Benefits/Financial support advice for single parent living with 52 year old sister

cstrugnell

I have recently had my sister move in with me as my parents are elderly now and moved to a retirement home.
She has an acquired brain injury ABI and is unable to live independently without constant support with everyday life.  Physically she is fine but has short term memory loss, fatigue and processing issues.
She is 52 years old.  She was declined PIP and an appeal turned down and has no savings and only gets 324 a month universal credit.  I am a single parent of a 16 year old and although have a good job with a good salary I receive no other income and cannot continue to pay for 2 adults and a teenager.  She gets Council tax support 50% which helps but she receives no housing benefit as she lives with me.  I am at a loss to know what else I can do?

poppy123456

Hi,

Has she reported her health condition onto her journal? If she hasn't then she should do this and send in fit notes from her GP to be able to start the work capability assessment process off. If she's then found to have LCWRA then she will receive an extra £343 per month from the 4th month of her claim.

There's more information here. https://www.gov.uk/health-conditions-disability-universal-credit

You mention being refused PIP at appeal, was this a Tribunal? PIP isn't awarded based on any diagnosis. I would advise her to get some expert regarding a PIP claim to check that she can score enough points for an award. Start here for this and choose the topic "welfare benefits"  https://advicelocal.uk/

In the meantime is she able to give you some money as a contribution towards the bills from her UC money?

chiarieds

Hi @cstrugnell - & welcome to the community. I can appreciate your situation is difficult, but how kind you are looking after your sister.

May I ask, when you mention your sister's PIP claim, & appeal, was this the first stage of doing a Mandatory Reconsideration, or did this continue to a tribunal?

Alex_Alumni

Hi @cstrugnell and welcome to the community, I hope you've found our members responses useful. I can appreciate your current situation must be a worry, do you have any friends or loved ones close by who can support you, at least emotionally? Knowing you're not alone can make a really positive difference.

To help everyone find you post I've moved it into the 'Benefits and financial support' category, and changed the title slightly. Hopefully someone with similar experiences can share their thoughts as well. 

I would echo poppy and chiarieds, it's worth finding out at what stage the PIP application was refused, as there might still be a good chance your sister is entitled to support, and would also suggest seeking some advice locally on Advicelocal.

Scope has a clear overview of the types of benefits that you might be able to apply for if you needed to check anything, and Turn2Us has a benefits calculator that might help too, if you haven't already used it.

Please don't hesitate to ask if there's anything else we can do to help.

Alex

cstrugnell

Thank you for all your advice.  I will endeavour to find out more information regarding PIP as out mum was dealing with this.
I believe she has started the LCMRA process and gets FIT notes from GP.  I don't go with her to her meetings as work full time, my mum still does so will find out about this also. 
She has never had any support regarding her ABI so will also look into that support on the linkedin link.
This has certainly helped me see there are other options thanks again.

cstrugnell

Thank you - I will explore similar services.

chiarieds

Hi @cstrugnell -  you may find the charity Headway helpful as they have info on ABI. Please see: https://www.headway.org.uk/about-brain-injury