Unexpected but welcomed Pip assessor call! Apointees story

Loumc48

So after going through the usual anxiety of waiting for the what seems forever assessment call, I finally got one this evening !

I’m my husbands appointee having had to apply for PIP whilst he was in a coma following a very serious and near fatal motorbike accident . I informed IAS that he was home and they said they would change it from a paper based assessment to a phone one .

I applied on the 3 June

Had a visiting officer come to my home to verify my identity on the 11 June and make me an appointee

Received a text from IAS to say they were managing my claim on the 3 July

And today (26 July at 5pm) received a no ID call from and absolute lovely assessor who just needed to ask a few questions . She was very kind and also an ICU nurse so could fully understand everything I was telling her about my husband .

I answered very honestly and she told me I would hear within two weeks.

I am certain he will be entitled to the enchanted rate but have no idea for how long he will get it but as I’m hoping he won’t be permanently in the position he is in although still very much day by day . That said, we are lucky as I don’t think it will be a lifelong problem.

Just want to say thank you to everyone as all comments have been really interesting and helpful to read.

At least once PIP is granted, I can then apply for carers allowance - we’ve gone to both earning a wage where we can just about live off to no income .

poppy123456

Thanks for the update. Fingers crossed a decision will go in his favour.

Regarding the carers allowance, please note that there's no financial gain to claiming carers allowance and Universal Credit at the same time because it's just deducted in full. ( I note from a previous thread that you're also claiming UC)

The only advantage to claiming it is that you'll receive class 1 NI credits, where as UC is only class 3.

If awarded daily living PIP you can claim carers element of UC and do this you'll need to report a change of circumstances on your journal and click caring for someone. Then report caring for him that way. You do not have to claim carers allowance to be entitled to carers element.

Loumc48

Hi Poppy, I didn’t know that so thank you . So they basically treat carers allowance as an income ? That’s horrendous!
It is such a minefield . I don’t know how anyone is meant to survive financially. I am getting so distressed with it all. It’s not the caring aspect but the financial one that is really hard to cope with. I don’t think there is anything else we are entitled too.

I was reading up on council tax exemption and you cannot get that if you are caring for a family member it seems. What’s the difference - there shouldn’t be one!

Appreciate you taking the time to get back to me.

poppy123456

You're welcome. I did advise that on your previous thread that Carers allowance is always deducted in full from any UC entitlement. The same applied to all the old legacy benefits such as Income Related ESA/JSA and Income Support.

Claiming Carers element of UC would increase your UC maximum entitlement by £198.31/month. If awarded daily living PIP.

For council tax it's the carers discount you won't be able to claim because he's your husband. It can be claimed if you're caring and living with other family members (unless it's a child under the age of 18)

You can apply for council tax reduction from your local Authority. You can also look at claiming a council tax band reduction. If you're already in band A then you would receive reduction of one 6th of the bill. More information here.

https://www.carersuk.org/media/hf5fnhca/council-tax_april-2023-24.pdf

The only other benefit possible for your husband would be New style ESA, if he has the correct NI contributions in the previous 2 tax years. If he's claiming SSP from his employer then ESA can't be paid at the same time. He can claim it 3 months before SSP ends and payments would start once it's ended. However, this is also deducted in full from any UC entitlement but still worth claiming it because it's not means tested like UC is.

Do you rent or own your home? If renting then you can claim housing element of UC. If you own it then you can look at Support for Mortgage interest but this is just a loan and does need to be repaid back if you sell your home in the future.

https://www.gov.uk/support-for-mortgage-interest

It's definitely not easy living off low income.