Mum can't afford to live

[Theamofm]

My mum and dad split 3 years ago. Before mum had a great lifestyle and had no money worries. Dad covered it. Mum worked but was only pocket money really. Mum now lives alone and works long hours and a lot of travelling. She's early 60s and it's tiring her out. She's that tired at weekends she's not going out to meet anyone, and not only that she can't really afford it. She earns enough to survive basically. Tried universal credit and she can't get it. What help is out there? We could assist a bit if it was desperate but we dont have an endless pot that could go on forever. How do other people cope? What happens when she has to stop working? It really worries me. Thanks,

Sounds like a budgeting issue, can you sit down with her and go through her incoming/outgoing. See if there's anywhere she can make savings like shopping around for better insurance/phone/tv services.
is she getting 25% discount on council tax.
Is she being sensible with food and shopping costs, can you help her reduce waste with meal planning. look for community pantries in your area?
If she hasn't had to deal with money worries until the divorce she might just need to learn how to budget on a fixed income.
Does she have high interest debts that are taking a chunk of her income each month? consider step change to start a debt management plan to reduce her payments.

Thank you to everyone for your support and advice.

Maybe the budget idea first and then a more local job. I do help her apply for jobs but because of age and limited skill set it's hard for her.

I may also look at retirement homes with her.

Thanks again.

Pp said to check she's not paying emergency tax - very good idea.

Don't be long in checking that she's up to date with NI. I think the window to top it up ends quite soon.

Definitely check she's not on emergency tax. Unfortunately for single people UC is a pittance. Has she definitely checked properly? She can claim for the rent aspect of shared ownership. She will need to make a budget. It's likely she's used to having much more spending freedom and doesn't realise where she's wasting money. It'll be a hard lesson to learn during one of the most expensive times to be alive in the country.
I feel really sorry for her.

I don't mean to sound patronising but is she looking after herself, health wise? Maybe that's also contributing to the lack of energy. I know plenty of 60yos who aren't slowing down yet, but if she has made some poor lifestyle choices they will definitely be catching up with her by now.

Improvements to nutrition/weight, exercise, good sleep, self care and getting treatment for any niggling conditions could really make a difference here and give her many more good years.

Thing is though, if that shared ownership flat really is only £300 a month (is that including service charge?) why will moving to a retirement home help in any way? Surely there would still be rent to pay?

I'm similar to your mum in that I will be moving to shared ownership at 60 and going through divorce. I also still have to work and whilst I am still salaried I'm going to get a shared ownership place. Then when I retire I will have to sell up as I won't be able to afford any rent; my plan is to then buy something outright so that I don't have housing costs. I'll be retiring on the standard state pension and a small private pension (c£200 a month) - that small private pension means I am not entitled to any benefits, but your mum might be. Has she had a pension forecast yet?

I know when my mum got her pension she got more because she'd spent so many years at home with young children. I have absolutely no idea if that still applies or how much it was. I can just remember she was entitled to something my aunt wasn't due to the fact she was at home for that period.
I suspect its changed now though as this was 15 years ago.. Still might be worth looking in to for the long term.

Yes but universal credit covers rent on top of your standard payment (or most of it) whereas State Pension is just one payment.

My mum got screwed out of her company pension by RBS (long story) and now as a widow, despite owning her home outright with no mortgage to pay, is surviving on state pension alone (not entitled to pension credit as her state pension is £1.02 too much to qualify for Pension Credit!) and is really, really struggling

People can still get NI credits up to the youngest child turning 12 and if they are claiming child benefit. the NI credits will count towards full state pension.

@HangerLaneGyratorySystem.
I domt know if you know but UC will pay the rent and service charge on shared ownership
they won’t pay the mortgage bit but if you don’t have a mortgage to pay in the future and only your rent then you can get UC to pay the rent

it would depend on how much your private pension is over and above the limits but it’s worth looking into before you move

Sorry I just read that you said you were over the limit for any benefits

If she is exhausted try getting her some vitamins.

Rosebel "I know when my mum got her pension she got more because she'd spent so many years at home with young children."

is it that she paid extra to cover those years? A lot of women did that.

Is she not entitled to spousal maintenance? Or half of her ex DH pension?

Let's say she's earning £20k that's a monthly income of £1468 . Deduct her very cheap housing of £300pcm and she's left with approx £270 a WEEK!. Have I missed something?
Now she might have had a 'good life' when married but I don't think that's broke by any stretch. Do you realise how much a single person gets to live on UC. My friends rent is roughly the same and she gets £77 a week for everything. Your mum has £180 A.WEEK more. What is she spending it on?

She needs to work 30+ hours to recieve any help unless there's a reason she cant.
Working part time might help with the tiredness. 30hrs (4 days) at min wage would bring in around £1200pcm. That's over £200 a week after housing. I suspect there's a bit of a budgeting problem

She certainly needs to do a proper budget. If she has always "lived for now" and has only previously worked for pocket money, her current situation is probably a bit of a shock to her. If you sit down with her and make a budget, you both may find where her money is going and where she can make changes. Good luck.

I am 49 and have full pension credit, in part because I was claiming CB whilst at home when the kids were younger.

I dont know if it is still a thing, but at the OP's mums age it would definitely have been.

I highly recommend anyone who is wondering to register for their Government Gateway access to their tax and NI records, more important for any woman who has been a SAHM for longer than maternity leave so you know how many credits you need to earn for your state pension......if it still exists when I retire which I doubt I will ever do as I seem to be at the perfect age for it to keep being "another 20 years until I retire" no matter how old I am.

I wonder if the tiredness is really depression.
People do get more tired as they age, but not so tired she can't do anything at weekends.
She needs help to budget. With her housing costs and even if she is on NMW full time she should have enough money. But if she is not used to budgeting she may be poor at managing her money. Martin Lewis forums are very good for this if you are prepared to post details about what you spend. The people there are very supportive.

Also overwhelming tiredness is a common symptom of type 2 diabetes.

@CallieQ Please read the thread. He has died. But spousal maintenance is nowadays very rare.

Retirement homes? She's only 60 and they are really expensive!

I agree with PP about looking after herself / health. Early 60s really isn’t that old and it’s not common for people now days to be retired at that age.

Sorry where did she said he died? Genuine question I’ve re read all of the OPs posts 3 times and I think I’m missing something !