Universal credit couple claiment commitment help needed please

pops

Good evening, can anyone please help me i just dont know how to do this. I am a fulltime carer for my parther wh has severe mental impairement he suffers with severe schizophrenia with active auditory hallucinations and treatment resistant clinal depression. He is psychotic eaveryday and spend most days talking to invisible people. It is nothing short of horrendous for us both. He has been like this 60years unchanged and spent a lot of his life in hospitals on section 3. He has never been able to work and the last 10years has become a recluse .

Up until last year i claimed income support as the main claiment with my partner added on. However a small inheritance put my savings slightly over savings limit so we were thrown off all benefits. I now need to claim again as my saving have nearly gone on frugal living for us both we have no other form of income.

My problem is now if i claim uc which i need to, i cannot get mybpartner to jobcentre to sign claiment commitment interview he is too psychotic to even leave the house. He wouldnt even know what anyone was sayingvto him hes heavily medicated to try and control hallucinations. I would claim just for myself but from what  can see im not allowed. How can i do this its a brick wall everywhere i turn i cant start a claim apparently with him having claiment interview to start it off. Please someone can you advise. Thankyou.

pops

Hi can anybody help me with this?? Thanks.

BenefitsTrainingCo

pops,

Sorry for the delay. Happy to help. You need to make a joint claim but ask for one of the following:

one possibility is that your partner shouldn't have to have a claimant commitment because exceptional circumstances apply, or simply because he 'lacks capacity' - in other words, he wouldn't be able to understand what he was signing

alternatively, you get a DWP member of staff to come to the house for the purposes of the claimant commitment interview.

Ask for what you need. It sounds to me as if your partner should be exempt from the claimant commitment because he lacks capacity, but another option is an at home interview which should conclude (I think) that your partner should have any work-related requirements suspended indefintely. He may have to have sick notes for a while at the beginning of your claim, and be put forward for a work capability assessment, but if so then again, that should be done at home, or even just be decided on the basis of medical evidence without your partner having to be seen.

If you have medical evidence for your partner's situation, supply it, & explain.

If you have problems claiming online or getting the claim completed, ring the helpline, & explain the situation. Remind the DWP that the Equality Act means they have to make sure their service is available to disabled people, and they have to make adjustments to ensure your partner can claim with you.

If you're still having problems get in touch with your MP & insist that the constituency surgery help you. There should be a complex needs plan in each area which the DWP have set up to make sure that people in situations like yours get the help they need to claim UC - get your MP (or anyone else who is helping you) to ask about this, and complain if it doesn't work.

If there's a delay in you being able to make your UC claim because of all this, you should be allowed to backdate (by up to one month), and if you need longer, I'd suggest complaining, explaining the barriers you faced & asking for compensation.

I'm assuming/hoping that despite your savings, your partner still gets DLA/PIP and you get carer's allowance? If not, I'd recommend claiming these ASAP.

Will

BenefitsTrainingCo

PS, pops,

I just wanted to mention another possibility. If your partner has reached 'pension credit' age, you could make a joint claim for pension credit instead (he'd have to be the claimant, assuming that you are under pension credit age).

Pension credit will be a lot easier for you both to claim, and if necessary, you could become an appointee for your partner so that you make the claim for him - if you are under pension credit age & he is over, then the claim does need to come from him in order for pension credit to be awarded.

I just thought I'd mention this as you say your partner has been like this for 60 years unchanged. So perhaps he is old enough to claim pension credit, which doesn't have a claimant commitment?

More information on how to claim is here. And information about how to check pension credit age is here.

If pension credit is an option for you, I'd strongly recommend this route instead of UC.

Will

pops

Oh my goodness thankyou so much Will for all your detailed help amazing you have answered all my questions in such a impossible situation. I have tried ringing jc but to be honest been met with rather curt remark no of which have been helpful. Ive been going round in circles. My partner sadly is only just 60 so pension credit not option as yet. But thankyou for taking the time to help me your a star .