What benefits would Dsis be entitled to?

[CrimsonVioletTeal]

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.

Just wanted to say what a kind and generous sister you are, I cannot imagine many doing as you have.

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If she is considering a lodger, this company comes highly recommended. A concept where younger people struggling to find affordable rental are matched to people who have a spare room and would like companionship and help around the place.

Good sources of info: The Disability Rights Handbook (all the law and procedures relating to benefits). It is updated every year but is pricey new. I would try my local library.

The website www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

No it doesn’t it stays as pip.

It’s a great website.
They have some handbook ps that aren’t really expensive. Really worth gett8ng befire starting any claim, whether it’s PIP, ESA ETC….

If you mean agreeing to the family home going into DSis name when Dad downsized, and DSis getting everything when Dad died, it wasn't kind and generous at all, it was just fair.

Mum and Dad supported me through university, and paid for my wedding to get my off to a good start. That good start meant that DH and I have been able to provide our own home for ourselves; we didn't need half of the family home as well! Plus we've got decent pensions; we didn't need my parents' money to provide for our old age! DSis needed both a home and money.

If there's anything left when DSis dies (unlikely!) my adult kids will inherit then.

Your DSIS can work & still claim PIP

https://www.gov.uk/pip

Universal Credit is only £393.45 a month if savings are below 6k, there's a reduction for ever £250 over and nothing with £16k savings. It's a safety net, however some people claim UC, PIP and money for LCWRA (low capacity to work and work related activities).

If your sister draws her pension earlier then she uses her own money earlier and potentially reduces choices later. Using savings and then going to benefit saves her pension for later. If she uses savings for things she needs like an adapted vehicle, bathroom on lower floor then she has fairly used and not disposed of savings.

She should seek independent advice before making any choices particularly to see if she would be LCWRA and before touching her pension.

You sound a lovely sister. Would your sister qualify for partial retirement? In some organisations, you can cut your salary (we have to cut it by at least 20%, so reducing hours or seniority), claim your pension and carry on earning. Does her GP consider she is fit to do some work or might she qualify for ill health enhanced retirement?

She wouldn't be entitled to LCWRA as she has savings over 16k

She may be entitled to the support group of New Style ESA though, which is the ESA equivalent of UC’s LCWRA (which stands for Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity rather than low capacity as pp stated.)

It hasn't changed. The poster was wrong

Have you gone through her income and outgoings?

With no mortgage, the single persons council tax discount AND a job (for now at least) why is she struggling and/or using savings?

It might be a good idea to spend some time with her current finances (including checking her pension provision) before making changes

Part-time and benefits check should definitely happen too.

ESA is Not the equivalent of UC LCWRA
For one ESA is lower. It’s paid every 2 weeks rather than every 4 and there is no limit to how much savings you have.

If you have ESA (New Style, also called Contribution based), and apply to UC, then you’ll automatically get into the LCWRA.

But they are two very distinct benefits.

Fwiw if you claim ESA and UC, whatever you get from ESA will be deduced from UC so you will get about £300 more (assuming you’re single, no children, not renting etc etc) than the ESA only

I did not say ESA is the same as UC. I didn’t say they weren’t distinct benefits or that ESA wouldn’t be deducted from any UC claim.

I wasn’t talking about the monies paid, nor capital limit or frequency of payment. I was talking about what the groups (the support group and the LCWRA group) stand for.

What I actually said is the ESA’s support group is the equivalent of UC’s LCWRA. They are, which is why when someone in the support group applies for UC they are automatically awarded LCWRA without having to have another WCA. It is why some disabled young people are also advised to establish limited capability for work via a credits only New Style ESA claim. And why the criteria where the support group and LCWRA are awarded are closely matched. And why the UC50 and the ESA50 are very similar.

To explain more simply.

A UC WCA will either find someone has No Limited Capability for Work, Limited Capability for Work (LCW), or Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA).

A New Style ESA claim will find someone is fit for work, has limited capability for work and thus be placed in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG), or has limited capability for work and work related activity and thus placed in the Support Group.

The equivalent group (in terms of what group you are placed in, not money or payment interval) to UC’s LCWRA is the Support Group.

A couple of people have suggested going over her expenditure, as she should be able to live on less, given she has no mortage / rent.

She has some very cossetted pets. They are her "children." I don't know how much she spends on them, but I do know that they are the main reason she wouldn't be able to live on £9000 p.a.

Apart from that, I don't think she's overspending.

Would she be happy to go through some bank statements (4-6)with you so you can help her to categorise her spending to see where her money goes?

She may not realise how much she spends on pet toys until it's listed. It may help her to budget a lower monthly figure for them and have more for herself.

A quick way is to divide up incoming, outgoing (essential), out going (non essential). Pretty much ignore the first two unless it looks like she's not renewing her options yearly e.g. broadband, look at the last part (non essentials) to see if there are trends.

It does not.

I would encourage a claim for ESA anyway - she'll benefit from the NI credits even if there's no payment (eg if the private pension amount puts the new style ESA down to nil).

It's a hard position to be in. Is there any chance of an enhanced pension under ill health retirement rules - could she send you the scheme rules for you to read?

Not an option for now with current pets but in future you sister could consider fostering pets as I believe many organisations that foster pets look after the big costs (vaccinations and health care) so your DSis would only need to buy the food.

Might make future pet ownership more affordable for her.

Could you explain to her that cutting down on pet costs now would allow her to spend more time with her pets (ie go part time or retire)?

How many pets, what are they and how spoiled are they?
As pp have said, no mortgage and working full time she should be generally OK.
If she has 3 horses, 5 dogs and cats then of course the vet bills etc will be huge.
Do you think she has the expectation you will pick up where parents left off and financially support her to continue this lifestyle @CrimsonVioletTeal ?

Definitely look into ill health retiral before reducing hours. In my workplace they make up your pension to a level that would equal a fully paid up pension.

No horses! But she ended up spending over £1000 on vets bills for a hamster. I don't think a month goes by without a vets bill.

I hope I have made it clear that there is no way I am going to be able to help financially. I really, really can't.