Is it possible to apply housing benefit and council tax now while my husband is off sick from work?

pinklouise

 Hello good morning, me and my husband are profoundly deaf.

My husband has been off sick from work due to extreme stress, anxiety and investigation for possible work related asthma or COPD, appointment with asthma nurse tomorrow for test.

We have pay the rent and bills out of our own pocket so i wonder is it possible to apply housing benefit and council tax now while my husband is off sick from work ? As I am very worry and don’t want make any mistakes with benefits while my husband is off sick from work.

We have 5 years old daughter and have child tax credit, working tax credit, I have my own ESA support group and PIP but my husband don’t have ESA and current he is on middle rate DLA and in process apply for PIP for himself.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @pinklouise and a warm welcome to the community. I'm sorry your husband is under so much stress at the moment. 

There's quite a lot going on here so if I miss anything please let me know. Sorry I'm answering your questions with lots of other questions but I need to ensure I've understood your situation correctly. 

Firstly, can you clarify has your partner been asked to move from DLA to PIP?

Do you know if any of your ESA is income-related or is it all contribution-based? If you're unsure, do you know if it was impacted by your partner working at all or whether it's a joint claim or the amount you currently receive from ESA?

Does anyone claim CA for you or your partner?

With regards to council tax support you should be able to claim this via your local council. I'm just checking with regards to housing whether there's any possibility of you claiming HB or whether it would mean a new claim for Universal Credit. If it's Universal Credit your claim for CTC and WTC would stop. 

calcotti

There is no possibility of claiming Housing Benefit. If you want help with rent you would have to claim Universal Credit but this would end your Tax Credits and your income based ESA (any contribution based ESA would continue). You would be advised to do a full benefit check to see how the numbers work before doing anything. 
There are benefits calculators you can use https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators 

Note that applying for UC will end the Tax Credits and income based ESA even if your UC claim is subsequently refused. You cannot claim UC if you have savings above £16,000. Many people getting Tax Credits (which has no savings limit) were caught out last year and applied for UC only to lose the help they already had because they exceeded the savings threshold.

If your husband meets the NI contribution requirements he could apply for new style ESA but this would be deducted in full from your income based ESA entitlement so may not improve your overall income (but would get him NI credits).