encourage her to do this, it had been such a help getting advice from you, God bless you and I hope you have a good Christmas xx

sxc_afro

Hopeful20 said:

Hi there, my daughter is in the process of getting out of an abusive relationship and has asked the council to re-home her and her 2 children. My question is, if she found herself homeless and came to stay with me until she is re-housed would I lose my benefits, I receive ESA and PIP and get SPD as I live alone? Thankyou 😀

Hi, I first want to say that I am so sorry your daughter is going through this right now, I have a sister who went through the same thing. I completely understand her wanting to keep things as "normal" for the sake of the children, however if she genuinely feels like she is in any kind of danger, please persuade her to leave and go to a womens shelter, find her a local domestic violence organisation phone number and they can help her get out and when someone leaves their home due to domestic abuse the council do help way more and once registered to bid on homes, she should be in band A meaning she would be near the top of the list. She is thinking about everyone else, and that's so commendable but she is important to, and if the situation is beyond what she can manage, leaving is the best option.

Regarding if she stayed with you, I'm going by personal experience but yes you will not be able to claim the council tax reduction anymore for sure, benefits are calculated per house, so anyone under one roof will all be counted unless it's a non means tested benefit like PIP, chances are your amount may go down, and your daughter would then be expected to basically pay you the difference with her own benefits, meaning in theory you shouldn't be worse off but that theory isn't always reality, however if you did struggle you can speak to the council and show them and they may be able to offer some extra money like hardship payments or something.

Either way if she did move it should be temporary but again there is no set in stone time frame and that's the gamble. That's why I suggested maybe contacting a women's shelter, they help many many victims not just get out, a d helping to provide some accommodation temporarily, they can help with other things related to it.

I know your daughter wants to spend Christmas at home for the sake of the children but if she can't see herself coping with it, then she needs help to get out, before anything escalates. I wish you the very very best and I genuinely hope she and the kids stay safe and out of that person's hands, no one has the right to control someone's finances or life, she needs to make sure all benefits for the kids goes to her, that he can't access her bank at all, and potentially open a new one and change the money to that account so she can handle her own benefits. 

poppy123456

sxc_afro said:

benefits are calculated per house, so anyone under one roof will all be counted unless it's a non means tested benefit like PIP, chances are your amount may go down, and your daughter would then be expected to basically pay you the difference with her own benefits,

That's not correct. Means tested benefits like Income Related ESA/JSA/Income Support and Universal Credit are not based on household income. Those benefits are based soley on the claimant (and partner, if they live with one) and not other household members. (apart from SDP as already advised)

If hopeful20 is claiming for help with any rent through housing benefit, because they are claiming daily living PIP there will be no non dependent deductions. Same rules apply to those claiming housing element (part of UC)

Council Tax reduction can still be claimed but they will lose their single person discount. However, if the daughter is her carer she will be able to apply for a carers discount of 25%. https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Council-Tax-Discounts/Carers

calcotti

sxc_afro said:, benefits are calculated per house, so anyone under one roof will all be counted unless it's a non means tested benefit like PIP, chances are your amount may go down, and your daughter would then be expected to basically pay you the difference with her own benefits, 

That is not correct. Means tested benefits are based on the benefit household, this is not the same as the people living under one roof. Other people living under the same roof but not part of the benefit household may affect the entitlement of the benefit. In this case because it would be a daughter and that daughter is not receiving a disability benefit it will reduce the benefit entitlement of the OP.