carers allowance help please.

cj64_2

I would be grateful if anybody could perhaps offer a little advice on mine and my daughters current situation.
I am a single parent with a 17yr daughter in college and a 10yr old at school.
After being made redundent a year ago i have recently become self-employed as a remote PA for 16hrs a week. I am now in receipt of back to work credit of £40pw.
My eldest daughter of 22yrs has returned home following the breakdown of her relationship. She is in receipt of DLA higher rate care/lower rate mobility. She suffers from mental illness with a long history of suicide attempts and self harm when she is manic. She was managing to hold down a part-time position with a very sympathetic employer, however because of recent events and her coping ability she has been advised by her phyciatric nurse to 'take time out' and get herself stronger.
Her employer has however decided that being a small buisness she can only support my daughter so far. She has agreed to my daughter having a period of 'sickness?' but has also stated to her and myself that she will be looking to replace my daughter.
I fully understand her employers position. She has bent over backwards to accomodate my daughters illness and support her. I cannot fault the compassion she has shown her etc but at the end of the day my daughters illness does make her very unpredictable and is having a negative effect on her buisness.
I am pleased that my daughter is home because although it is very hard work dealing with her illness at least i feel i am available to take care of her whilst working from home.
I was told today by my daughters nurse that i should be able to apply for carers alowance. I do not fully understand DLA benefits etc and thought that the allowance my daughter receives is to pay for her care or is this some thing seperate. Do i stop receiving my back to work payment and put in a claim for carers allowance who then in turn reduce my daughters allowance? Its all pretty confusing when i am already feeling pretty tired as i have to watch over my daughter at night as she is prone to getting up and just dissapearing in the middle of the night if she is down. This is scary enough as we live in the middle of the countryside and i worry that she will get lost or have a serious accident. I do not want to give up my self-employed position as it is just about keeping me sane at the moment but at the same time if i can claim carers allowance instead of back to work credit i will be alittle better off and every little helps.
Thankyou for taking the time to read this post

kingfisherblue

How much do you earn each week? How many hours do you care for your daughter? Both of these will have an effect on whether you can claim CA.

DX2

As long as you care for your daughter 35 hours or more per week and you do not earn more than £100 per week then you can claim CA.

ETA: Her DLA isn't affected, but other benefits may.