Any Benefits Advisors on here?

[HadEnoughSoTired]

I'm hoping someone can help as I'm utterly clueless about this.

I'm getting divorced and in the process of buying my next place from my share from the marital home and a small inheritance (10k ish), however I am not working due to health issues. This means that once I've moved out I will need to claim UC so I can eat etc. I'm claiming full PIP atm but my savings will all be gone on house, solicitors, EA, removals etc. I'll be left with approx £500 by my estimates 😬 which will cover the first month food/bills and connection fees for the washer and changing locks etc.

My question is when do I start the claim as I believe there is a 5 week delay, and how/when do I ask for the unable to work bit? And is there anything else I could potentially be claiming for?

Please be kind as I'm actually quite terrified of being unable to pay the basic bills.

TIA

You can't really claim UC until your capital is down below £16k

Taking your savings down to £500 is going to be awfully tight when you're not working at the moment. If I were you I'd try very hard to keep a bit more back.

You could put in a claim for new style ESA. It's not much money but it doesn't have a capital limit. You'd need to have worked in the past few years though.

Okay, so that will mean on moving day at the very earliest, which is what I suspected although i vaguely hoped the savings wouldn't be counted as divorce/house money is usually ignored for 6 months. Wishful thinking on my part 😬

Yes it's going to be very tight but I need a roof over my head and no rental would accept me anyway due to lack of wages or references. I can't claim ESA as I haven't been working due to the long term health issues.

Thank you though.

Money from sale of a house can be disregarded for six months, so if it's only that pushing you over the £16k threshold then you can pretty much apply when you like

Money from the sale of a house which you are using to purchase another can be disregarded for at least 6 months (longer if reasonable).

See “Amount to be used to purchase premises” :

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d982dba87d546feeda0193/admh2.pdf#page23

The way to do it is apply for UC, then immediately add a journal entry explaining the reasons for the capital and quote the guidance above (literally copy paste it). If you run out of room on the journal message just continue in another one. I would always mark them 1of 2, 2 of 2 etc. Be aware that this cases are normally passed to a complex decision maker which can cause significant delays in being paid UC.

The £10k inheritance is however likely to be considered income, and you’ll get a deduction from benefit for the amount over £6k at a rate of £4.35 per £250 over £6k. Because of this it’s important you let UC know promptly if this amount falls over time. Note you can’t just frivolously spend capital in order to claim or receive more benefit (you haven’t said anything that would trigger this, but just something you need to be aware of). Buying a place to live with capital is very unlikely to be seen as deprivation of assets.

You’ll have to hand in fit notes to show you can’t work then you will have an assessment for the limited capability to work element.

Thank you all.

How would I go about with Fit notes? I haven't seen the same GP in years, and appointments for non urgent things are very difficult to get, but I assume I would need to see a GP for at least the first one - or would it be based on my medical notes they already have? Sorry for asking, I feel really stupid for not knowing something quite basic.

Agree with the above about disregards for using capital to buy a house. If the sale falls through you'll need to get going on a new purchase to avoid your capital be8ng held against you.
Youll need to see a GP for a fit note. Then you can request a Work Capability Assessment for long term conditions

Thank you.

I am well aware my post sounds grabby, and tbh I'm hating asking. But I don't want to be unable to get food etc and I have no family or friends who I can ask for help in a pinch. I need to get this right.

I don't think it sounds grabby. It is sensible to check the best way to go about things to enable you to have enough to live on.

Pp info about capital disregard is accurate. I suspect if you mentioned that the 10k was also going on the house purchase this could also be disregarded. Especially if you had mortgage papers showing the intended deposit etc. but applying asap and then communicating via the journal as needed seems like a good approach.

@HadEnoughSoTired check if your GP surgery has e-consult or similar. Fit notes are administrative if you have established health needs - if you haven't been to the GP with the condition that is going to stop you from working, then you probably will need a Fit Note though.

Once you have fit notes, you will need to submit them to the DWP and then they will send you a UC50 form to complete, which is similar to the PIP form. Then you will either have a paper assessment (if you have lots of written evidence of your difficulties) or a phone/video/face to face assessment to determine whether you have Limited Capability for Work (LCW), or Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity (LCWRA). If you have LCW, you don't have a work commitment, but do need to do activities that may prepare you for work, and you don't get any additional money. If you have LCWRA, then you don't have a requirement to look for work, or to do work related activity. You get an extra element on your UC claim.

Thank you both.

So far it seems the best way is probably wait until exchange of contracts as that will prove that all savings will be going towards the house or solicitors etc, so less of a grey area.

My GP does have e-consult, thank you! I rarely see them now as I've been diagnosed by hospital consultants for various long term conditions. Hopefully having full PIP will make the process easier too.

Also apply for council tax reduction once you move and have made the UC application

Is there ANY job ypu could do, OP? Even a part time job would probably see you much better off, and as long as it doesn’t rise about a (fairly high) amount, you can continue to claim UC,

You are not grabby get all you can

It's doubtful but there are days I wish I could. The majority of the time I'm housebound and part of that time I'm bedbound due to fluctuating pain and fatigue, both of which cause other issues such as lack of sleep, brain fog, dropping things etc. I wouldn't know what job I could do, nevermind find an employer willing to put up with me.

