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Help- Had Carers Allowance, I.S and SMI taken off me!!!
TeeKay10
Posts: 23 Forumite
Hi all, 
Newbie here so be kind!
Sorry for the long post but it's a bit complicated. My 92 year old Nan has mild-moderate Vascular Dementia which was diagnosed in 2011. Her condition started to worsen a bit, to the extent where she could use some help at home every day with meals and personal care.
In January last year I had a chat with my uncle - her son (who has Power of Attorney) about the feasibility of me leaving my part time job and taking over the role of caring. We went through all of the options and decided that it was a good idea so I quit.
I made it perfectly clear that I couldn't guarantee to commit to the minimum 35 hours per week criteria for Carers Allowance, as I'm a single parent so have to be available for the school run at 9am and 3pm and available at weekends. I do take my child with me on some weekends but it's hard for them to understand what's going on. In order to do the 35 hours without fail, I'd have to visit Nan 7 days per week. Plus she lives 30 miles from me, so the journey takes roughly an hour each way, and this would be nigh on impossible to achieve in the available time that I have. But that I would visit as often as I could, approx 20-25 hours per week (plus travel time).
Uncle said 'I wouldn't worry about that too much, we can overlook it in this instance, I'm just glad of the help'.
So, I claimed Carers Allowance and Income Support (plus SMI to help with my mortgage payments) and my uncle gave me the cost of my fuel plus an extra tenner per trip, just to help out. Not a whole lot but I didn't want to be taking Nan's hard earned cash unnecessarily (although she isn't short of a few bob, living in a 17th Century 4 bed cottage but even so, I'm not about ripping her off).
That was fine and all was going well until November 2012 when out of blue Uncle decided that he was 'no longer comfortable' with the fact that I don't do the full 35 hours per week and that I had to stop claiming the C.A. 'in case someone finds out'.
I explained that to do this would leave me short by about £50 per week and he said not to worry as he'll adjust it with what he gives me, so that I wouldn't be out of pocket. I wasn't happy with this as it meant that the £50 loss was coming out of Nan's money but felt that I had no option as it was clear he wasn't going to change his mind. I couldn't 'make out' I'd stopped claiming as when I stopped, it reinstated one of Nan's other benefits (Attendance Allowance maybe?) so he was keeping an eye out for info on that starting back up.
So I cancelled the CA and told the DWP the situation. The advisor (Who very rudely exclaimed 'God that's REALLY old!' when told my nan's age!) :mad: said that I was still entitled to I.S as I wasn't available for work. Great, I thought - at least I won't have to sign on and try to juggle caring around signing/job hunting etc.
Nov and Dec came and went and each time I saw Uncle he didn't quite pay me enough to cover my losses, I was about £20 per month down. I said nothing as he's not the most approachable at times, and soldiered on. (Weak, I know, but that's just me!)
Last week a letter from the DWP came telling me that on 31st Jan my IS and my SMI will stop. No explanation, nothing. I rang them and I explained that I'm not eligible for JSA as I can't look for work due to caring, and was told (by a right unhelpful b1tch of an advisor!) that it was basically hard luck, my nan will have to fend for herself and I have to claim JSA or get a job.
I asked why the I.S and SMI had stopped and she told me that they were given as an '8 week run on' and that 'surely I was told that back in November when I cancelled the CA?' I told her that it was the first I'd heard of it and that I keep EVERY letter I've ever received from them and none of them referred to it either. In fact my last I.S letter told me how much I'd get per week right up until Sept THIS year, so !!!!!! was she on about? Why would it say that info if I was only getting it for 8 weeks? Had I have known about it stopping then I'd have put a new plan in place to sort it.
I'm nearly done, bear with me!
So, I'm basically up the creek and so have had no option but to claim JSA and have my initial appt tomorrow at 11.30am. I could of course ask them tomorrow but it all depends on whether I get a helpful/knowledgeable advisor or not...
