advice needed

Hi all,
Just registered today as have a crisis on my hands, will try keep it brief and concise.
My mum is 54,single and has been self- employed working in a physical job in northern Ireland refurbishing furniture and reupholstering furniture etc. She has been struggling a very very long time to keep her head about water due to economic climate, and the fact she has a chronic condition this past 13 years. She has suffered severe facial pain and only in past 3 years or so has she been given diagnosis of cluster headache.

She has home oxygen, all sorts of meds and is under care of neurologist. Her pain seems to come in bouts and , and is made worse by stress and all sorts of things. She had an urgent hysterectomy last year and took some time off but not a lot and didn't claim sickness. Sometimes she can barely get her words out coherently she is so exhausted and she is on high alert and stressed most of the time, like she is living on her nerves. But of course with cluster headaches you can still walk, toilet yourself, wash, cook, clean........at some point in the day, if not that day then the next day!

She is extremely proud and hard working and will not go into a job centre to ask for advice or apply for benefit. She has buried her head under sand and now has hit a wall and can no longer cope. She is physically exhausted, I feel she is depressed also. She is vulnerable in the sense that she hates forms and panics with them. She has previously had DLA for her illness but she had a long period of remission, felt good and let her DLA lapse, I think she was on a standby thing in case she had a flare up again. She has become very paranoid that people are out to get her etc as she struggles with relationships working or otherwise and falls out with people easily. She has depended on people who have let her down or betrayed her in some way. She shys away from social situations. I feel there is a mental health issue going on but not sure if anything has been diagnosed. Her lack of dealing with forms, bills,debt etc just highlights her vulnerability. She was invited to a tribunal for her DLA which seems common and they were horrible to her and she was mega stressed out by that, which deters her from wanting to apply again.

She has been living at a friends house for past year or so and her security there is uncertain. She feels like life isn't worth living and feels she no longer has an option but to go bankrupt or a DRO. She wants to come over and live in Dorset near me, I am her only child. I have a 10month old son and she wants to be near us. She has no family and only some close friends back in northern Ireland and she feels going bankrupt or equivalent and coming here will give her a fresh start and she really needs to claim dla or whatever as she can barely function and feels she is heading for some sort of breakdown/crisis.......(I think she is already there).

Can anyone suggest a plan of where to start? She is seeing CAB re: debt and I know she will have to petition for bankruptcy/dro in northern Ireland. Should she start applying for benefits there and then move over or wait until she is here in this system? We are thinking a period of a few weeks to sort the financial affairs then we need to sort housing etc for her here. I am a nurse and my husband is a dairy farmer and although he feels her moving over here is the best thing he doesn't want her living here and I know it would not be good for the relationship between myself and mum. At the moment she has about £2 in her pocket and a loaf of bread. That's how bad things are. Will she be entitled to JSA until her sickness benefit is assessed? I thought if you were self-employed you couldn't get JSA. Despite the fact that her business has been failing and she has been barely staying afloat. I feel I need to be her advocate and help her fill in forms and sort this all out and get to a point where she has some peace and quiet and quality of life. Its heartbreaking to see her working so hard for nothing, being I'll and missing out on her grandson.

Apologies for typos I have typed this on a tablet!

Many thanks,Emma.

Emma M wrote: Hi all,
Just registered today as have a crisis on my hands, will try keep it brief and concise.
My mum is 54,single and has been self- employed working in a physical job in northern Ireland refurbishing furniture and reupholstering furniture etc. She has been struggling a very very long time to keep her head about water due to economic climate, and the fact she has a chronic condition this past 13 years. She has suffered severe facial pain and only in past 3 years or so has she been given diagnosis of cluster headache.

She has home oxygen, all sorts of meds and is under care of neurologist. Her pain seems to come in bouts and , and is made worse by stress and all sorts of things. She had an urgent hysterectomy last year and took some time off but not a lot and didn't claim sickness. Sometimes she can barely get her words out coherently she is so exhausted and she is on high alert and stressed most of the time, like she is living on her nerves. But of course with cluster headaches you can still walk, toilet yourself, wash, cook, clean........at some point in the day, if not that day then the next day!

