Social welfare changes for recent berevement

LegacyUser

Hello All,

Due to the recent berevement of my mother in law i was just wondering how the following will affect her family:
My sister in law was recieving carers social welfare as she was a full time carer for years for my mother in law and was living at home with the household package inc free travel.
Do i presume that she will revert back to umemployment assistance and lose all the household package?
My father in law is still alive and recieving his pension,i presume that he will now get widowers pension and is he able to claim certain household package items like the free electricity, phone etc just by transferring into his name from my sister in law.
(This is his house)Will the sister in law,because she lives at home mean that these items will be a problem for him to get?
Sorry for the confusion but i am just concerned that they recieve proper information and guidance during this difficult time.

maryk123

dont presume they will get anything - you will have to reapply for everything. ring your local social welfare office and tell them your storey adn they should be able to point you in the right direction. People sometimes presume that social welfare know to put you on schemes especially older people but everything has to be applied for. so if you enquire early enough you should be ok

LegacyUser

I was hoping that ye might give me a idea of what they might be entitled to so that we can cross check with the social welfare office.
Also is there a means test for non contributery pension or widower?
Also what is the max a unemployed person on the dole can have in the bank before it is affected by the means test?
Last thing,the father in law were going to add the sister in law name to his savings to make it easier for the future,would this affect her in the means test?
Ie if say she was going to be named on his bank account for say,as a example 50k deposited,would this affect her even though it is not all in her name?

Regards,

mrsbyrne

Going ANON for this wrote: »

Hello All,

Due to the recent berevement of my mother in law i was just wondering how the following will affect her family:
My sister in law was recieving carers social welfare as she was a full time carer for years for my mother in law and was living at home with the household package inc free travel.
Do i presume that she will revert back to umemployment assistance and lose all the household package?
My father in law is still alive and recieving his pension,i presume that he will now get widowers pension and is he able to claim certain household package items like the free electricity, phone etc just by transferring into his name from my sister in law.
(This is his house)Will the sister in law,because she lives at home mean that these items will be a problem for him to get?
Sorry for the confusion but i am just concerned that they recieve proper information and guidance during this difficult time.

If your sister in law was only getting carers allowance, and if she is looking for available for and fit for work, then she should apply for JSA. If she is without income while she is waiting then she can go to the CWO for an SWA.
Was/is your sister-in-law living with her parents?. If your sister-in-law is living with her widowed father, and he is over 70, then he can apply for the HBP, but the bills will have to be in his name. If he is under 70, and she is on JSA, he will be disqualified from HBP as she is not an "excepted" person.If she is living on her own and on JSA then she also is disqualified.
WAs your mother-in-law a Qaulified Adult on her husbands Pension or did she have her own State Pension? Was their pension/s contributory or non-contributory?

LegacyUser

Thank you mrsbyrne for coming back to me.
My sister in law is living with the father in law who is over 70.
She was claiming electricity,phone and tv licence.She also had the free companion travel pass but not sure if she lost it when disabilty became pension status.
The mother in law was on disability for years but was switched to the pension and both pensions were non contributory.