Suffered injury, now permanently disabled. Financially am I stuck with 'benefits'? (how? for the filter..)

Posted by EliteCakeMan@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 17 comments

Hi, In January I suffered an injury, that has given me a permanent disability, I don't really want to say but it's inside my brain, so I can't drive, can't do anything dangerous and can't be alone. I used to be a builder. I've been signed off permanently until medical solutions can help. I'm on universal credit and have began the process to claim PIP and anything else I can get help with. The money is obviously awful, it barely covers anything, I'm getting pushed massively into debt, no charity is interested in helping me (not that i expect them too). I get the impression though if I try to earn a few £100 online for some extra cash, or if i start selling/doing something IT related and make a few extra £100 here and there. **The jobcentre told me, if I do this, I must report to them any money I make? and it will be deducted from my benefit? Which is pointless.** I can't earn money all the time because I'm ill. I can't earn enough to live on and just want some extra cash. Am now stuck in the situation of having to accept the governments benefits, which is half my old income and if i try to earn any extra money, I'll just lose all the money the government gives me to live on, i could end up in court? **So now I am permanently disabled, i now have to wait until i lose everything and live in poverty forever? Or have I misread the rules?**

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17 Comments

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Valuable-Wallaby-167@reddit

PIP at least isn't means tested and not affected by your income. There are charities that help with applications for benefits so they might be able to help explain what you can and can't do. It's very useful to have an advocate who knows the system when dealing with benefits. The Citizens Advice Bureau might be able to help as well.

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EliteCakeMan@reddit (OP)

>PIP at least isn't means tested and not affected by your income. I can't live on PIP alone though. >There are charities that help with applications for benefits so they might be able to help explain what you can and can't do. It's very useful to have an advocate who knows the system when dealing with benefits. The Citizens Advice Bureau might be able to help as well. Charities really aren't the help people think they are this time, there's only so many phone calls and letters I can write to them. Most don't reply, most don't care. Citizens Advice isn't the be all people think it is. I really avoid all of them now. It's not that I'm stupid I've read the rules and they're pretty clear. I'm asking Reddit to confirm whether what I've interpreted it correct. I don't need a charity to explain the rules to me.

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AwhMan@reddit

Hey mate are you getting the full £700ish UC disability element? If not you may still being processed or are not on the right track at your job centre. PiP is really traumatic to apply for as a warning. They will call you a liar and you will likely have to take them to court over the next year. Don't expect it to come quickly. The UC disability money is much easier to get and is based on what you and your doctors say. Personally, unless you're going to be making a very reasonable amount of money it's not worth it to not be on full disability benefits. You can't earn any money on disability UC. And yeah, it really sucks mate. No two ways about it.

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Majestic-Ad-3742@reddit

You get a work allowance of £673 a month on LCWRA, any earnings below that don't affect the UC amount.

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doodles2019@reddit

Not quite sure I’m following the logic of “I want to check my interpretation with random internet people, not a charity for whom this is bread & butter”?

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EliteCakeMan@reddit (OP)

>Not quite sure I’m following the logic of “I want to check my interpretation with random internet people, not a charity for whom this is bread & butter”? I swear people only say this because they've never had to deal with said charity and in my original post, I said I've already spoken to a charity and they have been useless, it's not their "bread and butter". It's a shit ton of hassle. Why would I come here, Ask for help, then just go straight back to asking a charity? I could just call the charity in the first place because it would have been faster. The vast majority of people like you forget, I want to come here and ask questions here so I can chat and talk, via text, instantly. With other people in the same situation to find out their experiences or knowledge. I don't want to ring some call centre and speak to someone on min wage rep reading off a script. If you read the replies, someone here answered me very quickly with the exact response I was looking for which I never got from any of the phone calls to the various services when asking for advice. Reddit: 1 Charity: 0

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LondonCollector@reddit

Were you injured on the job or not liked to your job?

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roBBERT4098@reddit

Have you any pensions , some have sickness/ill health you might be able to access.

