Advice re Carers Allowance Please

KnittaPlease

Hello,


My mum claims DLA, of which she gets a care component. I have increasingly had to care for her at home, doing all housework, cooking, all shopping, gardening and even helping her bathe as she struggles to climb in and out of the bath.


I am not currently well myself, recovering from a severe breakdown last year, and am currently living off ESA which amounts to £125 per week, and it is a big struggle.


Not only am I struggling with my own illness, but I really think that any return to work on my part will be detrimental to her as she will be severely limited.




She believes that we cannot claim Carer's Allowance for looking after her due to this care component that she receives in her DLA, and that if I make a claim, her DLA will be reduced. I'm getting quite desperate! Does anyone know if this is true?

shegirl

No, claiming carers allowance for someone doesn't have any baring on their DLA. I believe it's attendance allowance it can affect, but I'm not sure if that's right.

Brighty

Don't believe so, quite the opposite. The DLA is for your mum, the CA is for you. To qualify for CA, your mum needs to receiving mid or high rate care component of DLA, low won't qualify. Also, you need to spend a min of 35hrs a week caring for her to qualify, and can't earn more than £110 a week.
Don't think though that you can get CA and ESA, it's one or the other

Brighty

TELLIT01

If receiving ESA (IR), the Carers Allowance is taken fully into account but a Carers Premium of about £35 per week is then added. Sometimes people think they lose benefit by getting CA but the reality is a net gain of £35 per week over the ESA payment.

billywilly

TELLIT01 wrote: »

If receiving ESA (IR), the Carers Allowance is taken fully into account but a Carers Premium of about £35 per week is then added. Sometimes people think they lose benefit by getting CA but the reality is a net gain of £35 per week over the ESA payment.

And the DWP might well want to investigate how someone is that ill is able to care for 35 hours + a week?

nannytone_2

[a lot depends on the benefits you mum receives.
if she gets middle or high rate care DLA you can claim Carers Allowance.
but if she lives alone and receives any other means tested benefit, she may lose up to £62 a week if someone claims CA for looking after her.
without the full information, no one can advise you with any certainty.

shegirl ... attendance allowance is treated the same as DLA and not reduced because of a CA claim.
it is only the means tested premiums that are affected/B]

TELLIT01

billywilly wrote: »

And the DWP might well want to investigate how someone is that ill is able to care for 35 hours + a week?

It is not uncommon, nor a crime, for somebody in receipt of benefits to be caring for another person. When both parties live in the same property it is very easy to clock up 35 hours caring per week. It is only 5 hours per day.
As long as the questions asked for each of the relevant benefit claims were answered truthfully there is absolutely no reason to worry about a DWP investigation.

tea-bag

billywilly wrote: »

And the DWP might well want to investigate how someone is that ill is able to care for 35 hours + a week?

This has been a scandal for years couples get themselves on DLA and ESA then claim carers for each other it is the perfect maximising you can get.

billywilly

TELLIT01 wrote: »

It is not uncommon, nor a crime, for somebody in receipt of benefits to be caring for another person. When both parties live in the same property it is very easy to clock up 35 hours caring per week. It is only 5 hours per day.
As long as the questions asked for each of the relevant benefit claims were answered truthfully there is absolutely no reason to worry about a DWP investigation.

There would be if the DWP considered it almost impossible depending on what each party claims to suffer from in the way of disabling symptoms.
It is 35+ hours EXTRA a week (over and above the normal hours of providing care, support and encouragement).

Mt wife cares for me a lot more than 5 hours a day and yes I am disabled through both a mental condition as well as a physical one.
The DWP would certainly query any claim for CA that we could make as we find it difficult looking after ourselves never mind anyone else.

billywilly

tea-bag wrote: »

This has been a scandal for years couples get themselves on DLA and ESA then claim carers for each other it is the perfect maximising you can get.

I know, I have seen many examples of the 'blind leading the blind'!
A CA claim should be on the same basis as a PIP one with evidence needed to prove the claim.
At the moment all you have to do is say that you do provide a min of 35 hours a week and the cared for person has to confirm that they receive this level of care. Who in their right mind is going to say otherwise?
Hopefully this will be looked at by the government.

Sam_Fallow

For carer's allowance you need to be a full time carer (35+ hours a week). for this you will receive £62.10 per week. You will (probably) lose your ESA but the difference will be made up with Income support.

The only upside to this is that you will no longer have to justify yourself to ESA.

It can be a complicated area so read more here

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