She is extremely proud and hard working and will not go into a job centre to ask for advice or apply for benefit. She has buried her head under sand and now has hit a wall and can no longer cope. She is physically exhausted, I feel she is depressed also. She is vulnerable in the sense that she hates forms and panics with them. She has previously had DLA for her illness but she had a long period of remission, felt good and let her DLA lapse, I think she was on a standby thing in case she had a flare up again. She has become very paranoid that people are out to get her etc as she struggles with relationships working or otherwise and falls out with people easily. She has depended on people who have let her down or betrayed her in some way. She shys away from social situations. I feel there is a mental health issue going on but not sure if anything has been diagnosed. Her lack of dealing with forms, bills,debt etc just highlights her vulnerability. She was invited to a tribunal for her DLA which seems common and they were horrible to her and she was mega stressed out by that, which deters her from wanting to apply again.

She has been living at a friends house for past year or so and her security there is uncertain. She feels like life isn't worth living and feels she no longer has an option but to go bankrupt or a DRO. She wants to come over and live in Dorset near me, I am her only child. I have a 10month old son and she wants to be near us. She has no family and only some close friends back in northern Ireland and she feels going bankrupt or equivalent and coming here will give her a fresh start and she really needs to claim dla or whatever as she can barely function and feels she is heading for some sort of breakdown/crisis.......(I think she is already there).

Can anyone suggest a plan of where to start? She is seeing CAB re: debt and I know she will have to petition for bankruptcy/dro in northern Ireland. Should she start applying for benefits there and then move over or wait until she is here in this system? We are thinking a period of a few weeks to sort the financial affairs then we need to sort housing etc for her here. I am a nurse and my husband is a dairy farmer and although he feels her moving over here is the best thing he doesn't want her living here and I know it would not be good for the relationship between myself and mum. At the moment she has about £2 in her pocket and a loaf of bread. That's how bad things are. Will she be entitled to JSA until her sickness benefit is assessed? I thought if you were self-employed you couldn't get JSA. Despite the fact that her business has been failing and she has been barely staying afloat. I feel I need to be her advocate and help her fill in forms and sort this all out and get to a point where she has some peace and quiet and quality of life. Its heartbreaking to see her working so hard for nothing, being I'll and missing out on her grandson.

Apologies for typos I have typed this on a tablet!

Many thanks,Emma.

Hi EM,

Welcome to Benefits and Work

I can't really offer a definitive answer as to whether Mum should make a claim in NI, or wait until she settles on mainland UK.

Maybe if she is seeing CAB, they could offer some advice on this.

If Mum is too ill to work, she could not claim JSA, as you have to sign a contract stating that you are fit and able to actively seek and take up employment.

To claim ESA, she would have to obtain a Fit Note/ Med Cert from her G.P., she would then have to make a claim for ESA, using an ESA1 Form :

www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance/how-to-claim

If she is not entitled to Contribution Based (CB) ESA, then if she has no capital, assets or savings or any other form of income, she may be entitled to Income Related (IR) ESA.

See :

24 hour work rule for ESA(IR)

&

Asset rule for ESA(IR)

From our :

ESA FAQ’s

This online : Benefits Calculator may give you a better idea whether she would be entitled to any ESA.

If she is entitled to ESA, and her claim is accepted, then she would enter a 13 week assessment phase, where the standard rate is currently £71.70/Week.

If she was entitled to IR ESA, then she may receive more than this, it would depend on her personal circumstances.

Here are some other potential sources of advice :

Where to get advice?

&

Advice NI

There is also an ESA Guide entitled :

"Understanding Employment and Support Allowance
Our 42 page introductory guide to ESA."

On this page :

ESA Claims Guides

I am afraid that DLA for new claimants has finished, it would now be PIP :

PIP Claims Guide. (Top Link on page)

PIP information including PIP Self-Test

PIP Topic Thread in Spotlight Area


You may wish to Bookmark/Favourite this page for future ease of access. Once you have more concrete information, you can return to it to pose any further queries that we may be able to help you with.

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