Can anyone advise whether I'm being told duff info somewhere? I appreciate that the CA claim was in effect 'false' as I didn't fully adhere to the rules, but there was a valid reason for it. All I was trying to do was help and I feel like it's been thrown back in my face. I gave up a good job (albeit P/T) to do this for my nan and am now in the !!!!, as is my nan.
No other family member is able to help her due to careers and distance and she isn't comfortable with strangers either, it upsets and unsettles her. She also doesn't want anyone other than me to help with bathing etc - surely her dignity should be respected here?
This is all very unfair IMO. I'm not adverse to getting a job, don't get me wrong, as I've worked since I was 13 (I'm nearly 40) but I don't want to - I want to care for nan until such time as she either needs professional care/care home or the inevitable happens.
I can just about manage on the JSA and SMI amounts, but that's not my main problem, (although is a big part of it). My problem is that I can't care for Nan AND actively look for/go to work.
I'm worried that if I go into the DWP tmw and tell them I can't be available to work due to caring that they'll refuse my claim and I'll get nothing. Equally though I can't say that I AM available when I'm not! My hours of visiting Nan vary depending on her needs - I'm hardly a flexible jobseeker!
I'm also worried about the SMI. Will I have to wait another 13 weeks for it to restart or can it just carry on, even though I'm on a 'new' benefit but it isn't exactly a new claim as such?
Sorry for waffling, there is heaps more but I've tried (and failed!:eek:) to condense it as much as poss!!!
Thanks for reading
Newbie here so be kind!
Sorry for the long post but it's a bit complicated. My 92 year old Nan has mild-moderate Vascular Dementia which was diagnosed in 2011. Her condition started to worsen a bit, to the extent where she could use some help at home every day with meals and personal care.
In January last year I had a chat with my uncle - her son (who has Power of Attorney) about the feasibility of me leaving my part time job and taking over the role of caring. We went through all of the options and decided that it was a good idea so I quit.
I made it perfectly clear that I couldn't guarantee to commit to the minimum 35 hours per week criteria for Carers Allowance, as I'm a single parent so have to be available for the school run at 9am and 3pm and available at weekends. I do take my child with me on some weekends but it's hard for them to understand what's going on. In order to do the 35 hours without fail, I'd have to visit Nan 7 days per week. Plus she lives 30 miles from me, so the journey takes roughly an hour each way, and this would be nigh on impossible to achieve in the available time that I have. But that I would visit as often as I could, approx 20-25 hours per week (plus travel time).
Uncle said 'I wouldn't worry about that too much, we can overlook it in this instance, I'm just glad of the help'.
So, I claimed Carers Allowance and Income Support (plus SMI to help with my mortgage payments) and my uncle gave me the cost of my fuel plus an extra tenner per trip, just to help out. Not a whole lot but I didn't want to be taking Nan's hard earned cash unnecessarily (although she isn't short of a few bob, living in a 17th Century 4 bed cottage but even so, I'm not about ripping her off).
That was fine and all was going well until November 2012 when out of blue Uncle decided that he was 'no longer comfortable' with the fact that I don't do the full 35 hours per week and that I had to stop claiming the C.A. 'in case someone finds out'.
I explained that to do this would leave me short by about £50 per week and he said not to worry as he'll adjust it with what he gives me, so that I wouldn't be out of pocket. I wasn't happy with this as it meant that the £50 loss was coming out of Nan's money but felt that I had no option as it was clear he wasn't going to change his mind. I couldn't 'make out' I'd stopped claiming as when I stopped, it reinstated one of Nan's other benefits (Attendance Allowance maybe?) so he was keeping an eye out for info on that starting back up.
So I cancelled the CA and told the DWP the situation. The advisor (Who very rudely exclaimed 'God that's REALLY old!' when told my nan's age!) :mad: said that I was still entitled to I.S as I wasn't available for work. Great, I thought - at least I won't have to sign on and try to juggle caring around signing/job hunting etc.
Nov and Dec came and went and each time I saw Uncle he didn't quite pay me enough to cover my losses, I was about £20 per month down. I said nothing as he's not the most approachable at times, and soldiered on. (Weak, I know, but that's just me!)
