Universal credit

[MotherofDragons48]

My son is 19 and lives with me and attends college full time. I have been awarded child benefit based on this information and he has also been awarded an exemption certificate for prescription costs as he suffers with epilepsy. I work full-time but have to support my son as he is not entitled to help from PIP . I have been told that I will not be able to include him as a dependent from 31st August and will not be entitled to UC payments. This will cause great hardship trying to support us both on a single income. Is there anything else I can claim ?He has tried applying for part time work whilst at college but is limited due to his condition. Employers don't want to employ someone that could have a seizure. The worry of this is causing me such anxiety and stress, the financial difficulty it will cause is huge. I just need one more year to get on top of things financially and then I can support him as a parent should . Any advice would be great x

It feels like there should be something if you are still getting child benefit for him, I think maybe this is one of those gaps in the system. The only thing I can suggest is child maintenance if possible because he is still in full time education. How frequent are his seizures and how long ago was he turned down for PIP- there has been recent caselaw relating to epilepsy so it may be worth trying again with help from CAB or another organisation ?

I'm owed over 3K in maintenance and have gone through the CSA or whatever they call themselves. It's like having a dog and barking yourself! The ex has changed jobs and not told them so I let them know and it takes three months for them to try and contact him? There's an attachment of earnings order but that doesn't help if the company don't know about it. DS was diagnosed three years ago and we applied for PIP but even when we spoke to them on the phone we were told we probably wouldn't get anywhere and that was someone who works for them!? Filled in the form and heard nothing back so I figured that was it. I just keep working and telling him to keep going . I'm telling myself that on a daily basis and telling everyone I'm okay but I'm not. I'm sick of being kicked in the teeth and pretty much being told that my boy doesn't deserve any help . We both step up, work hard and try to do the right thing. We're not asking for handouts , just a bit of help .

@MotherofDragons48

I'm owed over 3K in maintenance and have gone through the CSA or whatever they call themselves. It's like having a dog and barking yourself! The ex has changed jobs and not told them so I let them know and it takes three months for them to try and contact him? There's an attachment of earnings order but that doesn't help if the company don't know about it. DS was diagnosed three years ago and we applied for PIP but even when we spoke to them on the phone we were told we probably wouldn't get anywhere and that was someone who works for them!? Filled in the form and heard nothing back so I figured that was it. I just keep working and telling him to keep going . I'm telling myself that on a daily basis and telling everyone I'm okay but I'm not. I'm sick of being kicked in the teeth and pretty much being told that my boy doesn't deserve any help . We both step up, work hard and try to do the right thing. We're not asking for handouts , just a bit of help .

If you filled in a PIP form and heard nothing back and your son didn't have an assessment then something went very wrong as they can't just refuse him PIP without doing an assessment and then saying he wasn't eligible. Did you get notification that they had received the form?

As pp said, your son should have had an assessment, you really need to chase that up, the can't deny him without an assessment. Also try to get help when applying and doing forms, wording is very important with pip (among others). There are several charities that do this, I'll try to find out the name of the one I used (I spent years trying to get the right benefit for my disability, it was down to the charity I was finally awarded).

That would be amazing thanks X really feeling a bit adrift here !

Didn't receive anything and kept on calling to ask but they just said there was a backlog. They really fobbed me off and at the time I had to go back to work despite not wanting to leave him. It killed me having to leave him but no choice. No support from his other parent or any of my family. The attitude of the people I spoke to was that if you can leave him then it can't be that bad can it? We could both do with some counseling and I have tried to encourage him to reach out but I have to really push him to do anything and I'm exhausted. Just too many battles I guess?

I'm sorry I can't seem to find who helped me with the forms as it was over 10 years ago now, however I have had a look and this website www.disabilityrightsuk.org/how-we-can-help/benefits-information/factsheets has a guide to claiming pip and it looks useful to me. Citizens advice might also be a port of call for you if you have any more problems, they have people that are specialists in this area and know their way around the system better than most.
From what I've learned though just please don't be fobbed off, you really have to fight for what you're entitled to with disability benefits. You're battling a system that doesn't really want to give you anything. It can be tiring, disheartening and upsetting but don't give up. It took me 6 years but I was awarded and backdated (somewhat) in the end x

That's amazing thanks 😊 I'm feeling a bit stronger than I was and ready to do this! Cheers x