Wrong advice given. Help.

HG1

Hello

When my dad took early retirement to help care for myself and my mother we were told by phone that his private pension stopped him from being able to claim carers allowance. Nearly seven years on ive learned that this may not be the case and private pensions are not counted. So we have applied. We have really struggled financially as because he retired early his pension was half what was expected. He gets is state pension in a year so will lose carers allowance (if hes even awarded it!). Is it possible to get the money he should have been paid all along?

Many thanks
Hannah

poppy12345

HG1 wrote: »

Hello

When my dad took early retirement to help care for myself and my mother we were told by phone that his private pension stopped him from being able to claim carers allowance. Nearly seven years on ive learned that this may not be the case and private pensions are not counted. So we have applied. We have really struggled financially as because he retired early his pension was half what was expected. He gets is state pension in a year so will lose carers allowance (if hes even awarded it!). Is it possible to get the money he should have been paid all along?

Many thanks
Hannah

Private pensions are not counted when claiming Carers Allowance. No, he won't be able to claim the money for those 7 years because no claim was made.

TELLIT01

It's highly unlikely that any telephone recording of the conversation from 7 years ago still exists, so the likelihood of being able to prove that you were wrongly advised is very small. You could try calling CA to see if any recording may still exist, but you would need to be able to give a pretty accurate timeframe for them to be able to search. The big problem with finding such a recording, if it does potentially exist, is that there is going to be nothing 'on file' regarding a potential claim.
It's something you might want to take up with your local MP to see if they can help in any way. I disagree with poppy that it wouldn't be able to claim anything because there is no claim. If it was possible to prove that a claim hadn't been made because of wrong advice by DWP/CA there might be some form of claim against them. I don't put it any stronger than 'might'.

pmlindyloo

Who told you that his private pension would stop him claiming Carer's Allowance?

Also, has your family as individuals had a benefit check to see if you are claiming all that you are entitled to?

HG1

Thankyou for the responses. It was the DWP that said he couldnt claim and the Job centre said we couldnt claim anything further. So had the information from two departments. We have put in a claim and a complaint. If nothing else it might help raise awareness within their departments and stop it happening to someone else!....dont laugh! Im living in hope!

poppy12345

This won't be the first time DWP or the job centre have given people the wrong advice. Had you gone elsewhere at the time for further advice then you would have likely been told it was possible to claim and your dad would have claimed successfully.

sheramber

Carers Allowance is taxable so, if it is awarded check to see if he will be due to pay tax on his pension plus the carers allowance.

TELLIT01

poppy12345 wrote: »

This won't be the first time DWP or the job centre have given people the wrong advice. Had you gone elsewhere at the time for further advice then you would have likely been told it was possible to claim and your dad would have claimed successfully.

Hindsight is a perfect science isn't it. If you don't have much experience of the benefit system, and somebody who should know the system tells you that you can't claim, you would generally believe them and not go off asking somebody else.

custardy

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Hindsight is a perfect science isn't it. If you don't have much experience of the benefit system, and somebody who should know the system tells you that you can't claim, you would generally believe them and not go off asking somebody else.

Totally agree.
If I was to claim tomorrow,I wouldn't have a clue what was available/required of me.
It should be the case they are the 'experts' giving clear & accurate advice.

sammyjammy

Its really unfortunate that two areas of DWP told you this, just wanted to point out people that work in Jobcentres shouldn't be giving out benefit advice to anyone, they are not trained in detailed benefit knowledge, particularly the lesser claimed ones. I do wish that DWP would make it clear to staff that they should not be giving out this sort of advice unless firstly it is their job to do so and secondly they are sure of their facts. It happens so much and as a member of staff in DWP it drives me mad.

sportsarb

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Hindsight is a perfect science isn't it. If you don't have much experience of the benefit system, and somebody who should know the system tells you that you can't claim, you would generally believe them and not go off asking somebody else.

Having worked frontline and back office, I would always check something I’m told by people like me with multiple sources, the amount of misinformation bandied about as fact is appalling

That said, I can understand why someone who doesn’t know how bad things are would tend to believe what they’re told, there’s a severe lack of good training