Taking 6 months off work to look after son who is having surgery

michellebabe

Hi I am trying to find out if I take 6 months off work as parental leave unpaid  to care for my son who is 10 and going to have spinal surgery for his scoliosis (curve of the spine) if i can claim any benefits for him and anything I can claim while I am not working thanks 

JennysDad

Hi @michellebabe and welcome to the community. Glad you found us.
I'm afraid I don't have the specific answer to your question, but I'm sure somebody here will be able to help you. In the first instance I'd ask you to keep in touch, and perhaps have a look at this link:https//community.scope.org.uk/categories/ask-a-benefits-advisor
Warmest best wishes to you,
Richard

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi michellebabe

The key benefit here is likely to be Disability Living Allowance. If you are awarded middle or highest rate DLA care component for your son this is likely to allow you to claim Carer's Allowance with a possible top up of Income Support (or Universal Credit if in a full service area). The combined payment of Income Support and Carer's Allowance is usually a bit over £100 per week. There could well be other entitlements including significant amounts of Child Tax Credit (or Universal Credit) and i suggest you get a calculation done on the Scope benefits calculator here.

You can find out more about DLA on the Scope page here.

As it's a fairly big decision to make i suggest you get further advice and check the exact amounts.

Best wishes
David