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Mother Retiring With No Money And No Home. Help!

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DonaldDuck92 | 20:26 Fri 04th Dec 2020 | Family & Relationships
26 Answers
What to do with a mother who retires in Feb?

She has not owned a home for the last 30+ years since she was widowed, lives in rented accommodation that the owner has just put on the market, lost her job in August, has no savings and only the state pension to rely on.

She has basically been funded by her mother (not 86 and who is seriously ill with Covid) all her life and buried her head in the sand/made poor decisions.

If she's lucky she might inherit £100K at a later date...

I'm at my wits end with her. Any advice appreciated.
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Ask her to come and live with you?
Apply for council housing?
Question Author
That's not even an option unfortunately. I don't have the money to give her either as I'm still trying to save for the deposit for my first home.

If I was middle-aged or older I might have some more resource to be able to support her but in my early 30s it's just not possible.
You clearly care for her but its really up to her, you can offer help, advice or even money but its upto her
The Council should rehouse her. Many people live on the State pension. Not sure there is a problem.
Start by checking on the Local Housing Allowance rates for the area that your mother lives in:
https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx

Then start looking for rental accommodation in that area, where the cost of renting isn't higher than (or is only marginally higher than) the LHA figure. (Try sites such as Rightmove, Zoopla, PrimeLocation, Gumtree, etc, as well as local newspapers, estate agencies and rental agents).

Get your mother to apply for Housing Benefit
https://www.gov.uk/housing-benefit
or Universal Credit, as appropriate
https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit

If your mother isn't already in receipt of Pension Credit, check to see if she's eligible:
https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit

When your mother's in her new home, check that she's claimed the automatic single-occupier discount on her Council Tax AND that she's enquired about the possibility of a further Council Tax reduction from her local authority:
https://www.gov.uk/apply-council-tax-reduction

Use a benefits calculator to see if there's any further support which she might be entitled to:
https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators
You say that she retires in Feb, but lost her job in Aug. What is her current situation?
Question Author
Thanks for noticing that maydup. Yes, she retires in Feb. My grandma has paid her rent so far and she got £3K redundancy that she is living on until then.
She should be claiming benefits if she’s unemployed
she'll get it all given to her, worry not.
She's a very lucky lady isnt she? An only child maybe?

But she needs to start looking for somewhere to live and applying for all relevant benefits as soon as possible, or even job hunting. Its a tough world out there but she might find something to help her contribute to her own living expenses.
Question Author
Not so lucky in life. She was widowed age 36 and left to raise two little kids. It was tough.

Also, not an only child.

I'm not making excuses. It is what it is. She is looking for work but as we all know it's tough out there.

Thank you all for the advice so far.
Now is a good time for her to take stock and with your help maybe, make some good decisions.

Work through Buenchico's list and she should be sfae and settled within a couple of months.
she'll get a council flat and benefits nothing to worry about.
^^^ A typical ignorant post from TTT, who seems to ignore the fact that council housing, and housing association stock, is massively over-subscribed, with only about one in ten of applicants being successful in their housing applications. (My friend was placed right at the top of the list, after being given notice to quit by her landlord, because she was a single mother with a young son, with both of them having mental health problems. She was extremely lucky that a housing association bungalow became available just days before she was due to be evicted, otherwise she and her son would have been left homeless. Most people aren't so lucky).

Unless there's a reason that DonaldDuck92's mother is classed as a priority case, the chances of her getting a place in social housing are actually very low. (Her age might possibly be in her favour though. That's not because old age, per se, moves people up the list of priorities but because some councils are actually finding difficulties in filling vacancies in supported accommodation for people over 50).
Hopefully Emmie may be alongside soon . Emmie seems to have a lot of knowlege on the Benefit system. Hope she can help you,
just trying to reassure the OP chico, not sure what's rattled your pram.
Buenchico's advice @ 20.52 is excellent Donald , pass it on to your Mum and she can begin looking to get her life back on an even keel.
A worry for you, Donald and you're young. Please look at any advice Chris gives you. He's always spot on and extremely helpful.
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