General Chat

We have been getting a little bit of Universal Credit through lock-down. OH went back to work last week, fell over, has been signed off and is being referred to the falls clinic.

His State Pension begins in June and he really would rather not have to go back to work and risk another topple so the UC woman said to apply for Pension Credit. We have too much in the bank to be entitled to that and we can't get housing benefit until he retires.

Please send me any spare change!

Sharron, the income of my way-over-80-year-old pal is just a tad over the minimum that would qualify her for some help so she gets nothing. She gets irate about a friend of hers whose income falls just low enough to ensure she gets help - which leaves her much better off financially than my pal.

It doesn't make sense when you think about it. :-S

Hope OH is ok after his fall, is he not eligible for sick pay as he has been signed off?

JoyLouise that sort of situation used to really annoy my grandmother, she would go without and save over the years only to see people she knows had more money over the years than her but spent all of it then go on to receive more from the Government in one form or another.
Sharron hope OH is okay.

He is only working part-time in the gig economy but he only has a couple of months left to work anyway.

He cut down his hours in the first place because we were told we were eligible for housing benefit and wee turned down when we applied.

i don't think benefits were meant for us.

I thought Pension Credit was to top up a pension, so unless OH was getting his pension, he wouldn't be eligible. So I suspect the UC is still the benefit for you.

We had to get benefits when OH had to temporarily stop working in 1992, we had 2 young children. I could write a book about the experience, most of it not good, a minefield.

So he'll not qualify for sick pay, Sharron?

It was the UC woman who suggested he might be eligible for early pension credits I suppose. It must be some sort of transition thing.

We can't get housing benefit until he gets his state pension. Whether we will still need to pay council tax, I don't know but we are going through the same parlava as we did when I was coming up to my pension.

I feel for you. I'm currently on UC, and can't see me getting a job before I retire next year :-(

They don't make it easy, do they?

My experience was enhanced by the Council putting other people's rent payments onto my account!
I informed them before they accused me of something, and also hoped that whoever's payments were on my account wasn't being harassed for allegedly not paying their rent. Fortunately, I paid online and in 'round' amounts, so had receipts I could easily send them.
I gave up arguing with them after 3 months, when they underpaid my DHB by a month.
It was, say, for 6 months, which would be from 1 April to 30 September.
They kept counting from 1 April to 1 September!

Then, when I moved, I couldn't get into my rent account.
Yes, they had the new address etc, but - believe it or not - the system wouldn't accept me because MY EMAIL ADDRESS WAS THE SAME!

And some wonder why I scoff at technology! :-D