What benefits is this person entitled too

[Ivechangedmyname11]

My friends mum has recently lost her husband, been married 40 years. She came from another country 40 years ago and only worked 3 of them years, the rest she stayed home. She has never claimed anything, other than child benefit. She is 61.
What will she be able to claim if anything? She is quite worried she will have to go to work, as she has had a heart bypass, and has two metal bars in her legs from where she broke them in a car accident 9 years ago.

Did her DH have a pension? Usually the surviving spouse is entitled to something from the deceased's pension.

She may qualify for bereavement support payment if her husband paid NI for 25 weeks continuously

Esa?

She can get a sick note from her GP and put in a claim for ESA. It will be Universal Credit in some areas. She'll have to attend an assessment to establish whether she is fit for work.

She will be entitled to something.

She needs to go to a Cab, or Welfare Rights Advisory place.

She needs to phone up tomorrow to make an appointment.

Her whole circumstances will be gone through.

Has she done the probate etc?

Yes he had a pension, state pension
He was 99 though, so retired a long time ago.

I was thinking more of an occupational pension

Agree with the advice above about a trip to the CAB

If she is in a full service Universal credit area then she could claim Universal credit and hand in sick notes and wait to be assessed for work capability. They may find her capable of some kind of work depending on her conditions but hopefully not . As she is under state pension age she should be able to claim Bereavement support payment which would be a lump sum of £2500 ( I think) and then monthly payments of £150 ( I think) for a period of time maybe 18 months. This is assuming her husband payed NI. I think the bereavement payments are not deducted from Universal credit for the first 12 months. if she needs help with rent then that would be given as a rent element of Universal credit. I think most areas of the country now fall under Uc for new claims.

go to Age Uk and they will help

she will be entitled to something possibly ESA/ Income support

does she own the acomodation she lives in or renting as if renting she may be entitled to HB

She needs to contact CAB or a similar organisation. She can also check her NI contributions online (she’ll have some from when she was receiving child benefit) - she may qualify for some form of pension when she’s the right age. I think It tells you what you’ll be entitled to pension wise but don’t quote me on that.

If she’s not fit for work she should apply for ESA. If her conditions affect her day to day mobility etc she should also apply for PIP (there’s a quiz online which will help ascertain if there’s an entitlement).

Sorry that should say £150 a month for the bereavement support payments.

sorry yes she will have to apply for Universal Credit if its fully in her area

Whatsthe story - She would not be entitled to contributions based ESa as it doesn't sound like she's worked in the past few years, Income related ESA now comes under Universal credit in most areas of the country. She would not get income support because that it only for lone parents with a child under 5 and carers.

Christ, he was nearly her age when she married him at 21. Poor thing. You'd have hoped he'd have put something in place given this situation is predictable.

slappiness - I see a lot of couples with huge age differences from a certain culture in my job ! I am currently helping a 75 year old with a 42 year old wife. He is very ill and I am trying to help them plan for what will happen when the time comes. His wife will have to go onto Uc and job search as they have school aged children and he has no private pension to leave them. It happens a lot.

She was 61 and he was 99.

Jesus. He was 99 and she was 61? And he didn’t have the common sense to write his will to protect her? Fucksake.

If she’s only worked 3 years in this country, what will she be entitled to? And what should she be entitled to? She hasn’t done much to put in to the economy, has she?

What has she been living on for the last 35 years assuming he retired in his 60s?

She needs good advice, if her husband was 99 and came from overseas 40 years ago (not sure if this was the case) then he would not of paid full stamp either but child benefit if claimed in the non working spouse's name does help with ni contributions. State pension requires 35 years I think so I suspect anything she does get at 65 will be significantly reduced. Benefits now are probably universal credit and can ask for a esa assessment if she is unable to work due to illness/disability which may not be the case as she in theory can work. Bereavement benefits are not enough to live on. In all honesty I think she needs to think about what skills she has and hour she can earn money - even if she gets benefits they are not very much money

They were probably living off his state pension topped up by pension credit and everything else that comes with it. It is a bit of a loophole in the benefits system that if one is pensionable age they can claim pension credit with no requirements for the younger one of a couple to work !! I was quite shocked when I realised this recently and apparently the rules are changing.

anniehm - If she has not built up much of state pension she will just get topped up with pension credit when she reaches state pension age.

If she has an age Uk locally she could go there and they should be able to tell her exactly what she can claim. I work for age Uk and we advise people on benefits every day so they'll
Know what is correct

She’ll be in a better position when she hits pension age as presumably she’ll get PC top ups.

Shocking that they had nothing in place for when he died. Surely you’d plan for that when your spouse is so much younger.

She was not long out of childhood and he was not far off retiring when they married. I fear she will have to work, or sign on as a working age woman. This should never have happened.