Carers allowance

BudgetBrain

Hi
My 17 year old child who gets PIP went into mental health hospital 18 months ago when she was 16. I claim carers allowance.

I have continued to claim carers allowance as I still care for her. I am on call 24/7, I have to attend meetings for her, go to A&E if she attempts suicide.
I didnt inform DWP as I thought as I was still caring for her it was ok to keep claiming. I do far more than 35 hours per week travelling to see her, the meetings, phone calls with the unit etc. And she gets home leave too.
Now the DWP are threatening me with prosecution. As well as having to deal with my daughters ongoing ill health I am worried sick about the DWP.
Does anyone have experience of this?
Thanks.

NeilCr

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/carers-allowance/

https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/financial-support/help-with-benefits/carers-allowance

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Going-into-Hospital-and-benefits/Benefits-that-stop-being-paid-if-you-go-into-hospi#guide-content

The rules on PIP and CA in hospital and care home are different for over and under 18s.

Has the daily living component of your daughter's PIP stopped?

What exactly are the DWP saying. Are they saying that you aren't actually providing care? Or that your daughters PIP daily living has stopped so CA is not claimable?

I see you asked some questions about your daughter and benefits a while back. At the time you were having problems getting to see CAB. This could be quite complicated and I think face to face advice would be the best way forward. Have you tried CAB again?

Alternatively CarersUK should be able to help

https://www.carersuk.org/

huckster

I would think you have received a letter from DWP compliance, where they are saying that it appears you have not reported a change in circumstances. They are therefore looking into this matter, to see what actions are required.

Quite often, where a claimant fails to report a change in circumstances, which would have meant that a benefit claim was closed or reduced, DWP will deal with this as an overpayment. They then may decide to add a civil penalty to the amount of overpayment. The amount owed would then be repayable over a period of time, with a deduction from future benefits if required.

If this matter is about your daughter not living with you most of the time for a period, as she was in Hospital, therefore you were not providing care for her for 35 hours a week. I would suggest that you write out full details of a typical week, where you were travelling to the Hospital, how much time you spent at the Hospital, other time dealing with issues and amount of time your daughter was at home. So DWP can see that you might have been spending 35 hours a week caring for daughter, even though she was mostly in Hospital. If the Hospital can also help by providing a letter, explaining the role of the parent in this situation and any details they have, such as hours your daughter was out of the Hospital with you at your home, that would also be helpful.

Gather as much information as you can and provide this to DWP, so it can be taken into account.

calcotti

Regardless of how this immediate issue works out please be aware that once your daughter turns 18 payment of any Daily Living part of PIP will stop after 28 days while she is in hospital. I don't know whether because she has already been in hospital it will stop on her 18th birthday or 28 days after that. When payment of the PIP stops you will not be entitled to continue to receive CA.
She will retain her entitlement to the PIP award which means that if she is able to be discharged you will simply have to tell DWP and the PIP payments will result (and you will then be eligible to receive CA again).

Alice_Holt

Another link:
https://contact.org.uk/advice-and-support/benefits-financial-help/benefits-and-tax-credits/payment-of-disability-living-allowance-for-a-child-in-hospital/

Since your daughter remains eligible for PIP (as she is under 18), I also presume the DWP are questioning the 35 hrs condition. Huckster's suggestion to document the time in caring for your daughter is a good one.

I presume any self-employed earnings are below the £123 weekly earnings limit, and this is not at issue?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6052691/self-employed
If you have earnings over £123 for any week (even by 10p), then no CA is payable for that week.
Are you receiving UC, and what earnings have you declared via UC?

I would second NeilCr's suggestion to see if your local advice agency can help, if the DWP prove difficult (on a point of judgement around care given and 35 hrs) you can ask a tribunal to look at their decision to check if the DWP decision is correct or incorrect. Your local Citizens Advice should be able to guide you through this appeal process.

BudgetBrain

thanks everyone for the replies. My D was admitted into a hospital 150 miles away so the travelling and care for her definately exceeded 35 hours per week. She recently transferred to a hospital nearer to home so travelling not so much but still the care for her was 35+ a week as I still attend meetings for her, am the nearest relative, attend A&E as required, attend CPR meetings, do her laundry, take her out at weekends, I am on call 24/7 for the hospital to call me if my D needs me in a crisis. I also attend training courses to enable me to provide better support for my D such as DBT therapy, attend EHCP meetings.
My D turns 18 next January and am aware that the rules will change for her then.
I did get a full time job recently but after 2 months had to give notice as I couldn't juggle my job and be on call for my D.

calcotti

BudgetBrain wrote: »

I did get a full time job recently but after 2 months had to give notice

Were you earning over the weekly threshold of £123 - for a full time job I would expect you to be. If you were you had no entitlement to Carer's Allowance at that time. If you were still getting CA it may well be that DWP have become aware that you were employed and that this is what has prompted their current action.

BudgetBrain

I am in receipt of UC and have declared everything. I was getting CA but that stopped when I got full time job and they are in process of reinstating it.
With regards the 35 hours rule, I do far more than that. A night in A&E, a trip to the hospital far exceeds these hours, visits, doing her washing etc at home
When I am working out the number of hours do i calculate the meetings I have had to attend discussing the concerns at the hospital? My D wouldn't be in these meetings it was me and the management. Also I have meetings and communications with her community team regularly too.
In December I have to go to London as the CQC want to speak about restraint use in hospital settings, they are inviting families whose children have subjected to restraint. Would you consider I can put that down as part of my 35 hours?
the daily living part of PIP has not stopped.
DWP wrote and said they are reassessing D and her needs, then I got a phone call from DWP about my f/t job and me being a carer. During the time of working f/t I didn't claim any benefits at all so wasn't sure why the phone call. the DWP staff member said they need to investigate and I was to send my salary advice slips in which I did. This really confused me as during my employment the only benefit i received was Child Benefit every Monday. I paid my full rent and council tax. My D continued to get her PIP that I use for her either buying her what she wants/needs (clothing, toiletries, therapy items etc) or transferring it to the hospital account for D to access there such as going out to local shop,cinema, take aways etc.

BudgetBrain

Yes I was earning over the threshold but didn't claim CA during that time. I didn't claim any benefits such as housing, council tax. I paid everything from my salary

calcotti

https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/financial-support/help-with-benefits/carers-allowance

The 35 hours can include:

time spent physically helping the person
time you spend ‘keeping an eye’ on the person, eg preventing them coming to harm by walking out of the house
time spent doing practical tasks for them, eg cooking
time taken doing practical tasks, even if you don’t do them in the presence of the person you are looking after, may also count (for instance, if you look after someone who visits you regularly for the care they need, time spent preparing for the visit or cleaning up afterwards should count)

I don't know if meeting with your daughters professional carers counts as you caring. I think all you can do is list everything you do - DWP will have to decide whether or not it 'counts'.

In respect of the earnings threshold CA is based on the previous earnings. So if you earn £123 in one week you are not entitled to CA for the following week. Because of the way earnings are calculated and allocated* this can mean that if you are paid monthly you are not entitled to Carer's Allowance until about 5 weeks after your work finishes.
(*Although wages are generally paid largely in arrears, for benefit purposes they are taken as paid in advance and they are then allocated to the period from the date on which you are paid to the date on which you would next have been paid had you still been in work.)