Client is over 70 years old and cares for his wife who has dementia ………
Client Profile: Client is over 70 years old and cares for his wife who has dementia. The couple own their property. Both claim their state pensions and our client has a small private pension.
Reason client needs advice:
Client was self-employed and could no longer work from March 2020 due to the pandemic lockdown. Our client stated they were living off savings as he did not expect the lockdown period to last as long as it had. During this time his wife's care needs increased due to her illness.
The client contacted Citizens Advice Harlow after he fell behind with his bills and his savings had depleted. Our client has an oil tank for heating and hot water and with the rising energy prices he could not afford to have the tank refilled. The clients' boiler had not been serviced for over 30 years and was now obsolete and could not be maintained. The client and his wife lived in two of the four rooms in their house as they could not afford to heat the whole property and were using electric heaters.
What we have done to help the client:
We identified our client may be entitled to additional income. Our adviser supported the client to apply for Attendance Allowance, Pension Credits and Council Tax reduction. We helped them gather evidence and submit applications for the relevant benefits. A referral was made to Aron services for a warm homes survey to be carried out at the property, and the client was supported in joining the priority services register with their energy supplier. The adviser also supported the client in negotiating a lower telephone line rental charge.
Outcome:
Attendance Allowance was awarded at £89.60 per week. The client also received a back payment of £806.60.
Pension Credits were awarded at £15 per week and a back payment of £225.
Council Tax reduction clients Council Tax was reduced from £217 to £0 per calendar month because of their entitlement to Pension Credits. Client received a back payment of over £600.00.
We helped the couple gain over £1,500 in back-payments of benefits and helped them increase their household annual income by over £5,500.
In addition, the warm homes survey by Aron services has resulted in the client qualifying for a new heating system including a new boiler and radiators, together with loft and cavity wall insulation.