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Struggling with sorting benefits and being a carer

Hi there I am a carer for my husband who has athritis in his spine. He struggles daily with everything. He has had his ESA stopped and we have put a claim in for PIP. I'm at the end of my tether with this
Replies
Sorry to hear this, this sounds very stressful for you. What stage are you at with the PIP application process?
Disability Gamechanger - 2019
Disability Gamechanger - 2019
It sounds as if you could do with some benefits advice. Are you challenging the ESA decision? Do you know why it stopped? (Was it the result of an assessment?) It might be worth asking for a mandatory reconsideration, where you ask the DWP to look at it again.
I don't know all your circumstances so it's difficult to advise further but I would say it's worth challenging the ESA decision (unless it just stopped because your husband was in the work-related activity group, he's had contributory ESA for a year and there's a reason you can't get the income-related form...).
Hopefully PIP will be awarded; if it is, and your husband gets any rate of the daily living component, you can claim carer's allowance for yourself and get that backdated (if you're not earning more than £120 a week).
There might be other benefits you can claim too but one thing I'd be concerned about is whether universal credit (UC) has started in your area - it's hard to advise on this without knowing more about what has happened to your husband's ESA (it may be better to challenge that decision instead of claiming UC, but it will depend on the circumstances). I also don't know if you are getting Child Tax Credit (CTC) for your son.
If you can provide more detail there are people on the forum who can help, or you could try the benefit calculator - but definitely get more advice before making any claim for UC.
Will