How to Find Out if You Qualify for Benefits

8/9/2019 How to Find Out if You Qualify for Benefits

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Including:

Housing Benefit SSP

SMI Fit Notes

Income SupportCrisis loans

Budgeting Loans

5/11/2010Presented By John Fairest Correct of Time of publication 07947 826469



How to find out if you qualify for benefits

If any of the following apply to you:

y you're on a low income (employed or looking for work)

y you have dependent childreny you're ill or disabled

y you're caring for someone

y you're aged 60 or over

y you have been bereaved

y you're pregnant or have recently had a baby




Income Support

Who can get Income Support

It's for people who all the following apply to:

y are between age 16 and the age they can get Pension Credity have a low income

y work less than 16 hours a week

y aren't in full-time study (but there are some exceptions)

y don't get Jobseeker's Allowance or Employment andSupport Allowance

y don't have savings above £16,000

y live in Great Britain




You may get Income Support if you

are one of the following

y a lone parent

y on parental or paternity leavey a carer

y a refugee learning English who arrived less than a yearago




amilies and Income Support

Y ou can claim Income Support for yourself and your partner. Jobcentre Plus will treat you as a couple if you live with:y your husband, wife or civil partnery someone as if they were your husband, wife or civil partnery Jobcentre Plus call this other person your partner.y Income Support is no longer paid for children if you're

making a new claim. To get money for children, you mustnow claim Child Tax Credit instead.

y Only one person in a family can claim Income Support atany one time. There are several types of premiums (extraamounts) you may get based on your and your partner'scircumstances. Contact Jobcentre Plus to find out more.




Working and Income Support

Y ou can claim Income Support if you work less than 16hours a week. But Jobcentre Plus will take into account

some of the amount you earn when they assess yourclaim for benefit. The amount they ignore will dependon your circumstances.

y Y ou may also get Income Support if you're a disabled

worker who earns less than someone in the same job without the same disability.




Mortg g i t r st y ts

Homeowners on certain benefits may be able to get helptowards mortgage interest payments called Support for

Mortgage Interest (SMI). Find out if you are eligible,how to claim SMI and what extra help is availableduring the economic downturn.




SMI what it is and who is eligible

Y ou may get help with mortgage interest payments aspart of your benefits if you are a homeowner and are

eligible for:y Income Support

y income-based Jobseekers Allowance

y income-related Employment and Support Allowance

y Pension Credit




What's not included in SMI

SMI isnt available to help you pay:

y the amount you borrowed (only the interest on the

mortgage is paid)y anything towards insurance policies you have

y mortgage arrears




Conditions that apply to SMI since 5 January

2009

There are some conditions that apply to most claims for help with your mortgageinterest made since 5 January 2009:

y you wait 13 weeks from the date you claim before you get SMI (this is known asa waiting period and was previously 39 or 26 weeks)

y youll be able to claim for mortgage interest on up to £200,000 of yourmortgage (this was previously £100,000)

y if you have claimed Jobseekers Allowance on or after 5 January 2009 youll bepaid SMI for two years only

y The Standard Interest Rate used to calculate SMI, remains frozen at 6.08% forall SMI customers until December 2010.

y From 5 January 2010 help was extended to a particular group of customers who:

y claimed one of the benefits mentioned above on or after 5 January 2009y were not entitled to that benefit until their housing costs became payabley These payments cannot be backdated, but the Government has agreed to make

extra statutory payments to address potential shortfalls which arose between 5 January 2009 and 4 January 2010.




Crisis Loans

If you need financial help with an emergency or

disaster you may be able to get a Crisis Loan; theinterest-free loan from the Social Fund that you pay

back.

Claim Form




Who is eligible?

Y ou can apply for a Crisis Loan if all the following apply:y you're aged 16 or overy you don't have enough money to meet your (or your

family's) immediate short term needs in an emergency oras the result of a disaster

y without the loan there will be serious damage or risk to your (or your family's) health or safety

y or if you're aged 16 or over and you've:

y been getting a Community Care Grant but you're movingout of institutional or residential accommodation anddon't have enough money to pay advance rent to a non-local authority landlord




How much do you get?

There is no set amount of Crisis Loan. The amount you may be able to borrow will depend on:

y your individual circumstances

y any savings you have

y whether or not you have borrowed from the SocialFund before




How you will be paid?

How do you repay it

Jobcentre Plus will normally give you a cheque in yourname. Y ou can cash it at a post office or pay it into anaccount.

y If you qualify for a Crisis Loan you'll need to agree how you are going to pay it back.

y An adviser at your Jobcentre Plus office will talk youthrough it and agree a repayment plan with you that

you can afford. If you're on benefit, the loan isnormally repaid out of your normal benefit payments.

y Y ou don't have to pay interest on a Crisis Loan, whichmeans you only repay the amount you borrowed.




