Benefits help for oap.

[Serena1977]

My dm is almost 70. Works at a supermarket and earns £600 per 4 weeks. She also gets her state pension which is £ 735 per 4 weeks. DF died years ago. Not pri ate pensions. Both always worked but in low paid jobs.

Out of that she pays £365 rent on council oap bungalow. Council tax £113. Then she has electric, water, sewerage, TV license, runs an old banger for £50 a month, contents insurance, sky TV, broadband and phone and Netflix. Then of course food, payg phone and clothes (not much).

She has told me today ( saw her in the garden for the first time in ages that she is struggling at work. (She has had some health issues in the last few years and they are catching up with her).

She is desperate to retire at 70 but how will she be able to afford it? Is there any help for her available?

I have googled but it seems very difficult to navigate the system and she will struggle to manage online forms etc anyway

What can I do? What help is there?

In short yes. Get her to speak to CAB, they are fabulous in this area. Definitely housing benefit, probably pension credit too, if she gets pension credit it opens the door for other help so definitely seek advice.

Pension credit tops up a pension for a single person to the mum of £173 a week. She seems to get this already. She could claim UC housing part for her rent. If that is her only income it should be covered.

You should be able to claim on line for her if you get all the information and she’s happy for you to help.

Google to see if there is a welfare rights service in her area, they are usually really good

She would get her rent paid and the majority of her council tax.

Get rid of sky tv for starters. We're both working in our 30s and had to get rid of sky last year because it was too expensive.

Go to Age Uk, they will be able to advise and help her sort out her finances

Age uk were very helpful to my dm when she was trying to sort benefits. She may get extra help for her health issues, depending what they are.

She needs to claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax support

Also check she is getting single person discount in her council tax

The older persons equivalent of PIP is attendance allowance. Many people do not claim this because they think they won’t be entitled to it but honestly many of them are! My mum put off claiming for years and when she finally did she couldn’t believe how quickly she got it. Well worth a go if there are health issues at play. If she qualifies for it someone can also claim carers allowance to care for her too - useful if she needs some help in the future.

www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/benefits-entitlements/attendance-allowance/

I’d be checking if she was entitled to

Housing benefit
Council tax reduction
Pension credit
Attendance allowance

Thank you for all your help. I will get on to it tomorrow. I live 1 hour away. I feel very sad. She has been on her own a long time and because of the virus I havent seen her in person till today, I had no idea how she was feeling and how much her mobility had reduced ( she broke her hip 2 years ago in a fall)
She is very lonely and i think depressed.

If her mobility is reduced if def apply for attendance allowance bits actually worth a fair bit of money

Does her GP have a social prescriber? They can help with all sorts including financial help.