Any advice I can pass on to a newly bereaved lady

[Dowser]

This is my lovely cousin and I dont have full facts so please bear with me if details are a bit sketchy.

Basically she's worried sick how she is going to manage financially.

She's 54 and as her husband has died any money he received has now gone.
Income is £60 per week carers allowance for elderly mum
£45 per week top up....she's entitled to . Not sure of the source of that
So £105 a week

No mortgage
Usual bills. Gas, electric, council tax , water, house ins, car ins, tv licence, food, petrol, phone, car tax , pet food
Ageing car necessary to dash to her mums

She has two grown up sons at home who make a contribution...not sure how much. They don't bring in huge amount.

I wondered if she rented out her attic room would it affect those two benefits.

Doesnt appear to have any/ much savings . She can get help with funeral but there is still a shortfall.

I'm sure she will get on her feet but being widowed just 10 days ago she seems to be between a rock and a hard place.

Thanks everyone.

Hello Dowser

I am sorry to hear of your loss

If rent out a room -www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home/the-rent-a-room-scheme

Unsure if affects benefits

Can your cousin get a part time job ?
Rent room to foreign students who visit ?
Foster ?
Avon
Telephone job working from home

Grown up sons should be contributing more

To be honest, having just lost her husband everything is as you can imagine a bit of a nightmare.

She cares for her mum and son with special needs .

I suppose I'm asking if renting out a room on that government rent a room scheme would interfere with her carers allowance and the other top up she receives.

She may be able to fit a part time job in possibly in the future but as you can imagine she's very upset.

my mum was helped by the CAB through the Maggie centre when my dad died. Might be worth a visit to talk through what she's entitled too.

The £45 will be Income Support. It's a means - tested benefit so renting out a room WILL affect it but they don't take all of it into account so she may still be better off.
If I remember rightly it's something like : disregard the first £45/week of board/lodge and then take into account half of the remainder against benefit entitlement. Do ring Benefit Enquiries on 0345 608 8545 to double check.

Sorry - just to add - income from a boarder or lodger won't affect Carers Allowance at all. It will affect Income Support in the way I described above.

She should be able to get Bereavement Allowance. I am not sure how it interacts with the carer's allowance (she may not be able to claim both). There's also a one-off Bereavement Payment of £2k. Carers UK have a helpline to advise on benefits, they specialise particularly in carers benefits and rights so may give more detailed information than the CAB.

It sounds like the £45 a week top up might be income support, in which case she should be getting council tax support.

Sorry they only disregard the first £20 per week of lodge and then take half of the remainder into account. Just double checked.

poor woman.

you said one son has special needs. The other needs to step up (if he hasn't already) and also get involved in bringing in as much money as possible.

when things have calmed a little, perhaps help her to do an audit of bills and ensure they are as low as possible; energy switch, best phone tariff, insurances etc.

and then a full benefits checkup to make sure she gets all that she is entitled to.

If her husband was below retirement age when he died she may be able to claim bereavement allowance for 12 months.

Info on the gov.uk website, apologies I can't seem to post relevant link

The first question has to be : what did her husband do?
Did he have a job in any part of the public sector or any sort of very big company?
As if he did, chances are she is entitled to a widows pension and various other bits.

Has she got somebody to look at his estate - whether he had any life insurance, private pension, ISAs, anything like that - which will become hers.

Thank you. I've been visiting her for a week helping her to get things sorted.

Her husband was unable to work and no he had no investments or isas. Not sure about a pension.

She is getting more help from son.

She may be eligible for her own pension in September when she reaches 55 . She was a civil servant in the welsh office for ten years, before she had children.

She's looking into bereavement payment.

Not sure if her husband had a pension. Something to look at next time I'm down.