Budgeting Loans

Who is eligible?

Y ou may be able to get a Budgeting Loan if you or your

partner have been claiming or getting payment of oneof the following benefits for at least 26 weeks:

y Income Support

y income-related Employment and Support Allowance

y income-based Jobseeker's Allowance Pension Creditand

you need help to pay for any of the following:




The Needy furniture or household equipment

y clothing or footwear

y advance rent or removal expenses for a new homey travelling expenses

y things to help you look for or start work

y improving, maintaining or securing your home

y repaying hire purchase or other debts you took out topay for any of the above




How much do you get?

Y ou can apply to borrow between £100 and £1,500. The finalamount of Budgeting Loan you get will depend on:

y whether you are singley

whether you are a coupley whether you are single or a couple, with childreny any existing money you owe to the Social Fundy your ability to repay the loany your savings - your award will usually be reduced by the amount

of any savings you or your partner or civil partner have above£1,000 (or £2,000 if one or both of you is over 60)

The following can't be taken into account:y the urgency of your needy any health problems you or your family might have




How to apply

Y ou can contact Jobcentre Plus, or your pension centreand ask them to send you claim form SF500

The Info

The Claim form pdf

5/11/2010 Presented By John Fairest Correct of Time of publication 07947 826469



Statutory Sick Pay

If you're an employee and unable to work because you'reill you may be able to get Statutory Sick Pay. It is paid

by your employer and can be paid for up to 28 weeks.




SSP Who can get Statutory Sick Pay y If you're working for an employer

under a contract of service (even if you've only just started), you'reentitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)if the following apply:

y you're sick for at least four days in arow (including weekends and bankholidays and days that you do notnormally work)

y you're earning at least £97 a weeky

If you have more than one job, youmay get SSP from each employer.

How to get Statutory Sick Pay y To get SSP you must:y tell your employer that you are sicky if required by your employer,

provide some form of medicalevidence, from the eighth day of your illness

How much do you gety The standard rate for SSP is £79.15 a

week.y Y our employer will work out a daily

rate of SSP if necessary by dividingthe weekly rate by the number of days youd normally work in that week. For working out SSP the weekbegins with a Sunday.




Letting your employer know you are sick

y Y our employer may have their own rules about whenand how you tell them you are sick and should tell you

what these are. Please check with your employer if youdo not know. Y our employer does not have to pay SSPfor any days before you tell them if you do not stick tothese rules.

y If your employer does not have their own rules, you

should tell your employer within seven days of the firstday that you are sick. If you delay telling your employerthey do not have to pay SSP for any days before you tellthem.

y However your employer cannot insist that you tellthem:

y in persony earlier than the first qualifying day or by a set timey on a special formy on a doctors statement, which is normally called a

medical certificatey more than once a week during your sickness

Ev idence that you are sicky Y our employer cannot ask you to provide evidence that

your are sick for the first seven days of illness. They may ask you to fill in a self-certificate of their owndesign or form SC2 which you can get from your GP'ssurgery, or from the HM Revenue and Customs(HMRC) website.

y If you are sick for more than seven days, your employercan ask you to give them some form of medicalevidence to support payment of SSP

Medical e v idencey It is up to your employer to decide whether you are

incapable of work. A medical certificate from yourdoctor is strong evidence that you are sick and wouldnormally be accepted, unless there is evidence to proveotherwise.

y Y ou could also provide evidence from someone who isnot a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Y ouremployer will decide whether or not this evidence isacceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

y Fit notey A new 'fit note' was introduced in place of the doctor's

sick note on 6 April 2010. With your employer'ssupport, the note will help you return to work soonerby providing more information about the effects of

your illness or injury




Statement of Fitness for Work (fit note)

What has changed?y The fit note allows your doctor to

provide you with more information onhow your condition affects your ability to work. This will help your employer to

understand how they might be able tohelp you return to work sooner.y The changes mean that your doctor can:y advise when you may be fit for work with

some supporty suggest common ways to help you return

to worky give information on how your condition

will affect what you can do

What stays the same?y The fit note can still be used as evidence

for why you cannot work due to illness oran injury. Y ou still won't need the fitnote as evidence until after your seventh

calendar day of sickness.y If you need to apply for benefit the rules

and processes have not changed. If yourdoctor has recommended that you 'may be fit for work' you can still apply forbenefit.

y The requirements for the payment of Statutory Sick Pay have not changed. If

your doctor recommends that you 'may be fit for work', and you and youremployer agree that you should remainoff work, you should still get Statutory Sick Pay.




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How to Find Out if You Qualify for Benefits