Can I claim Incapacity Benefit for my wife?

A As she has reached 60 you should be able to claim £40.40 for her on your IB, provided she has no earnings or works/personal pension over £52.20.

Q My IB is topped up to £81.95 a week by Income Support (IS). This will soon go up to £113.70. I pay partial rent because my daughter lives with us. Will I have to pay more when I get my rise?

A Your IS is going up because you get extra called the Disability Premium when you have been sick for a year. As you continue to be on IS, your rent share remains unchanged.

Q I am 76 and married with combined pensions of £147.48 a week and just £200 in the bank. Our rent is £47.10 a week and CouncilTax is £49 a month. Can we get rebates?

A Yes. About £5 off the Council Tax and up to £32 a week off the rent depending upon what it includes.

Q My mother of 91 has a State Pension of £333.84 a month and Attendance Allowance of £53.55 a week, out of which she pays for a cleaner and a carer. She takes £700 a month from her savings which are currently £20,000. Can she get help with her CouncilTax which is £778.81 a year after 25 per cent discount?

A Not yet but she could when her savings drop to £16,000. Her rebate would be about £5 a week or £13 if no one gets Invalid Care Allowance for looking after her.

Q Mr Blair seems to be under the impression that all married couples have a State Pension of £120 a week. How come ours is only £112.40?

A Under the Minimum Income Guarantee (aka Income Support) the assessed weekly income of a pensioner couple should be at least £121.95. Most types of income, are taken into account when deciding if someone is falling short.

Q Apart from my Incapacity Benefit of £140.52 a week, we have a miner's pension of £18 a year, £10,000 in the bank and my wife's pension of just £0.34 a week. We are both 64. Should we be paying full Council Tax of £691.25 a year?

A No. You are due a rebate of about £5.66 a week