Benefits

[Mun]

Advice please,
I posted on another thread last night that my dad is seriously ill in hospital & I'm wondering about the benefits he gets.
He gets AA,his state pension & him & mum get £15/week Pension Credit,that's one payment for them both. The last thing I want on top of all the worry,is to doing anything fraudulent,abeit in all innocence.
Dad's been in hospital a week now,so do I inform the Pension Service now or is there a set time limit when they would need to know by ?
Thank you for any help with this
Val

Edit: I was also granted Carers Allowance @ the end of June

 

[Beate]

State Pension will be unaffected, as will Pension Credit (but some premiums relating to it might stop), Attendance and Carer's Allowance will stop after 4 weeks. You need to let them know as soon as possible.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265058/dwp1029.pdf

http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/benefits-hospital

 

[rajahh]

I think you have to notify about AA asap. It will be stopped, then you tell them when he comes home and it should start again. I think you only get pension stopped after a few weeks.

 

[Pickles53]

I think you're fine as long as he is being treated in hospital, if they want to discharge to a care home and LA would be funding you will need to inform DWP. However the hospital social work/discharge team should be able to advise you also.

 

[Beate]

I think you're fine as long as he is being treated in hospital, if they want to discharge to a care home and LA would be funding you will need to inform DWP. However the hospital social work/discharge team should be able to advise you also.

I am afraid this is not correct. Hospital stays have to be reported straight away and after 4 weeks of hospital stay Attendance Allowance will be stopped.
If someone goes from home to a care home, Attendance Allowance will also be stopped unless they are self-funding, in which case it will continue to be paid.

 

[nitram]

Tell the DWP when he goes in and again when he is discharged, also say where he is going on discharge and under what funding.

 

[Mun]

Thank you everyone for your helpful comments,I knew TPers would'nt let me down

 

[nita]

Not wanting to unnecessarily complicate things for you, Mun, but I rang each of the different agencies separately - if you look at the letters your Dad got from the State Pension and the Attendance Allowance departments you will find their phone numbers. For Mum, these people were in two different places - Blackpool and Burnley, I think. The trouble is they don't necessarily liaise with each other (although they're supposed to). I had a lot of problems with them - they continued to send AA through while Mum was away for quite a while and I had to sort it all out.

You will have to phone them to notify both going in and coming out of hospital. I think there is a way you can do this online too.

 

[jeany123]

Not wanting to unnecessarily complicate things for you, Mun, but I rang each of the different agencies separately - if you look at the letters your Dad got from the State Pension and the Attendance Allowance departments you will find their phone numbers. For Mum, these people were in two different places - Blackpool and Burnley, I think. The trouble is they don't necessarily liaise with each other (although they're supposed to). I had a lot of problems with them - they continued to send AA through while Mum was away for quite a while and I had to sort it all out.

You will have to phone them to notify both going in and coming out of hospital. I think there is a way you can do this online too.

I was told do the same, i had to phone separate departments for pension, pension.
credit, DLA and Attendance allowance when my husband went in and when he came out of hospital, wouldn't you think they could just tell each other but it's obviously too easy for them,

 

[Mun]

That would be just too easy for them wouldn't it ! lol
Thank you nita & jeany123
I feel a fun time coming up tomorrow...NOT ! It's no wonder people put off letting them know is it,not from a fraudulent perspective,but because they make it so b****y difficult to tell them !

nita,if they continue to pay dad's AA after I've told them,I'll have to put it into a separate account,until the penny finally drops & then pay them it back !

 

[Nebiroth]

You need to notify as soon as the person goe sinto hospital and then again when they are discharged.

Generally speaking the state pension is not affected at all (in fact, almost nothing does as it is th emost heavily protected of all payments). The same is usually true of Pension Credit. However, if someone is getting addtional disability premiums or similar payments thes emay be. The best policy is to simply inform the Department of Work and Pensions. The most likely outcome is no change to payments of this type though.

Attendance Allowance and Carer Allowance are both affected if the person receiving Atenndance Allowance stays in hospital for more than a given period.

Thus, anyone receiving Attednace Allowance MUST inform the Carer and Disability unit of this (it is not actually part of the DWP for thi spurpose, you must tell them separately)

Although the Attednace Allowance recipeients notice that they are going into hospital should be automatically noted on the Carer Allowance recipient's record, it is wise to assume this is not so and for the Carer to also notify the same unit.

Anyone can actually notify the unit, the important thing is that they must be told.

Personally speaking, I always confirm the notification in writing via registered letter and keep a photocopy. That way there can be no possibility of receiving any blame if adminsitrative errors are made at their end. You would have proof you have done what you are supopsed to do.

That ha spaid dividends in the past in dealing with the tax office.

 

[2197alexandra]

Oh my ive just realised I never done this lay week when dad was in hospital. He was in for a week should I ring them tomorrow and let them know even now he's out. He had moved in with me now so I'm his 24 hour carer solely. I have stopped his 4 x care package.

