Financial assistance for pensioner parent

[PervyMuskrat]

My Mum recently died and so we’ve been getting my Dad’s budget sorted now that there’s just his state pension coming in. He could manage on that (just about) if he didn’t have a mortgage still to pay (he is early 70s and has another 3.5 years left on the mortgage) so he is short about £500 per month.

I’ve tried applying for pension credit for him but at £244 income per week, he is over the minimum. There’s no possibility of downsizing (it’s a small house, he’s lived there 50 years, there’s family on the doorstep and the house needs a lot of work). He was also my mum’s carer for a long while and is grieving so the house is also very important symbolically to him.

I am lucky enough to earn enough to pay his mortgage as well as mine at present but it does put additional financial pressure on me and if I lose my job (might be a possibility in the next 12 months), he’s screwed.

Are there any other benefits he could get? He’s physically capable of looking after himself in spite of limited mobility so attendance allowance isn’t applicable.

TIA

Does he have care or mobility needs? He could apply for PIP

Could he rent out a garage or driveway to cover some of the shortfall?

Can you afford any kind of lump sum payment towards the house?

Sorry about the death of your mum.

PIP is for people under state pension age which op's dad is not.

It did when I applied for it on behalf of my mil. Asking what adaptions you needed in daily life - cooking, shopping, dressing, hearing etc all counted as daily life. Ops situation sounds very much as my mil was in daily life. I won her AA application.

The point I was trying to make is that don’t rule it out getting awarded AA until it has officially been ruled out. what you think might happen doesn’t always happen.

I think the best thing to do is for me to keep paying the mortgage money into his account (which I can access and monitor) and if my job looks like it’s going to be outsourced, I’ll start job hunting sooner rather than later so that I can keep paying it for him. He’s a lovely man and all I want is for him to know that the house is his at last.

I have been doing lots of AA forms for people for five years now and it has never asked about shopping or cooking or cleaning. Just personal care and communication.

Unless you count these things as hobbies in which case you could put them under the hobbies question I guess !

@Babyroobs interpret the form how you want. My point is I put everything down and the situation for my mil sounds very similar to op. I got AA awarded for mil. The op can at least try. I’ve helped others do the same with the same advice.
you seem very insistent that hope and trying is pointless - how extremely mumsnet and depressing.

Absolutely nowhere have I said to op that trying is hopeless ! All I have said is that no-where on an AA form does it ask about the things you are insisting it does and that AA is about personal care not shopping and cooking. If someone just needs help with shopping and cooking they aren't going to be awarded it as it's about personal care. I don't know op's dad so can't say whether he stands a chance of being awarded it. I am often astounded by some of the people who get awarded it so i too would say go for it - if he has personal care needs.

Page 10 question 25 is the place where I put down mil needing help with cooking, cleaning, shopping, hearing aids, glasses, walking sticks, etc etc.
It most certainly does ask about the things I’ve stated.

Cleaning and shopping are not aids or adaptations. But interpret it as you like.

Was there any life insurance cover for the mortgage?
Is he on a water meter? It usually works out cheaper if there's less occupants than bedrooms in the house.

If he is not entitled to pension credit as a single person -(£244 per week is well above the cut-off), there would not be any council tax reduction or mortgage help.
Sadly from reading the OP it seems that following the loss of his wife he will lose many of the benefits that were hitherto available to them as a couple.

As a single pensioner I know that life becomes much more difficult than being part of a couple.

@PervyMuskrat the only thing I can suggest is asking to convert the mortgage to interest only. Put the rest of the £500 per month in a high paying ISA which you use at the end of term to redeem the mortgage.

If you are paying 1.79% interest and getting 5% interest in the ISA you are making the money work harder.

Like you I would pay off the mortgage as I get why equity release is not ideal.

Apply for attendance allowance asap

@ruby1957 CTS is not solely linked to pension credit (or any other benefit). It is a low income benefit, and the rules for people over SPA are usually more generous than for people of working age.

Benefit calculators don't always help with CTS calculations - each LA has their own scheme and some schemes are really complicated. Their website should have details of the scheme.

The best thing to do (unless any visa/RTR complications, but from info given I'm assuming not) is to make an application for CTS to his local authority, they will assess his circumstances and make an award (or not).

Does he have anything to sell to help with the £500 mortgage per month ?

Can he rent out his driveway or garden or garage or loft ?

Can he go to interest only mortgage, he needs to speak to his mortgage provider

Sorry for your loss.
I take it your DM didn't have any kind of life assurance that would have paid off the mortgage?

Apologies, I should have said that I am sorry for the loss of your DM

Thank you all for your suggestions, you’ve been really helpful. Sadly no life insurance as no one would insure him/her after the bankruptcy and long term illnesses. I’ve moved him to a water meter already. The loft and the garage are full of crap that needs to be cleared out (we’ve always joked that that’s my inheritance!). I’ve gone through 12 months worth of bank statements and cut down on everything non essential and renegotiated the essentials so we’re in the best place we can be right now.

Hi @PervyMuskrat perhaps get a formal loan agreement drawn up for the money you are giving your dad so that if he deteriorates and has to move into a nursing home, you will get back your money before the house has to be sold for care. Also, the debts will be taken from his estate before probate which may be important for inheritance tax.

Equity release seems to be the obvious solution. What will your dad do in the future if he can only just manage on his state pension when he has a house that needs a lot of work?? What if the roof has a leak/window breaks, how will he afford to repair it? New appliances? New car?

He could release a larger proportion than what he owes on the mortgage and make improvements to the house to make his life more comfortable.

State pension is fine if you're in social housing and the local authority make repairs but it isn't ideal when someone is a home owner.

(I don't work for an equity release company BTW!)

I posted this up thread (and then had it deleted) as for my beloved next of kin it was the right thing to do- it enabled her to do up the house, not worry about heating costs and treat herself. For her beneficiaries it had little or no effect on the estate but that might have been because she died only a couple of years after taking out the lifetime mortgage. Get good independent advice but it could be the answer.