Op if you're in the process of divorcing but still living in the family home then I'd claim now. Even if you've got the inheritance in the bank you'd likely still qualify because of the extra elements related to your pip. It will also get the process of assessing your work capability started. If nothing else it would add to your savings prior to the move. As others have said the house sale proceeds can be disregarded for up to six months so won't affect the claim. Good luck x

OK this is my skill set. If there is enough money to buy you a place outright then you're solicitor can inform the DWP of that matter and those funds will be held to buy you a place.

If you don't have enough to buy a place and you need it for renting out, again your solicitor can inform the DWP.

Keep a record or everything you spend. Some things are discounted for the purposes of what you have as capital.

Over 16,000 capital depending if it is held for anything such as a home which mean no help until you are below 16,000.

Between 6,000 - 16,0000 so much is deducted for each pound over 6,000.

They will pay towards your rent. You have to make a separate claim for council tax.

I don't know how your doctor system works. Where I am you book online, you request online for appointments and there's also a drop-down box for sick notes. You simply request a sick note and what it is for. The doctors will issue and then ask you to make a routine appointment. You ask for the sick notes for a minimum of a month and then you renew them each month and upload.

If you're able to use technology then you will need to go online and make a claim. It is fairly straightforward. If you're not good with technology you can go to your local DWP offices or somewhere like citizens advice bureau or if you have a friend who can help you with it.

After a few months you will get a health assessment form through. Again I advise you get help filling it out in as contrary to what the media speal out it is not easy to get what your entitled too. Any evidence even a patient summary is always useful to send in with it.

If you have a long-term health problems you can also claim PIP. This is not a means tested benefit and I suggest you get help filling that in as well because it's not straightforward PIP is about the help you need whether you get it or not and it's about the process of how you do things because of your health issues there is plenty of support with these forms to be had through where we are citizens advice, local council support offices etc or even the charities of your health issues if there is one.

Filling in these forms means thinking about what has become your norm as you have adjusted without realising to your health conditions.

To get an idea have a look at for example, an average person cooks a meal, how you do it and the differences in your processes and work this through for every area on the forms. You are building a picture of how you live.

If you look properly you will see the differences. I hope that gives you some help.

Websites such as Turn To Us are extremely helpful with this sort of thing and also do benefit calculations breakdowns

benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/

As long as you can prove that the money you have in the bank is from the sale of the property and will be used for the purchase of your next one as far as I’m aware you will be ok. Be upfront and tell them everything and write it on your journal as proof that you have told them.
go on turn2us and put your situation in as you will be without the money and it will show you what you can claim for

Maybe just buy a cheaper place and live off your savings/money left. Why is it always people's first response to claim benefits. This country is going to go bankrupt soon and then everyone will have to start fending for themselves.

I think pretty much any other benefit has a limit on how much savings you can have for most it's around £6,000, so I would check that you are eligible savings wise, I think UC is unlikely if you have savings, plus you won't be looking for work so over benefits like ESA are not possible. You may have to wait until your savings are depleted before you can claim.

The cheaper places do not long term cater for my disabilities so I'm trying to future proof, ie already have a downstairs toilet, kitchen diner for a wheelchair, downstairs room that will fit a bed and medical equipment. Which would you rather I do - get the right house that will support my disabilities until death but need uc for food, or a smaller inappropriate place that will be sold in five years and I end up in some form of supported living (costing taxpayers more) with any savings wiped out in solicitor and EA fees etc, or should i go for the cheapest solution and just kill myself? I would absolutely love to be healthy enough to work, to be pain-free, to be able to walk, or even breathe at times. I would absolutely love not to be frightened of the future.

Thank you to everyone else who has posted.

When filling in your claim for PIP, make sure you answer the questions on how much you can/cannot do as if it is your worst day. Don't use words like "usually" I can do ABC, say "very rarely" or "never". Even "sometimes" might result in a refusal. My DD has Fibromyalgia and can barely function most of the week/month but now and then gets a bit of respite and mows the lawn. She suffers for days after, but she likes to feel useful, not useless and not leave everything to her DH. Some days she can't even prepare a meal, but now and then she can do a week's meals for the freezer - and then suffers for a fortnight! She's just been turned down for PIP.

There are places you can get help to fill in the claim but I am not sure which ones. Start with Citizens Advice, they should point you in the right direction.

Good luck. It galls me that people in genuine need have to fight like this to live a life.

Money that is from the proceeds of a house sale that is to be used for the purchase of another property is not deemed 'capital' for the purpose of benefit qualification. Your inheritance, however, is. As it is below the £16k limit you should be fine to claim. If having difficulty speak to CAB.

You can't fill in the form based on your 'worst day'. You have to fill it in accurately. If your DD has 1 good day and 6 hard days, the decision maker should give her the points for the hard days.

Thank you all. To clarify I already have full PIP (enhanced for living and for mobility) which is giving me a slight buffer atm.