Advice on DLA and Carers Allowance

Sunshine_and_Roses

My Dad is 83 years old, cannot walk unaided, has vascular dementia and recently come out of hospital after suffering a stroke. My mum who is 80 is caring for him at home with help from the family and carers coming in a couple of times a day (temp measure to get him home).

I have been going through their finances, as we need to look at paying for carers in the future, and possibly care home though we hope it will not come to that. Mum says she gets carers allowance but I cannot see this on their bank statements. Dad gets DLA of £234 a month, plus his state pension and a company pension. Mum gets state pension of £330 a month and a small company pension from when she worked part time.

Can you claim carers allowance and DLA together, or is it one or the other? They have a car provided by the mobility scheme, don't know whether this affects the benefits they receive.

I will be phoning DSS/DLA next week but could do with some help so I have some background knowledge. Thanks for any help.

anmarj

It can be claimed together, but once somebody reaches state pension age, it becomes underlying entitlement. This is because the state pension is more than carers allowance. This means no payment is made.

https://www.carerssupportcentre.org.uk/help-and-advice/money-and-benefits/welfare-benefits/carers-allowance-and-carers-credit/

Fire_Fox

Slightly off topic but useful I hope ... do you have both types of Power of Attorney in place for (ideally both) parents? Property and finance, health and welfare.

That would mean you could act both informally, as you are now, and formally. It does not mean 'taking over', just easier to deal with banks and benefits agencies.

My aunt has vascular dementia and PoAs were set up just in time, whilst she still had capacity. She was so relieved to hand certain money matters to her Attorneys.

Sorry if not new information!

Sunshine_and_Roses

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Slightly off topic but useful I hope ... do you have both types of Power of Attorney in place for (ideally both) parents? Property and finance, health and welfare.

That would mean you could act both informally, as you are now, and formally. It does not mean 'taking over', just easier to deal with banks and benefits agencies.

My aunt has vascular dementia and PoAs were set up just in time, whilst she still had capacity. She was so relieved to hand certain money matters to her Attorneys.

Sorry if not new information!

I have POA for both parents, but only financial. I have had this for about 5 years as Dad was so confused having to give permission to banks etc for me to speak on his behalf. I do not have medical POA, and think I have left it a bit too late for that now due to capacity.

I have been told to be very careful what I do regarding switching their money between accounts as I could be questioned by Social Services if their savings dropped too much. I have taken so much advice from this site in the past, and they have a joint account with Santander and Dad has his current account with them too. Mum is so worried about spending any money at all now due to all the scare stories which is very sad.

Sunshine_and_Roses

anmarj wrote: »

It can be claimed together, but once somebody reaches state pension age, it becomes underlying entitlement. This is because the state pension is more than carers allowance. This means no payment is made.

https://www.carerssupportcentre.org.uk/help-and-advice/money-and-benefits/welfare-benefits/carers-allowance-and-carers-credit/

That's really opened my eyes about benefits. They are lucky that their mortgage is paid off so they do not have to pay rent, but they still have council tax (looking into reduction due to dementia) and utilities, food, fuel etc. If they have to pay for carers on their pensions then their savings will go down rapidly - no more holidays which they have worked so hard for

calcotti

anmarj wrote: »

It can be claimed together, but once somebody reaches state pension age, it becomes underlying entitlement. This is because the state pension is more than carers allowance. This means no payment is made.

https://www.carerssupportcentre.org.uk/help-and-advice/money-and-benefits/welfare-benefits/carers-allowance-and-carers-credit/

Adding to this reply. Claiming Carer’s Allowance as a pensioner creates an ‘underlying entitlement’ to CA. This increases entitlement to means tested benefits such as Pension Credit and Council Tax Reduction. However as parents both have private pensions as well as their state pensions there income may be too high to qualify for any means tested benefits even with a carer addition.

OP, if their income is less than £292.10/week (equivalent to £1265/month) there will be an entitlement to Pension Credit (unless a deduction is due because of savings over £10,000) if the carer addition is included. Ignore the DLA when working out their income for Pension Credit purposes. I assume mother is not receiving a disability benefit (DLA, PIP or Attendance Allowance), if she is then the Pension Credit threshold would be £386.95 if there are no other adults living with them.

If there is any entitlement to guarantee Pension Credit they would be entitled to maximum Council Tax Reduction which could cover their complete Council Tax liability.

Sunshine_and_Roses

Thank you, that has given me lots of info to base my phone calls on. Really appreciate it.

Fire_Fox

clareski wrote: »

I have POA for both parents, but only financial. I have had this for about 5 years as Dad was so confused having to give permission to banks etc for me to speak on his behalf. I do not have medical POA, and think I have left it a bit too late for that now due to capacity.

I have been told to be very careful what I do regarding switching their money between accounts as I could be questioned by Social Services if their savings dropped too much. I have taken so much advice from this site in the past, and they have a joint account with Santander and Dad has his current account with them too. Mum is so worried about spending any money at all now due to all the scare stories which is very sad.

That is sad. Your mother should be comfortable spending what they worked hard for.

Of course the powers-that-be can ask, but in itself that is nothing to be scared of. Keep accounts fairly simple and clear for your own confidence and sanity.

If there is a history of savings falling steadily that is reasonable. OR if there is a steep change, that coincides with needing to spend more on X and Y that is reasonable too.

When my aunt with dementia was still at home, she was regularly driven to M&S for food :eek: even though she had depleted her savings in retirement. My aunt was comfortable in the quieter shop with the smaller choice of ready meals, but overwhelmed in a proper supermarket. Any challenges the two Attorneys would have backed one another to the hilt.

People who actually cheat the system are rarely as smart as they think. Those of us who don't have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. I hope there is not too much stress on your head.