Struggling with sorting benefits and being a carer

AnniC

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 

AnniC

I am also at my wits end as i am always tired and in pain all over we have a 1 year old son aswell and iy just drains the life out of me looking after both of them

topshoes

Hi @AnniC and a warm welcome , i am so sorry that you are having a hard time .i bet you are worn out , not a easy job looking after a family but i think you are doing well, 

Ami2301

Hi @AnniC welcome to the community!

Sorry to hear this, this sounds very stressful for you. What stage are you at with the PIP application process?

AnniC

@Ami2301 we have just sent it back to them so in limbo waiting for an outcome

Ami2301

Waiting time can vary depending on their backlog. I waited about 8 weeks for a F2F assessment

AnniC

Wow that is ridiculous what do they expect us to do for money in the meantime. This government have a lot to answer for

BenefitsTrainingCo

AnniC

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