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Scrompo@reddit

Have you gone through a Work Capability Assessment? If you can demonstrate you can't work right now (a fit note from your GP), you'll be granted LCWRA status and receive an extra £416 a month and also get a work allowance, meaning you can earn 400-600ish a month (depending on circumstances) before it starts to affect your UC payment. Push your work coach on this if you haven't already been assessed, it can take time and you may need an advocate or expert advice to help you (DWP don't make it easy) - the local Citizens Advice would be a good place to start. Your PIP would be on top of this and is not means-tested. Use a benefits calculator to make sure you're claiming everything you're entitled to - try turn2us or entitledto

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EliteCakeMan@reddit (OP)

>Have you gone through a Work Capability Assessment? If you can demonstrate you can't work right now (a fit note from your GP), you'll be granted LCWRA status on your UC claim and receive an extra £416 a month and also get a work allowance, meaning you can earn 400-600ish a month (depending on circumstances) before it starts to affect your UC payment. Ah now this is the answer I was looking for! Yes I had my WCA done yesterday, I've been signed off with a sicknote with my doctor. I've just had my PIP assessment done too. I'm assuming because of my illness severity i'll get LCWRA status? >Push your work coach on this if you haven't already been assessed, it can take time Yes I have an appointment tomorrow I'll chat with them about it. >and you may need an advocate or expert advice to help you (DWP don't make it easy) - the local Citizens Advice would be a good place to start. Your PIP would be on top of this and is not means-tested. Use a benefits calculator to make sure you're claiming everything you're entitled to - try turn2us or entitled Honestly Citizens Advice are trash, I wouldn't wipe my arse with them. Idk why reddit thinks they're so amazing, but i genuinely appreciate your advice. It's the best i've received. Thank you

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Scrompo@reddit

I couldnt say, but 65% of WCA decisions are for LCWRA. There is a less severe category of LCW, which doesn't carry an extra payment, but if you are not happy with your decision you have several opportunities to challenge it, all the way up to a tribunal. In the vast majority of cases, judges at tribunals rule against the DWP and in favour of the claimant. Unfortunately there is a well documented history of poor decision making by assessors (true for PIP as well), so you may have to persevere. But hopefully not. I'd recommend posting in r/BenefitsAdviceUK as well for advice, particularly if you run into any issues. In the short-term, your local council has access to something called the Household Support Fund which they must use to provide emergency grants for things like food, utility costs and other essentials, although specific criteria varies across the country.

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Dadavester@reddit

PIP is a separate payment to UC and is in addition. It is also not affected by your earnings. UC will reduce based on your earnings, but you can earn a certain amount before it reduces. this amount depends on if you claim housing benefit or not. If you do not claim housing benefit it is around £600 currently i believe. If you do claim housing benefit it is around £200. So if you do not claim housing benefit that means you can earn £600(ish) per month before it affects your UC. If you earn over this you lose 55p of UC for every £1 earnt. So for example; You earn £900 a month and get £400 UC. The first £600 of earnings are "free" meaning you have earnt £300 for UC calculation purposes. The easiest way to work out the reduction amount is by taking 55% of the £300 (300x0.55) which is £165 then taking this from the £400 UC award (400-165) giving you £235 as your final award. So in the case above you would get £900 in earnings + £235 UC + whatever pip payment you get. Obviously the figures are rough as I do not know your circumstances and rounded for ease of the example.

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EliteCakeMan@reddit (OP)

That's some great information, thank you!

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TheShakyHandsMan@reddit

You can earn while claiming PIP. No issues with that. If your brain issue is anything like mine then that’s potentially around £600 a month. You’ll need to check if you can get council or housing benefit to cover the big bills while having a small supplementary income. https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators UC is basically pointless unless you’re happy to sit around your house doing nothing and living on noodles. How are your computer skills? As a former builder you’ll have fantastic knowledge on how things are built. A job in CAD might be suitable.

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EliteCakeMan@reddit (OP)

>You can earn while claiming PIP. No issues with that. If your brain issue is anything like mine then that’s potentially around £600 a month. I can't live off £600 alone though >You’ll need to check if you can get council or housing benefit to cover the big bills while having a small supplementary income. Their answer is no. >[https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators](https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators) > >UC is basically pointless unless you’re happy to sit around your house doing nothing and living on noodles. > >How are your computer skills? As a former builder you’ll have fantastic knowledge on how things are built. A job in CAD might be suitable. I can't do a full time job as I've said I'm poorly. I need to earn money in my free time when it's safe and appropriate too, I don't want to do CAD because I already have a way of earning money.

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joeleb842@reddit

Your government is out to screw you pal. They are determined to hurt the poorest and weakest in society whilst enriching themselves and their cronies so you shouldn't worry too much about how you make that money. Self preservation should come first. If you can't do it legally maybe you should look at something illegal. I'm sorry to hear of your situation found myself in a similar one when we lived in the UK when my wife had cancer, we nearly lost everything. Don't wait for help it's not coming.

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