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Household with adults
- kiwibutterfly
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4 weeks 2 days ago #289635 by kiwibutterfly
Household with adults was created by kiwibutterfly
Could somebody give me some advice please for the future?
My household now consists of myself on ESA contribution-based, husband on PIP, adult son in his thirties and his wife. My son works full time and my daughter in law is a carer does 36 hours, although this won't be sustainable for much longer as she has bad health problems herself.
Several times our household has nealry gone under and I've looked at claiming something but managed to avoid it due to the complexity of matters. I've gone through the turn2us or similar apps that work out things for you but get stuck and think it's really unfair that they need to know the full income of the household,, including my son and d-i-l's wages. It was and is embarrassing and why should I have to do that? We operate as 2 separate households, but they are like permanent lodgers and pay us money for their food, water, electric etc. Our son and d-i-l moved in a few years ago when we moved to a different area as they formerly had their own council place and therefore would have been 2 separate households. I've never seen anyone with adult children with this dilemma and is there a way to count them as separate household for purposes of a claim for us in the future if we need it? It's the same address. Why should I have to ask my d-i-l how much she earns? We pay all the bills, they contribute. Is there a set amount they should contribute? She is often ill and therefore her pay would vary. In future we may have to put her on a benefit too, so where do we stand with that when she can't do her job any more? Presumably she'll have to declare what we earn, our savings etc. Is nothing private?
If anyone knows the DWP stance on this I'd be grateful. I won't phone them as I find it difficult and I find some give out the wrong advice anyway. After all, most forms are tickbox so they probably won't know either. I did read it makes a difference which person you put down as the main claimant as this was on the app. But as for our son and d-i-l, I've not found any other rules. They aren't dependents. Are they treated as lodgers? Should they have to work to bail us out? Does the DWP expect them to?! We are mortgage free but obviously bills are sky high and we've done all the cut backs we can.
Thanks for any help and advice.
My household now consists of myself on ESA contribution-based, husband on PIP, adult son in his thirties and his wife. My son works full time and my daughter in law is a carer does 36 hours, although this won't be sustainable for much longer as she has bad health problems herself.
Several times our household has nealry gone under and I've looked at claiming something but managed to avoid it due to the complexity of matters. I've gone through the turn2us or similar apps that work out things for you but get stuck and think it's really unfair that they need to know the full income of the household,, including my son and d-i-l's wages. It was and is embarrassing and why should I have to do that? We operate as 2 separate households, but they are like permanent lodgers and pay us money for their food, water, electric etc. Our son and d-i-l moved in a few years ago when we moved to a different area as they formerly had their own council place and therefore would have been 2 separate households. I've never seen anyone with adult children with this dilemma and is there a way to count them as separate household for purposes of a claim for us in the future if we need it? It's the same address. Why should I have to ask my d-i-l how much she earns? We pay all the bills, they contribute. Is there a set amount they should contribute? She is often ill and therefore her pay would vary. In future we may have to put her on a benefit too, so where do we stand with that when she can't do her job any more? Presumably she'll have to declare what we earn, our savings etc. Is nothing private?
If anyone knows the DWP stance on this I'd be grateful. I won't phone them as I find it difficult and I find some give out the wrong advice anyway. After all, most forms are tickbox so they probably won't know either. I did read it makes a difference which person you put down as the main claimant as this was on the app. But as for our son and d-i-l, I've not found any other rules. They aren't dependents. Are they treated as lodgers? Should they have to work to bail us out? Does the DWP expect them to?! We are mortgage free but obviously bills are sky high and we've done all the cut backs we can.
Thanks for any help and advice.
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- Gary
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4 weeks 2 days ago #289636 by Gary
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gary on topic Household with adults
Hi Kiwibutterfly
Welcome to the forum.
You might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explains where everything is; www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/guides-for-claimants/faq/forum.
It is impossible for us to give you an answer as we do not have enough information on the household such as number of bedrooms, age and make up of the family, children, grandchildren. UC only uses the income of the claimant and their partner, there are rules on non dependents, you will not be affected by the under occupancy charge as you do not rent your property, lodgers income is completely ignored, you do need to seek advice.
My initial thoughts would be to apply for Universal Credit and the LCWRA but I would need additional information, unfortunately we cannot give advice due to the fact we do not have all the information, we would advise you to see help from your local Welfare Rights Organisation; advicelocal.uk
As you have rightly pointed out there are a few online benefit checkers; You can check by putting your information into one of the online benefit calculators. They are only as accurate as the information you put in; www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators
Gary
Welcome to the forum.
You might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explains where everything is; www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/guides-for-claimants/faq/forum.
It is impossible for us to give you an answer as we do not have enough information on the household such as number of bedrooms, age and make up of the family, children, grandchildren. UC only uses the income of the claimant and their partner, there are rules on non dependents, you will not be affected by the under occupancy charge as you do not rent your property, lodgers income is completely ignored, you do need to seek advice.
My initial thoughts would be to apply for Universal Credit and the LCWRA but I would need additional information, unfortunately we cannot give advice due to the fact we do not have all the information, we would advise you to see help from your local Welfare Rights Organisation; advicelocal.uk
As you have rightly pointed out there are a few online benefit checkers; You can check by putting your information into one of the online benefit calculators. They are only as accurate as the information you put in; www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators
Gary
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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