Benefits for spouses of disabled persons

[quietvoyager]

Quick and easy question, and hopefully someone with experience can help to figure things out.

Is it possible for a spouse who works full time to receive social support?

I have a chronic health condition which sadly means my married partner has to effectively care for me and the family. I myself do not have a settled status yet and have no access to public funds.

Caring for the family is what parents are expected to do - there are no special funds for that purpose. If he provides you with more than 35 hours care he might be able to claim carers allowance, but you'd need to check that out as it might still fall under no resource to public funds since he would be caring for you, and presumably the health condition is something you had before arriving in the country. I have also been told that they are getting very tough on carers allowances, and it has always been one that is somewhat fraught with difficulty.

Given your status it might be a good idea to get advice from a specialist agency - CAB may be able to help, or try checking if there is a national charity for your condition as they often have advisors.

He won’t get carers allowance if he works full time.

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He can't be classed as a carer as presumably if you have no recourse to public funds you do not qualify for a disability benefit??
You say he cares for you and the family - do you mean you have kids together? if so he may qualify for UC which is means tested.

My bad - read too fast and missed that! Thanks.

Yes it is possible for someone in full time work to be topped up by UC including the Housing element. The problem is you are invisible for benefits purposes so any award would be based on him only as a single claimant. I presume there are no children? This means he is probably earning too much but it's worth doing a check on 'Turn2us'.

You would need be getting a disability benefit before he could even think of claiming carers allowance for you.
You cant claim disability benefit because you have no recourse to public funds.
So no, he can’t claim for you.

Sorry, I do not know how to tag everyone but I appreciate the advice and it is pretty clear we cannot claim benefits in our case based on the consensus in replies.

Thank you everyone!

If the person being cared for has no recourse to public funds you do not even count in the family unit for universal credit calculations. I’m not even sure you can apply for settled status, I would get specialist advice (I’m assuming your spouse is a British national and your joint dc hold British passports.

there is no help for carers if they work, the help is for the disabled person but you are not eligible

You've said cares for the family... What age are the DC? Or are you terming you as a couple as family?
He could apply for universal credit, but that's means tested so would be entirely dependent on his earnings
He might be able to approach adult social care as they can provide short term support if someone has no recourse to public funds whilst their case to remain is being assessed.
The best thing is to contact citizens advice or ask the home office for guidance.

Benefits calculators don’t work for people where their spouse has no records to public funds. OP would need specialist advice if she wanted to explore claiming benefits due to low income. Any claim without specialist advice could risk her visa.

If you have children it really is worth checking to ensure your partner is receiving everything to which he is entitled, including child benefit, UC and housing costs.

As I said she would be invisible for benefits purposes but her partner can claim for himself and his children. Any claim is based only on the premiums for one adult plus children. I used to do benefit appeals incl UT so I am an expert.

CAB are probably a reasonable start. But he would have to be on a fairly low income to get UC with only one adult plus childrens premiums

And you know what visa the OP is on, how?

OP, please seek specialist immigration and benefits advice before your husband tries to apply for anything. Don’t simply trust randoms online that claim to be experts.

Are you a new immigrant and not yet assessed.

It's irrelevant what visa op is on. If she is nrtpf she is nrtpf. She is not counted and any claim is her partners and in his name only. Providing he ensures the claim is in his name and he makes it clear he is not claiming for her, there is no issue.

We are welcoming a child next year.

I actually just began thinking about benefits now that I realised our child will have not 2, but 1.5 capable parents.

Of course it’s not irrelevant. Ask any immigration lawyer if you don’t believe me. Different visa routes have different expectations and requirements of the sponsor, depending on which route is taken.
Your advice to just apply is so reckless.

Do you even realise that the OP would have to actually put in a claim to the DWP for UC as part of any claim the husband makes?

DH can’t receive carer’s allowance, but have you had social care assessments? That isn’t considered a public resource. Further explanation here.