carers allowance / attendance allowance ?

metrobus

Lady next door has been looking after her mother for a few years.

Her mother gets lower level attendance allowance the daughter
claims no benefits at all and is living of a small amount of savings
and rent/utility free(mother owns the house).

I have told her she may be entitled to carers allowance but she is
afraid her mother will lose her attendance allowance if she does.

will this be the case?

nannytone_2

no, the mother wont lose her attendance allowance, and as tgthey live together she wont be receiving a severe disability premium, which would be lost if the mother were living alone.

so she should claim carers allowance as long as she is giving at least 35 hours a week of care

satarical

metrobus wrote: »

Lady next door has been looking after her mother for a few years.

Her mother gets lower level attendance allowance the daughter
claims no benefits at all and is living of a small amount of savings
and rent/utility free(mother owns the house).

I have told her she may be entitled to carers allowance but she is
afraid her mother will lose her attendance allowance if she does.

will this be the case?

You would be surprised how many genuine carers of this type are never paid Carers Allowance even though they are entitled to it. The reason you give is quite the normal reaction - loss of AA.

Around a third of all pensioner households entitled to Pension Credit are
not claiming it (1.3 million households).
Two-fifths of all pensioner households entitled to Council Tax Benefit are
not claiming it (1.7 million households).

Indeed, many also do not claim Pension Credit or other low income/age related benefits.

There is an undercurrent in this country that if you are asking 'what am I entitled to' you are slammed as a scrounger and a leech.

What I would do is either get hold of the DWP' Pension/Carers visiting team who will come out to her and see what she should be claiming and missing out of. Aternatively, go and see Age UK.

It just isn't right that us 'oldies' are left behind in the benefit claiming race just because we sometimes don't know what we are entitled to.
If you want to see what is happening in the real world, spend 10 mins outside the local jobcentre just to see who is claiming these benefits. You won't see a pensioner in sight!

Mojisola

nannytone wrote: »

no, the mother wont lose her attendance allowance, and as tgthey live together she wont be receiving a severe disability premium, which would be lost if the mother were living alone.

A carer can't claim CA unless the person they are caring for is receiving AA (or DLA care at middle or high rate or a couple of other benefits).

It's strange how persistent some of these myths are.

nannytone_2

attendance allowance only has 2 rates, and carers allowance can be claimed for either rate as long as the criteria fpr CA is met

metrobus

Mojisola wrote: »

A carer can't claim CA unless the person they are caring for is receiving AA (or DLA care at middle or high rate or a couple of other benefits).

It's strange how persistent some of these myths are.

what is the myth you refer to ?

Its very clear a carer can claim if the person being cared for is on either level
of AA. But that was not the question.

Mojisola

metrobus wrote: »

she is
afraid her mother will lose her attendance allowance if she does.

metrobus wrote: »

what is the myth you refer to ?

One - that people lose their AA when someone claims CA for looking after them.

Another one - that people on a pension can't claim CA - they can. They won't get the full amount but, depending on their other income, they may get an "underlying entitlement" to CA.

Another one - that people have to stop claiming DLA when they reach 65 and start claiming AA instead. Anyone who has been getting DLA for mobility needs who does this will lose money that they could have kept claiming.

Another one - you can't claim HB if you're renting from a family member. Providing the rental isn't contrived, you can.

metrobus

why have you quoted nannytones comments

then refer to "myths"

nannytone_2

with respect .... none of the above things were mentioned in your previous post.
you just fropped the word 'myth' in from nowhere.

what you did say though, was that you cant claim carers allowance unless you get mid or high rate AA ( the op already stated that the mother gets lower rate AA)

this is untrue as both levels of AA entitle a carer to CA as long as the other criteria are met

Mojisola

metrobus wrote: »

why have you quoted nannytones comments

then refer to "myths"

nannytone wrote: »

no, the mother wont lose her attendance allowance, and as tgthey live together she wont be receiving a severe disability premium, which would be lost if the mother were living alone.

so she should claim carers allowance as long as she is giving at least 35 hours a week of care

Because I was agreeing with nannytone's post that the mother wouldn't lose her AA and then making a separate point that people do get told that they will - that's the myth.

Mojisola

nannytone wrote: »

what you did say though, was that you cant claim carers allowance unless you get mid or high rate AA ( the op already stated that the mother gets lower rate AA)

Mojisola wrote: »

A carer can't claim CA unless the person they are caring for is receiving AA (or DLA care at middle or high rate or a couple of other benefits)./QUOTE]

No, I didn't.