DLA and carers allowance.

sandraroffey

can someone please advise??

my daughter has just been told that she will get DLA for her 3 year old, at the higher rate for personal care.

this means that she can now claim carers allowance BUT it seems that this may affect any other benefits she is getting, such as tax credits.

can someone please help here? i have been trying to understand what the directgov site says about it all but it all seems to be geared towards caring for someone who is old.

i did make out that the amount paid for carers is £50 something per week which is a little more than her tax credits. helpplease.

Js_Other_Half

It will help her tax credits - the applicable amounts go up when you have a disabled child and are a carer. As the child has been awarded higher rate care she will get "disabled child element included in the Child Tax Credit for each child who gets DLA (any rate) or is registered blind"

and

" a severely disabled child element included in the Child Tax Credit for each child who gets the highest rate of DLA care component."

Does your daughter have a job outside of the home, or a partner who works, etc?

Have you played about with www.entitledto.com ?

sandraroffey

she has a partner who works, she is stay at homemum and they have another child who is 5. they are already struggling financially, and she is worried to death that by claiming carers allowance, she will lose her tax credits.

happymumto2

Please don't quote me am just telling you my circumstances, I have a 5 year old who gets Higher Rate Care, Low Rate Mobility. I do not claim carers allowance as I work full time, however my tax credits went up by just over £60 per week when DS was awarded DLA, because of the severe disability element.

tattoed_bum

i can also just go by my circumstances , the disable element for a child goes on to the child tax credit bit not the working tax bit iyswim .i
dont recieve working tax credits as dh earns to much but i do get child tax credits and the disable element of the child tax credits .i
also claim carers allowance this will be added on to the income for the year but but what you may lose on wtc will be more than regained with the child tax and the carers so i doubt they will be worse off

skoda38

the carers allowance will be treated as taxable income and you will lose about £20 a week tax credits leaving you about £30 better off. as the other posters have said you will get the disabled and severely disabled increase in tax credits. dont forget free car tax aswell.

tattoed_bum

sorry skoda but i think you have to get high rate mobility for the free car tax , the op's daughter only gets the care element

Js_Other_Half

Your daughter can now also access charities for grants - the best known is http://www.familyfund.org.uk/, but there are others.

sandraroffey

just looked at that link, and i've never heard anything about this before. thank you so much for the informationxxxx

pupsicola

Hi,

Carers allowance is a taxable socail security benefit that child tax credits need to be made aware of. But its nothing to worry about. She will gain from informing them about it. They also need to know if she gets income support but this doesn't harm tax credits as its non taxable.

Had the same situation myself and a very nice person there confirmed it to me.

Sarah

pupsicola

I also applied last year to the family fund. They provided me with money for clothing, bedding and a family holiday. When you get the forms send it off with copies of letters form disability living allowance. They were extremely generous to me and you can ask for help annually.

Hope this helps

Sarah