Q I receive Incapacity Benefit of £62.20 a week out of which I have to pay heavy household expenses. My boyfriend who lives with me does not help me much. His wages are £220 a week but £56 of this goes on maintenance and he needs a car to visit his children. Why do I keep being turned down for benefits when I am so hard up?

A Whatever financial arrangements you have with your partner, your income will be lumped together for benefit purposes. Your joint incomes are above the level where you could qualify for any low income benefits.

Q I am a pensioner owning my own house and finding it difficult to manage. Are there any benefits I can claim? My state pension is £78.39 a week and my works pension £142.28 a month.

A You should claim Council Tax Benefit which will reduce your bill to £135 a year - quite a bit less than you

currently pay, I imagine.

Q Five years ago my wife died of cancer when she was 46 and I was 56. Having read your column I wonder why I did not get a £2,000 Bereavement

Payment.

AA bereaved spouse in that situation would get one these days. Before April 9, 2002, however, such payments were only payable to widows.

Q Where a couple both get the state pension, can a Bereavement Payment ever

be made when one of them dies?

A Only where the state pension of the one who has died was based upon their

spouse's contributions, not their own.

Q You say that Minimum Income Guarantee for a pensioner couple is £149.80. Is Industrial Injuries Benefit taken into account when assessing if your income is below this level?

A Yes.

Q My wife and I are joint owners of our house. How will its value, and that of our savings, be treated, if either of us goes into residential care?

AThe value of the former home is ignores if the spouse still lives there. Savings jointly held are treated as being shared equally between the couple. Where someone's capital is over £19,000 they must pay the standard rate for their residential care.