Last week a letter from the DWP came telling me that on 31st Jan my IS and my SMI will stop. No explanation, nothing. I rang them and I explained that I'm not eligible for JSA as I can't look for work due to caring, and was told (by a right unhelpful b1tch of an advisor!) that it was basically hard luck, my nan will have to fend for herself and I have to claim JSA or get a job.
I asked why the I.S and SMI had stopped and she told me that they were given as an '8 week run on' and that 'surely I was told that back in November when I cancelled the CA?' I told her that it was the first I'd heard of it and that I keep EVERY letter I've ever received from them and none of them referred to it either. In fact my last I.S letter told me how much I'd get per week right up until Sept THIS year, so !!!!!! was she on about? Why would it say that info if I was only getting it for 8 weeks? Had I have known about it stopping then I'd have put a new plan in place to sort it.
I'm nearly done, bear with me!
So, I'm basically up the creek and so have had no option but to claim JSA and have my initial appt tomorrow at 11.30am. I could of course ask them tomorrow but it all depends on whether I get a helpful/knowledgeable advisor or not...
Can anyone advise whether I'm being told duff info somewhere? I appreciate that the CA claim was in effect 'false' as I didn't fully adhere to the rules, but there was a valid reason for it. All I was trying to do was help and I feel like it's been thrown back in my face. I gave up a good job (albeit P/T) to do this for my nan and am now in the !!!!, as is my nan.
No other family member is able to help her due to careers and distance and she isn't comfortable with strangers either, it upsets and unsettles her. She also doesn't want anyone other than me to help with bathing etc - surely her dignity should be respected here?
This is all very unfair IMO. I'm not adverse to getting a job, don't get me wrong, as I've worked since I was 13 (I'm nearly 40) but I don't want to - I want to care for nan until such time as she either needs professional care/care home or the inevitable happens.
I can just about manage on the JSA and SMI amounts, but that's not my main problem, (although is a big part of it). My problem is that I can't care for Nan AND actively look for/go to work.
I'm worried that if I go into the DWP tmw and tell them I can't be available to work due to caring that they'll refuse my claim and I'll get nothing. Equally though I can't say that I AM available when I'm not! My hours of visiting Nan vary depending on her needs - I'm hardly a flexible jobseeker!
I'm also worried about the SMI. Will I have to wait another 13 weeks for it to restart or can it just carry on, even though I'm on a 'new' benefit but it isn't exactly a new claim as such?
Sorry for waffling, there is heaps more but I've tried (and failed!:eek:) to condense it as much as poss!!!
Thanks for reading
0
Comments
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I don't understand your uncle's role in all this - it's not up to him what benefits you claim.0
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Can anyone advise whether I'm being told duff info somewhere? I appreciate that the CA claim was in effect 'false' as I didn't fully adhere to the rules, but there was a valid reason for it.
I stopped reading when I got to this ^^^^
You made a fraudulent claim for carer's allowance, by deliberately giving false information about the number of hours your were caring for your Nan, and now you are saying that there was a valid reason for your fraudulent declaration?I'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.0 -
Thats a long winded admittance to commiting fraud!....shorter version ' I know i have been commiting benefit fraud but the horrible people won't give me anymore money'
Hopefully see you on the court pages soon.0 -
Hi all,
Newbie here so be kind!
Sorry for the long post but it's a bit complicated. My 92 year old Nan has mild-moderate Vascular Dementia which was diagnosed in 2011. Her condition started to worsen a bit, to the extent where she could use some help at home every day with meals and personal care.
In January last year I had a chat with my uncle - her son (who has Power of Attorney) about the feasibility of me leaving my part time job and taking over the role of caring. We went through all of the options and decided that it was a good idea so I quit.
I made it perfectly clear that I couldn't guarantee to commit to the minimum 35 hours per week criteria for Carers Allowance, as I'm a single parent so have to be available for the school run at 9am and 3pm and available at weekends. I do take my child with me on some weekends but it's hard for them to understand what's going on. In order to do the 35 hours without fail, I'd have to visit Nan 7 days per week. Plus she lives 30 miles from me, so the journey takes roughly an hour each way, and this would be nigh on impossible to achieve in the available time that I have. But that I would visit as often as I could, approx 20-25 hours per week (plus travel time).
