Low income no benefits

[lancslass17]

Just wondering if I I am missing something , both partner and I had to retire early due to ill health, a small pension but not state pension age yet.

Using savings but need it to last as long as possible, transferred marriage tax allowance over to maximize tax. Not eligible for benefits but is there anything else we could possibly apply for to make savings last untill state pension age?

Does your health qualify you for PIP? Check on CAB website for criteria. If either of you qualifies the other might be able to claim carers allowance

whilst I admire your wish to have a financial cushion for old age the system is not set up to facilitate this - you are expected to spend the money you have until it falls below the £16k threshold. If you get to that point you could claim UC but as you are working age you would be expected to look for work unless you can demonstrate with appropriate medical evidence you are incapable of any kind of work

Depends on your savings, if over £16k no.

Could one or both of you get a little part time work? That's my plan once I quit my current job

Have you checked whether you are eligible for New Style ESA &/or PIP? Depending on what the ill health needs are potentially council tax discount.

If you have a Disability bad enough to stop you from working you might get PIP if appropriate evidence.

How many years do you need it to last?

Assume you have savings in accounts paying 5% interest?

Have you calculated how much you can take per month and how do you pay yourself? You probably need a spread of savings accounts. There are quite a few flexible accounts with unlimited access but sometimes only for smaller amounts.

Can you earn any income?

Thanks all, applied for pip but refused, part time job is last resort could do something but not reliably well enough to commit to any permanent hours.

Need to last 2 years , budget all worked out to nth degree but falling short so just looking at what other options are.

As well as investigating if you can claim any additional benefits I would look into the following:

1.Ensure you have both paid enough NI contributions to claim a full state pension when the time comes. Use some of your savings to top up if necessary.

2.Make use of both of your ISA allowances to maximise tax efficiencies - (but see point 3).

3.Utilise all of your savings tax allowances outside of your ISA's. Move the maximum possible savings into the highest interest paying accounts - often these are regular savers or loyalty fixed rate accounts. Build savings ladders to access the highest rates and review regularly. Keep a calendar of when they mature and automate payments into them via standing orders.

If your individual pension income is below £17K each, your starting rates for tax on savings interest could be up to £5K. If so, you could keep up to £70K each outside of ISA's to earn interest on rates of up to 7%.

4.Check each April for bonuses and cash rewards for opening new cash or S&S ISA's. Transfer away after a year to better rates or catch new bonus offers. Many of these are listed on MSE.

5.Open a dummy current account with a bank that rarely pays a bonus to switch,. Put a small amount into the account and use this to begin a strategy of switching bank accounts regularly to earn extra bonuses when on offer. This can amount to several hundred pounds a year.

(Also - and this may not be for you - have you looked into matched betting? It can provide a good top up income from home, but it's not for everyone).

Did you appeal the PIP decision? Apparently quite a high percentage of rejections get overturned on appeal.

If you Google PIP appeal there's advice from CAB, MSE etc.

Did you request a mandatory review then appeal PIP? If not and it wasn’t recently, reapply and if refused again do that. If it was recent are you still in the timescales to ask for a mandatory review?

If you have enough NI contributions also look at New Style ESA.

Go along to Citizens Advice and ask for support with PIP appeal, they have a good rate of success.

Try this benefits calculator to see if you have missed anything: capuk.org/money-and-debt-advice/benefits-calculator#

Failing that you might want to consider temp contracts or part time jobs while you are still young enough to work. I've met people doing very creative fun things for example running campsites over summer in fab locations!

Ah just saw your point about ill health, so working may not be an option - but there are other things like acting as a guardian for kids at local private schools or renting a room out or even a garage for storage. I hope that helps.

How long ago did each of you stop working?

Did you and/or your partner work and pay NI contributions throughout the 2020-21 and 2021-22 tax years?

If you have full NI records for those years, you can claim new-style ESA, which is not means tested (i.e. savings ignored).

How much do you have between you in savings?

And as PPs have said, it might be worth challenging the PIP decision(s). Contact your local Citizens Advice. They'll want to see the decision letter(s) and any medical evidence you have.