What benefits would Dsis be entitled to?

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DSis, who is in her late 50s, has a chronic health condition. She has always worked full time. She lived at home with Mum and Dad who gave her a lot of support.

When DM died, DF downsized to a 2 bed property which he put in Dsis name. He also made her sole beneficiary of his Will (with my complete agreement!).

DF died in 2020, so she now lives alone, with her pets. She has been struggling. Her union and work have been very supportive, and she's had "reasonable adjustments" made, each of which has helped for a while. I don't think there are any further "reasonable adjustments" available. In the past year she has been signed off work for approx 40% of the time. It's not clear how much longer she's going to be able to work. She could reduce her hours, but she is dipping into her savings (i.e. her inheritance from DF) as it is, so any reduction in hours / pay would mean relying further on her savings.

She could take her pension early, but it would be small - just £9000pa. She can't live on that. But there is no way she's going to be able to work for another decade until she's 67.

If she has to give up work, what benefits would be available? I think she has about £50,000 of the money she inherited left, and she owns her home outright.

I live too far away to be of any practical help. I agreed that DSis should get everything when DF died, as I hadn't been budgeting on getting anything, but I absolutely do not have any "spare" money to support DSis financially myself.

She may be entitled to PIP or attendance allowance due to her ill health.

She may be entitled to PIP, but wouldn’t get any means tested benefits. They would expect her to use her savings until she had less than £16k.

If she's got £50K in savings - nothing income based. She may be able to claim what used to be contribution based ESA for a while - think it's now called new style ESA - and then PIP.

This. She would be expected to use her savings to live on until they meet the threshold for means tested benefits.

With £50k and a home owned outright she’s not entitled to anything with the exception of PIP (if she isn’t already in receipt of that)

As others have said she may be entitled to PIP.

She won't get universal credit as her savings are over £16k

She should get her council tax single person reduction of 25%.

I think my advice would be to research PIP and find an online group to help. Apply for this. If she's successful it might be that taking her pension early and PIP might be enough to get her through to state pension.

Or she could take her pension and try to work alongside part time.

Other than this I'm not sure there is other income available.

PIP, contributory ESA. Possibility of claiming an ill-health pension, which would be more generous than just retiring early, depending on her pension scheme. Public sector pension schemes can be quite good in this situation, but its often important to claim BEFORE leaving work and not to reduce hours without it being agreed with employer and pension scheme that the only reason for the reduction is ill-health.

Those saying PIP only are not correct , there are things like new style ESA based on contributions which she would be entitled to.

Run her details through a benefits entitlement tool - entitled to website or there is a Gov one or make an appointment with Citizens advice who have specialist benefit advisers.

if her disability have an organisation set up to support , like macmillan , stroke etc then there will usually be advisers available via them too or good advice on their websites

Maybe esa contributions based but it's only for a period of time.
Pip too. But it doesn't go on the disability it goes on care needs.

She won't get income based benefits for the reasons above.

Thank you. She gets the single-person council tax reduction, but not PIP.

As regards PIP, she doesn't routinely "need help with daily activities or getting around." She has a car, and drives, but gets lifts and taxis for e.g. hospital appointments, because she knows they leave her tired.

The main thing that she's struggling with is working full time on top of her daily activities. Her doctor is signing her off for an extra couple of rest days when she has "ordinary" illnesses, such as an ear infection, which require antibiotics. Or she has to have a whole day off if she has e.g. a hospital outpatient appointment in the morning.

Can she take the pension early and still work a couple of days a week?

Talk to CAB.

Just bobbing on to say that ESA is a 'legacy benefit'. I'm not sure it's awarded anymore.

I receive ESA but am waiting to be migrated to UC, which will happen to all legacy benefit claimants.

Your DSis could try for PIP (not easy to get), but, tbh, with her level of savings, she'd be as well to give up work and live off those. Also, as she's mortgage free £9k is sufficient to live on if she decides to get her pension early.

If she gets too ill to work then contributory or new style esa is a possibility.

You are eligible if you have worked recently (it's more technical than that but that's basically it) and there isn't an asset limit.

I am on it after I got too disabled to work. I have assets above the UC limit which I am currently living off.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance/esa-glossary/contributory-employment-and-support-allowance-esa

Surely working part time is the obvious thing to try in this situation? More rest time and possibly flexibility on days so hospital appointment recovery can take place in non-working time. Hopefully that would mean much less time off sick.

She should also look at her finances because a full-time job ought to be enough to keep a single person with a quiet life and no mortgage. What is she spending her money on? Can she reduce her outgoings? If they are higher due to her health then she should look again at PIP and get support in making an application.

Could she take in a lodger? Nice to have a bit of companionship and a steady income.

If she applies for PIP now it converts to Attendance Allowance automatically at Pension Age.

There are a number of other options she can try first as well.

Part time working is the obvious one.

I dropped to part time (three days) and although it impacts your income as you pay less tax it isn't always as much as you think. It's worth her doing the calculation.

I also bought a cheaper house in a cheaper area and commuted further. It meant I had more cash available which helped cushion the part time working.

As it is only her then she could possibly look at selling and moving somewhere smaller or cheaper. I expect to have to do this again.

If she has no mortgage why are her costs so high?

If she stopped working and stopped running a car how would that affect her outgoings?

Take the pension, work 2 days a week, dip into the inheritance in a planned way so as not to fritter it away. Bills in my 2 bed are under £600 so perhaps review her spending and essentials and see how much she would need from a combo of pension, PT work and inheritance to pay the bills and have some spending money.

Depending on public transport selling the car and getting an annual bus pass, or downsize to supported accomodation if she is likely to need it going forward, better to move now if she needs to than later

Although £9k is low, if she's mortgage free and lives alone, that could be doable with a top up from savings here and there, ie pay Council tax yearly from it.

No it doesn't. PIP will continue above pension age if awarded pre pension age.

She could have a go at new style ESA which isn't means tested but then she'd have to attend work capability assessment and engage with a work coach.

PIP is a possibility but based on functional additional needs.

Might be worth a trip to CAB to review energy tariffs and entitlements. Is she claiming single discount for council tax for example,

Use her inheritance to cover her needs for as long as possible to delay taking her pension. Then that plus her state pension from 67. Benefits thresholds are very low for people in her situation, Definitely apply for PIP though