Uncle said 'I wouldn't worry about that too much, we can overlook it in this instance, I'm just glad of the help'.
So, I claimed Carers Allowance and Income Support (plus SMI to help with my mortgage payments) and my uncle gave me the cost of my fuel plus an extra tenner per trip, just to help out. Not a whole lot but I didn't want to be taking Nan's hard earned cash unnecessarily (although she isn't short of a few bob, living in a 17th Century 4 bed cottage but even so, I'm not about ripping her off).
That was fine and all was going well until November 2012 when out of blue Uncle decided that he was 'no longer comfortable' with the fact that I don't do the full 35 hours per week and that I had to stop claiming the C.A. 'in case someone finds out'.
I explained that to do this would leave me short by about £50 per week and he said not to worry as he'll adjust it with what he gives me, so that I wouldn't be out of pocket. I wasn't happy with this as it meant that the £50 loss was coming out of Nan's money but felt that I had no option as it was clear he wasn't going to change his mind. I couldn't 'make out' I'd stopped claiming as when I stopped, it reinstated one of Nan's other benefits (Attendance Allowance maybe?) so he was keeping an eye out for info on that starting back up.
So I cancelled the CA and told the DWP the situation. The advisor (Who very rudely exclaimed 'God that's REALLY old!' when told my nan's age!) :mad: said that I was still entitled to I.S as I wasn't available for work. Great, I thought - at least I won't have to sign on and try to juggle caring around signing/job hunting etc.
Nov and Dec came and went and each time I saw Uncle he didn't quite pay me enough to cover my losses, I was about £20 per month down. I said nothing as he's not the most approachable at times, and soldiered on. (Weak, I know, but that's just me!)
Last week a letter from the DWP came telling me that on 31st Jan my IS and my SMI will stop. No explanation, nothing. I rang them and I explained that I'm not eligible for JSA as I can't look for work due to caring, and was told (by a right unhelpful b1tch of an advisor!) that it was basically hard luck, my nan will have to fend for herself and I have to claim JSA or get a job.
I asked why the I.S and SMI had stopped and she told me that they were given as an '8 week run on' and that 'surely I was told that back in November when I cancelled the CA?' I told her that it was the first I'd heard of it and that I keep EVERY letter I've ever received from them and none of them referred to it either. In fact my last I.S letter told me how much I'd get per week right up until Sept THIS year, so !!!!!! was she on about? Why would it say that info if I was only getting it for 8 weeks? Had I have known about it stopping then I'd have put a new plan in place to sort it.
I'm nearly done, bear with me!
So, I'm basically up the creek and so have had no option but to claim JSA and have my initial appt tomorrow at 11.30am. I could of course ask them tomorrow but it all depends on whether I get a helpful/knowledgeable advisor or not...
Can anyone advise whether I'm being told duff info somewhere? I appreciate that the CA claim was in effect 'false' as I didn't fully adhere to the rules, but there was a valid reason for it. All I was trying to do was help and I feel like it's been thrown back in my face. I gave up a good job (albeit P/T) to do this for my nan and am now in the !!!!, as is my nan.
No other family member is able to help her due to careers and distance and she isn't comfortable with strangers either, it upsets and unsettles her. She also doesn't want anyone other than me to help with bathing etc - surely her dignity should be respected here?
This is all very unfair IMO. I'm not adverse to getting a job, don't get me wrong, as I've worked since I was 13 (I'm nearly 40) but I don't want to - I want to care for nan until such time as she either needs professional care/care home or the inevitable happens.
I can just about manage on the JSA and SMI amounts, but that's not my main problem, (although is a big part of it). My problem is that I can't care for Nan AND actively look for/go to work.
