Care Allowance How Will It Affect Housing And Council Tax Benefit

the_greed

My elderly mum claims attendance allowance as she has very bad sight. I live down the road from her and do the necessary tasks, like shopping and basically look after her. I spend every day with her for a good number of hours. She wants me to claim carers allowance for her but I don't know. My husband is in receipt of incapacity benefit, DLA and industrial injuries benefit. Our income is made up with the pension credit guarantee as my husband is over sixty. We receive full housing benefit and pay a small amount of council tax. I have no income at all. If I were to apply for carers allowance (I think it is something like £48) does anybody know how this will affect housing benefit and council tax benefit. I know that my husband will lose the pension credit guarantee but I don't know if the £48 carers allowance will be used to pay rent and more council tax. I was just wondering if it is worth me claiming. I don't want my the £48 to be cancelled out altogether if the whole lot is used to pay rent and council tax, if you see what I mean. Any advise would be appreciated

Hapless_2

it will give a premium to housing benefit and council tax benefit not decrease it.

the_greed

Sorry I am a bit thick does that mean that my council tax will be reduced. We already receive full housing benefit so I take it that will not be affected. Also if circumstances change in the future in that I do not receive carers allowance will my husband get his pension credit guarantee back?

real1314

Hold on a sec.

Does your mum live on her own? If she does, does she get Pension Credit Guarantee Credit?

Cos if that's the case, she should be getting a Severe Disability Premium as part of that, which she would lose if anyone got Carers Allowance for her. As they are both the same rate, it may be financially detrimental to claim it overall.

You need to check the impact on her benefits as well as yours.

However, for you, your income would go up by about £45 a week, but your income allowance would also increase by about £25 a week, leaving you with £45 more income but only £20 approx of that would be looked at by HB / CTB, and for HB they would then apply a 65% taper, meaning you'd lose about £13 of HB for £45 income.

the_greed

My mum lives with my dad, he cannot claim carers allowance because his income is over the amount I think, he is 79 and my mum is 77. She only receives attendance allowance. Will that be affected if I claim carers allowance. Is it worth it for me to claim?

real1314

You should be ok to claim Carers Allowance (CA) then, she won't be getting the Sev Dis Prem.
He can't get CA as he (presumably) get his state pension?

Assuming your partner gets Pension Credit Guarantee Credit (PC-GC), you'll get approx £45 extra as CA, but this would come off your/partners Pension Credit, but they will allow you an extra £25 "Carers Premium", leaving you £20 better off.

If after those figure are applied he stil gets some PC-GC, your HB and CTB will not be affected (didn't read your OP thoroughly enough last time).

If he then doesn't get any PC-GC, your HB/CTB may be affected, but it should be by less than the extra £20 a week you should have (may be a large chunk of it though).

diddlydum

Hapless, there are no premiums on housing benefit/council tax benefit, and certainly not for being a carer.

Greed, if you/your partner are on guaranteed pension credit, then if you become a carer you will get an extra premium of about £27. Your carer's allowance (about £48pw) will be deducted from this extra amount, which means that if you receive less than £20pw GPC then you will lose that entitlement. You will receive savings PC, but you will lose full housing benefit and council tax benefit.

If you receive more than £20pw GPC then your housing benefit/council tax benefit won't be affected.

If you want to know the exact figures, use entitledto.co.uk or give CLS Direct a call on 0845 345 4345, who'll be able to run through the figures with you.

the_greed

Thanks to all. Sorry for not replying sooner but have been busy. At the moment my husband receives about £29 in pension credits to make up the income. How will carers allowance affect this? Have looked at entitled to but I don't quite understand it. Sorry I am a bit thick. I understand guaranteed pension credit but I am lost when it comes to pension savings credit. Also when I go through the calculator there is a box which states carers allowance without payment, what does that mean and why would anybody awarded carers allowance not get anything.

the_greed

God I am thick, when calculating my entitlement did not put the amount of full rent and council tax that I would pay if I did not get a rebate, therefore result was all to !!!!. Now having sussed it out, if it is reliable, I will be £27 per week better off. Though do not know if this is reliable or not. I have applied for the care allowance but if I am going to be worse off I will just change circumstances and not bother claiming the care allowance.

real1314

diddlydum wrote: »

Hapless, there are no premiums on housing benefit/council tax benefit, and certainly not for being a carer.

Greed, if you/your partner are on guaranteed pension credit, then if you become a carer you will get an extra premium of about £27. Your carer's allowance (about £48pw) will be deducted from this extra amount, which means that if you receive less than £20pw GPC then you will lose that entitlement. You will receive savings PC, but you will lose full housing benefit and council tax benefit.

If you receive more than £20pw GPC then your housing benefit/council tax benefit won't be affected.

If you want to know the exact figures, use entitledto.co.uk or give CLS Direct a call on 0845 345 4345, who'll be able to run through the figures with you.

Erm, HB and CTB use pretty much the same premiums as Pension Credit do to work out an applicable amount.
If the OP ends up with no "GPC" the council will work look ta the income that has taken them over the GPC amount (+ some part of the SPC) and taper that by 65%.

i.e if they currently only get £1 a week GPC, the extra £48 Carers Allowance, would take them off GPC (even allowing the £27 Carer Premium). For HB the extra £48 would be offset against a Carer Premium of £27, and the £1 GPC they would have got, leaving a net income of £20 above their applicable amount.
This would result in a drop in HB of £13.00 weekly, leaving them £7 a week better off. CTB would drop by £4 (I think - don't work on CTB much), leaving £3 overall.
This is only IF GPC is no longer payable though.