Possible serious sickness-benefits available?

Hi folks, looking for a little advice from some seasoned expats.
My hubby and I are both on visas, he on a dependent visa, I have a tier 2 work visa. We relocated here nearly 2 years ago.
Happily, I am pregnant, expecting our little bundle to arrive literally any day now. I am now on maternity leave which means I will soon have just the statutory pay to live on but at least I will have time off with the little one.

Now, on the sad part. My hubby only was able to find work as a "bank" staff person. So, he was let go from his job last month. He has been looking for work but no joy as yet. Needless to say the timing on this is horrible since I just went on maternity leave.

We received another horrible blow when he went to the GP, concerned about ongoing pains, he was told one likely diagnosis is cancer. The other possibilities are not pleasant either but not necessarily life threatening but may require long treatment and possible surgery. We are devastated. There has been no diagonsis as yet, he has to get biopsies done in late August, earliest time available. We are trying to stay hopeful that perhaps the GP's hunch is wrong and that this is something easily treatable.

As I mentioned earlier, my pay will reduce dramatically in the next month. My hubby has no pay whatsoever right now. He has tried to apply for job seekers but was denied due to not having worked/paid enough over the last year.

Now that there is a possibility he cannot work at all, I am worried as to how we will afford the basics here. I know that we are "no recourse" but I wonder if he can get some sort of temp disability. I am not sure what is out there for us. I do aim to get child benefit and tax credits (if we qualify) but this amount is so low, it won't make a dent in even the council tax bill.

I suppose I do have the option of returning to work right after baby is born but if my husband is seriously sick, I cannot trust him to care for himself, let alone an infant. He will need me to be here to look after him as well. I doubt I could get any carers allowance either.

And considering the option of returning the the US, well that is not an option, especially with the possiblity of him having a serious illness, we cannot afford a medical plan nor the relocating expenses.

So, if any of you have any advice for us, we would greatly appreciate it. Or even if you have any job leads in south East London, let me know! Right now, he is capable of work and we are keeping our fingers crossed that his condition is treatable.

No advice ellenpal, but I'm very sorry to hear this. What a terrible situation. Sending positive thoughts your way!

I'm afraid the news is not great. As neither of you are considered settled and your child will not be British, you are not able to claim child benefits, child tax credits, council tax benefits, carers allowance, disability living allowance or income related employment & support allowance. Your husband is allowed to claim contributory related employment and support allowance, but if he didn't have enough contributions for JSA, chances are he might not have enough contributions for ESA either. Previously incapacity benefit was allowed, but that isn't open to new claims anymore because it has been replaced by ESA. It looks like you can claim working tax credits while on maternity leave (see here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/TaxCredits/Keepingyourtaxcreditsuptodate/Changesthataffectyourtaxcredits/Familychanges/DG_174174) but the exact entitlement is a bit complicated do you'll have to see whether you qualify.

Best wishes that it turns out to be something not too bad and your husband can get treatment and a job in quick succession!

If it is cancer, I would try and talk to your local Maggi's Centre or Macmillian Cancer Support as they would be able to help you navigate if there are any benefits (don't know because of you being on work visas, so probably quite low) available to you.  

Good thoughts to your husband and you!  How stressful and scary, even more so with a little one on the way.  

((Hugs))

You may also be able to seek financial / debt advice from a local charity:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/index.htm

Wishing good things for you and your family!

We just had a cancer scare a few months ago, and after being told DH would have to wait 6-8 weeks for ultrasound and biopsy we ended calling around and going private for £150. I am so glad we did this because we were able to deal with everything right away, and had it been cancer - been able to make a plan about what we were going to do.

Luckily, DH did not have cancer, but the benefit was that he was able to start treatments for his problems ASAP rather than waiting the 6 weeks to get diagnosed and we didn't have to spend all that time worrying and wondering.

I don't know whether that is in your budget or not- but it might help you to find out whats going on sooner rather than later, if just for the piece of mind.

Thanks for all the advice and well wishes!

I hadn't thought about going private for the biopsy but that is certainly a good thought since we have to wait a little bit. The GP is awfully concerned so we are waiting to hear back if he can work some magic and get his appointment moved sooner.

As for the child benefit thing, I am a little mixed up because we have been getting child benefit for our 1st child for practically the entire time we have lived here. We were not able to get tax credits due to our incomes and the guidelines being very low-well, now all that has changed for us. When we applied, I had to take in our passports and told them we were Americans, etc-but all was okay. So, I do think everything is legit there.

If anyone has any ideas, I am all ears! Many thanks!

Unfortunately the benefits people are not very clued up on the immigration rules, so just because they said it was ok doesn't mean it actually is. I'm afraid child benefit is listed explicitly as a a short list of item that counts as public funds for immigration purposes (see here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/modernised/cross-cut/public-funds/funds.pdf?view=Binary). I'm sorry to cause more worry, but you are really not supposed to be claiming child benefit and it may affect your visa later and you'll probably have to pay the money back at some point.