I'm worried that if I go into the DWP tmw and tell them I can't be available to work due to caring that they'll refuse my claim and I'll get nothing. Equally though I can't say that I AM available when I'm not! My hours of visiting Nan vary depending on her needs - I'm hardly a flexible jobseeker!
I'm also worried about the SMI. Will I have to wait another 13 weeks for it to restart or can it just carry on, even though I'm on a 'new' benefit but it isn't exactly a new claim as such?
Sorry for waffling, there is heaps more but I've tried (and failed!:eek:) to condense it as much as poss!!!
Thanks for reading
You want benefits to pay your way but you don't actually meet the criteria of caring for your nan?
:cool:Be happy, it's the greatest wealth0 -
Jeez, I knew I shouldn't have bothered...
I haven't claimed benefits before so wasn't aware it was such a 'big deal' when I first applied for the CA. My Uncle actually works for the Govt and it was him who said to turn a blind eye to it all, which is what I did. Although I wasn't present in my nan's house for 35 hours per week if you include the travelling time then it amounts to beyond that time.
The role he plays (thanks for your question Dunroamin) is that he is in charge of Nan's finances and in order to get CA, Nan had to cease getting A.A, which he sorts out for her. He also pays me my fuel for going there, which is about £15 per trip.
I didn't HAVE to mention the CA, I just wanted to be up front about it all. My main question is regarding whether or not I'm entitled to any other benefit other than JSA as I don't really meet the criteria for that now either.
I'd appreciate less of the 'fraud' remarks. I came here for help, not comments from the 'holier than thou' brigade. I don't get CA anymore so it's not relevant. I'm pretty sure that the majority of you haven't adhered to every rule in life and have turned a blind eye to certain things... :mad:0 -
Jeez, I knew I shouldn't have bothered...
I haven't claimed benefits before so wasn't aware it was such a 'big deal' when I first applied for the CA. My Uncle actually works for the Govt and it was him who said to turn a blind eye to it all, which is what I did. Although I wasn't present in my nan's house for 35 hours per week if you include the travelling time then it amounts to beyond that time.
The role he plays (thanks for your question Dunroamin) is that he is in charge of Nan's finances and in order to get CA, Nan had to cease getting A.A, which he sorts out for her. He also pays me my fuel for going there, which is about £15 per trip.
I didn't HAVE to mention the CA, I just wanted to be up front about it all. My main question is regarding whether or not I'm entitled to any other benefit other than JSA as I don't really meet the criteria for that now either.
I'd appreciate less of the 'fraud' remarks. I came here for help, not comments from the 'holier than thou' brigade. I don't get CA anymore so it's not relevant. I'm pretty sure that the majority of you haven't adhered to every rule in life and have turned a blind eye to certain things... :mad:
Did you declare the extra £15 to the IS department?Be happy, it's the greatest wealth0 -
welshmoneylover wrote: »Did you declare the extra £15 to the IS department?
They didn't ask me about it. I don't get your point. I haven't made money from it, it comes from my uncle's pocket and it is exactly what I spend. He just reimburses the cost.
I can't get there on fresh air and can't afford to pay it out of my own pocket. I also would love nothing more than to care for her for free but haven't an endless pot of money to do so.
Should I have just shoved her in a home then?0 -
in order to get CA, Nan had to cease getting A.A, which he sorts out for her.
Getting AA is a pre-requisite for getting carer's allowance.
Unless you have a child under 5, or are disabled yourself, carer's allowance is a pre-requisite for getting IS.
IS (or JSA (IR) is a pre-requisite for mortgage relief.
As for "I haven't claimed benefits before so wasn't aware it was such a 'big deal' when I first applied for the CA"
The WARNING on the form that if you "make a false statement or withhold information, you may be prosecuted leading to a fine, a prison term or both" should have alerted you to the fact that what you were doing was illegal, surely?I'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.0 -
-
Believe what you like - they didn't and haven't asked me about it. If you read the post about the IS advisor you wouldn't be surprised by this at all. I still don't see what relevance it has anyway? It's not extra income as it just covered my fuel costs.welshmoneylover wrote: »Somehow, I find this difficult to believe.0
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