ESA doesn't cover her bills

Emellharv

My daughter is on esa an rents a 1 bed flat her rent is 400 a month an benefit pays 54 she can't get discretionary payment fund is there anything else she can do as her total benefit is 432 every two week which leaves her 32 for food an bills 

Pippa_Alumni

Hi @Emellharv, and a warm welcome to the community! 

Have you tried the online benefits calculator to see if there's anything else she may be able to claim? PIP (personal independence payments) may be worth looking into!

thespiceman

Hello @Emellharv   Pleased to meet you welcome.

Thank you for sharing about your daughters rent issues.  

I am unsure of an answer to your question. Some one from our team will know or a member of our community will advise..

Have you spoken to CAB . They have a wealth of knowledge and expertise and do know can advise on housing issues and problems.

Also for benefit enquiries as well.

Hope that helps.

Wanted to add we are a friendly supportive community. Care and share.

Ask the community some one will listen and answer.

Take care

@thespiceman

poppy123456

Hi,

How much she can claim totally depends on her circumstances and you haven't given enough of information to be able to help you further.

Does she live alone? does she claim PIP or DLA if so which part? Is she in a group for ESA or still on assessment rate? Is she under 35?

mikehughescq

Is she getting contributory ESA and is it being topped up with means-tested ESA? More to the point does she live in private rented accommodation and therefore get hit by local housing allowance? If so, what is her LHA? The follow on question would then be why can’t she get a discretionary housing payment (DHP)? Do you mean she’s applied and been refused? If so, why?

Emellharv

She's currently alone an has got an esa appointment assessment on the 5th September she tried to claim pip waiting for tribunal also applied for discretionary housing fund an was refused as she wasn't desperate enough apparently an she's 24 thank you 

Emellharv

Yes she's private tenant her allowance is 54 pound an discretionary said she doesn't meet there requirements her esa she's still handing sick papers in her esa assessment is coming up now in September thanks for your help

poppy123456

As she's only 24 then she will only be entitled to the shared accommodation rate and not the 1 bedroom rate. The benefit cap may also apply to her because she's not in the Support Group for ESA and there's no PIP award. If her PIP Tribunal decision goes in her favour then she'll be entitled to the one bedroom rate of LHA rather than the shared rate.

Topkitten

With the lack of Social Housing it has meant much more use of privately rented accommodation. Unfortunately people have recognised this and rents have increased much faster than benefits. There is little that can stop such a process except to build a lot more Social Housing and that will not happen. It is down to the individual how they deal with such a system and I know my son has had problems since he moved out from his mothers'. He has tried renting a room in shared accommodation and twice shared with friends. Fortunately he now seems settled sharing with a single friend and has found a good job that doesn't pay well but one in which he van earn extra if he really needs it. However, getting there took a while and I had to help him with rent once and his mum twice before he finally got it sorted. He also, at one point, had to go back to his mum's for 6 months in between when things didn't work out.

The CAB is always a good place to go for advice but always keep in mind that whenever benefits are involved it takes a while to get them sorted properly and the risk is to fall into debt while waiting. Payday loans are exacerbating this also when people get desperate and fall for the easy money at high interest rates. It invariably ends up in even more debt. Online gambling too has become too easy and my ex-son in law fell foul of first those and then payday loans trying to get out of it. Credit now is far too easy to get and debt too hard to get out of, fortunately most of it not available when I was young.

In my childhood most houses had two parent families and often shared with other relatives when necessary. I remember my uncle and aunt moving into our upstairs for 6 months when they got into trouble. Now there are too many one parent families and too little housing and everyone expects a home of their own at a much younger age than it used to be. I was lucky in that me and my first had good paying jobs when we married at my age of 20 but almost all of our furniture was given to us secondhand by family and the only new thing we has to buy was a cooker. Now it seems everyone expects brand new stuff from the start. As wages have dropped back over the last 20 years and people's expectations have risen over the same period it was bound to go badly at some point. I'm just glad I don't have to go through it myself.

Apologies, I have rambled a bit and wandered off topic a little.

TK

Emellharv

Thank you