Benefits for elderly parents with health issues

[Snowballed]

Just after a bit of guidance really. My Dad (77) has suffered from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for a couple of years - he struggles to get far at all on foot or do much without really laboured breathing. Last week he had a heart attack & is now at home but on a very strict regime of doing absolutely nothing. For a stubborn old boy this has gone down like a lead balloon.

My dear Mum who is 80 still drives (as does he) & I was thinking she should be getting a blue badge for him. They haven't wanted to, but I think the heart attack has been a wake up call of sorts.

What I'm trying to work out is whether she'd be entitled to claim anything for looking after him or if he is entitled to anything in his own right. I've never ventured into looking at benefits before but just wondered if I should be. They just get the standard pensions at the moment (she worked too so I think gets one in her own right). They wouldnt qualify for Income Support.

I've already discussed doing an EPA for each of them (don't need them yet but probably will at some point) and they're fine with this. I just thought it would be a good idea to try and think of everything I could as they won't investigate it themselves.

Is anyone able to advise on this sort of stuff?

Your Dad should be able to claim attendance allowance

This is not means tested, and seems to be reasonably straightforward to get. (You can't claim carer's allowance if you are a pensioner; so far as I can understand attendance allowance pretty much replaces it.)

Blus badge I think has to be signed off by your GP.

Your Mum should also make sure that she requests a care assessment for your Dad. And a carers assessment for herself. She will probably have to be quite persistent to get both, but at the very least they should yield any kit that might make your Dad's life easier, and an occasional afternoon off for your Mum.

From my family's experience, the sooner you get into both systems the better, as it can take ages to get any support.

It can be a very tough time - for the person who is ill, for their spouse and for their children. My sympathy.

Thanks so much for this information, it's really helpful. The blue badge I'm certain he will get so I will get the paperwork/photo sorted for that.

Having read the Attendance Allowance links, I'm not entirely sure he'll qualify since being a stubborn man tries to do everything, but I will talk to them about it as the worse case scenario is only that it will be declined.

It hadn't really occurred to me about getting them into the system, so thanks for that piece of advice - it makes perfect sense to do it all asap.

Thanks again - you've given me a lot to go on and having read the links I think I now have a much clearer understanding of what I need to be doing :)

You are very welcome. I hope that you manage to start things going.

My father had vascular dementia and all sorts of physical problems, and steadily deteriorated over about 9 years (sadly, he died last month). If we had known at the start of it all what we knew by the end, he and my Mum would have had a much easier time of it. It is bloody hard to accept that you are getting old, and needing more help. But if you keep saying that you can manage unfortunately all the people who could help will believe you!

Mind you, during his last stay in hospital, having had a pulmonary embolism and well into advanced dementia, Dad was still saying to the nurses that there was no need for them to bath him, and my Mum could do it when he got home!

So sorry to hear about your Dad neversaydie. It's so hard that it goes full circle back to dependancy on others and it must be really hard to for them to accept. To have looked after your Dad over that 9 year period must have been so traumatic at times.

It's really early on for me, but the denial that there is anything wrong is there and I'm not expecting improvement :( Still, there is a wealth of help in terms of information now and I am grateful to people like you for sharing :)