Hello, just after any advice for my brother, he's being medically retired so once we know how much he has coming in from this, we think about £5,000 per annum we will need to try claim from benefits so he can live. Was advised he could try get PIP but reading up on this it is based on ability not diagnosis and at the moment he can still do things, so is Universal Credit a better option? Is Alzheimers classed as a disability and a long term health condition? Tried phoning Citizens Adv but waited for 30 minutes and no answer. Thank you
Benefits!
- Thread starter Jake's Nan
- Start date
If your brother is still working age this may be appropriate. https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance. My wife had to take ill health retirement aged 56 due to Alzhiemer's and claimed both ESA and PIP.
Hi, @Jake's Nan
When we look at our person with dementia we quite rightly focus on what they are still able to do,but when you are claiming benefits you have to change your mindset. As your brother has been medically retired this shows that he has lost a lot of abilities and its these loses that you have to focus on when filling in the forms. It is very easy to under report difficulties,so I strongly recommend that you get an organisation like Citizens Advice or Age UK to help fill in the form, even if it takes a while or several attempts to get through.
BTW Alzheimer's is indeed classed as a disability and, as it is a progressive terminal disease, it has severe long term implications.