Sent from my GT-I8190N using Talking Point mobile app

 

[Pickles53]

I am afraid this is not correct. Hospital stays have to be reported straight away and after 4 weeks of hospital stay Attendance Allowance will be stopped.
If someone goes from home to a care home, Attendance Allowance will also be stopped unless they are self-funding, in which case it will continue to be paid.

Sorry if I got this wrong. I'm sure this is the advice I read somewhere, should stick to TPers

 

[Mun]

Thank you Nebiroth for your advice,much appreciated

 

[nita]

I told them over and over again that Mum had received too much AA as it is stopped after 28 days in respite/hospital. When they finally sorted it out, I think they adjusted it by stopping it for so many weeks. They didn't actually claw it back, just withdrew it for a while. I remember sending them spreadsheets I'd drawn up showing exactly what she'd received for which weeks, etc. Above and beyond the call of duty!

What made it more complicated in Mum's case was that at one point she started receiving AA as a separate payment. Previously it had been paid together with her state pension, if I remember correctly. Also, you have to be careful in checking the payments because AA is paid in arrears, I believe, so it won't stop immediately.

That would be just too easy for them wouldn't it ! lol
Thank you nita & jeany123
I feel a fun time coming up tomorrow...NOT ! It's no wonder people put off letting them know is it,not from a fraudulent perspective,but because they make it so b****y difficult to tell them !

nita,if they continue to pay dad's AA after I've told them,I'll have to put it into a separate account,until the penny finally drops & then pay them it back !

 

[nita]

Personally speaking, I always confirm the notification in writing via registered letter and keep a photocopy. That way there can be no possibility of receiving any blame if adminsitrative errors are made at their end. You would have proof you have done what you are supopsed to do.

That ha spaid dividends in the past in dealing with the tax office.

I have a feeling that, even if you have done everything necessary to inform them of changes, they can still claw back moneys paid in error if they realise their mistake at a later date. Not what you're saying, Nebiroth, but I thought it best to point it out as in these cases you have to make provision for their possible errors!

 

[Pickles53]

I have a feeling that, even if you have done everything necessary to inform them of changes, they can still claw back moneys paid in error if they realise their mistake at a later date. Not what you're saying, Nebiroth, but I thought it best to point it out as in these cases you have to make provision for their possible errors!

I think that's usually the case, but I remember vaguely there have been one or two high profile examples (around the time tax credits first came in and there was a bit of a fiasco getting the amounts right) where in the end they didn't push for repayment. I think that if an error comes to light later and you have done everything right the authorities would at least have to allow longer for an overpayment to be recovered to avoid hardship.

 

[Mun]

Well I've informed all the relevant pension people & after 28 days dad's AA,state pension & the pension credit that is paid to both mum & dad will all be stopped :-(
I've been told that mum will need to reapply for pension credit for herself after 28 days & my carers allowance that only started 3 weeks ago after looking after dad for the past 5+ years,stops straight away ! lol
So my mum will be left with £70/week pension to live on ! Thank you Mr Cameron
Just need to speak to the council now about their council tax

 

[nitram]

"Just need to speak to the council now about their council tax"

If your dad had been granted SMI he would have been disregarded leaving your mum as sole occupant meaning that a 25% reduction would have been applied, with your dad in hospital the same reduction will apply although the reason will have changed, on this score I would not rush to inform the LA.

However your mum may be entitled to some means tested relief see >>>THIS DOCUMENT<<< and start a claim if you think it applies.

 

[Nebiroth]

Well I've informed all the relevant pension people & after 28 days dad's AA,state pension & the pension credit that is paid to both mum & dad will all be stopped :-(

Who told you that? As far as I'm aware hospital stays don't affect Pension Credit and certainly not State Pension. State Pension is the most heavily protected payment of all and I don;t know of anything that stops it or the amount. Even if you have to go into fulltime care and your income has be paid to the state to help fun dit, the State Pension is still paid (they just take it again)

I've been told that mum will need to reapply for pension credit for herself after 28 days & my carers allowance that only started 3 weeks ago after looking after dad for the past 5+ years,stops straight away ! lol

Again, who told you that? If the person you care for goes into hospital, your carer allowance stops when their disability payment stops, not before - so it should only stop if your dad's AA stops, and that shoudl only happen after he's been in hospital continuously for 28 days or more.

And your mum should only need to apply for things like Pension Credit and so on if your dad goes permanently into care. At that point he is considered to be removed from the household and your mum would be treated as a single person in her own right for benefits purposes. In essence, from a benefits point of view, her husband going into permanent residential care is the same as her being widowed

I'm not 100% certain, but that is my understanding of how things work

Don;t take as gospel what you may have been told by someone over the phone at the DWP. Benefits are highly complex and the person you spoke to may not be at a benefits adviser level, but more someone who simply updates records for people giving change of circumstances notices