Does supervising someone at night time count towards 35 hours caring?

needmorehelp

Hi folks,

I have a partner who gets DLA middle rate care, she has extremely poor hearing but has to take both of her aids out at night to prevent infection.

If smoke alarm was to go off in bedroom she would not hear it.

My question is would my night time care (as I would hear smoke alarm) count towards carers allowance 35 hours a week care, even though I would obviously be asleep myself a good part of the time, but in case of emergency would be able to provide the necessary care?

Incidentally I do get dla middle rate myself for various problems such as poor eyesight (which my partner helps me with) So in a way her eyes help me whereas my hearing helps her.

In a case like this is it possible for one of us to apply for carers allowance, or in some cases is it acceptable for both people to apply for carers allowance, or would such an application NOT be looked on favourably by the DWP?

Thank you.

Tigsteroonie

It is possible for partners, both on DLA, to claim CA for looking after each other - if the disabilities are complementary in that way. You will find some that frown upon it, but it is permitted.

Torry_Quine

needmorehelp wrote: »

Hi folks,

I have a partner who gets DLA middle rate care, she has extremely poor hearing but has to take both of her aids out at night to prevent infection.

If smoke alarm was to go off in bedroom she would not hear it.

My question is would my night time care (as I would hear smoke alarm) count towards carers allowance 35 hours a week care, even though I would obviously be asleep myself a good part of the time, but in case of emergency would be able to provide the necessary care?

Incidentally I do get dla middle rate myself for various problems such as poor eyesight (which my partner helps me with) So in a way her eyes help me whereas my hearing helps her.

In a case like this is it possible for one of us to apply for carers allowance, or in some cases is it acceptable for both people to apply for carers allowance, or would such an application NOT be looked on favourably by the DWP?

Thank you.

It is normal to take out hearing aids at night.

If all you would need is to alert her at night in the event of a fire or other emergency then I doubt very much that would count as it's not a regular thing. There are smoke alarms which vibrate and are placed under the pillow, contact your local fire-brigade for help.

needmorehelp

Torry_Quine wrote: »

It is normal to take out hearing aids at night.

If all you would need is to alert her at night in the event of a fire or other emergency then I doubt very much that would count as it's not a regular thing. There are smoke alarms which vibrate and are placed under the pillow, contact your local fire-brigade for help.

Thank you very much for that information, I wasn't aware I could get them.

During the day as well its common for us to help each other all the time, if she doesn't hear something such as someone calling her or I don't see something we help each other all the time.

Great info about the smoke alarms, we will certainly look into that.