Carers Allowance or UC with Carers Element? - help needed

wheatonpenk

Good evening
Need some assistance....

Background - Mom has dementia & now claims attendance allowance (terrible disease).  I will be moving home to be her full time carer. I have £5k in savings. I'm single & have no kids. 

I've been on "entitled2" & been reading various forums but confused what I will need to apply for. Will it be:-

A) carers allowance or 

b) universal credit with carers element? 

If I apply for carers allowance, am I eligible to apply for universal credit aswell to top up my earnings??? I will really struggle to live off £66 a week

But the entitled2 website says I will be paid £478 per month, but I'm not sure if I'm filling it out correctly ??

My head is scrambled. I'm new to all this. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Many Thanks 

Spoonie_Turtle

Do you currently work? Will you be renting where you'll be moving?

Otherwise, based on the information given, UC would be made up of your standard allowance £317.82 and the carer's element £160.20 = £478.20

You can claim both Carer's Allowance and UC, but the CA will be deducted in full from your UC so the only difference would be that it gives you Class 1 NI credits instead of the Class 3 that UC gives. (In practice, I don't know how much of a difference it makes.)

calcotti

If you are going to apply for Universal Credit there is no financial point in applying for Carer’s Allowance (CA). You are entitled to the Carer element without claiming CA and if you claim both the CA is deducted from your UC so you are no better off. A UC claim will also probably be processed more quickly than CA.

The exception to the above will be if you have other income or savings that will reduce your UC entitlement to less than the CA amount of £66.15/week (equivalent to 286.85/month).

You do however get Class 1 NI credits if you claim CA whereas UC is only Class 3. 

On UC with the carer element you would get £478/month (assuming you are aged 25+, have no other income and no savings > £6,000).

NedS

wheatonpenk said:

If I apply for carers allowance, am I eligible to apply for universal credit aswell to top up my earnings???

Your UC will be reduced at a rate of 63p for every £1 you earn.

How much do you earn (take home pay) per month?

Spoonie_Turtle

NedS said:

wheatonpenk said:

If I apply for carers allowance, am I eligible to apply for universal credit aswell to top up my earnings???

Your UC will be reduced at a rate of 63p for every £1 you earn.

How much do you earn (take home pay) per month?

Just to clarify for the OP, that's for *earned* income - i.e. from employment or self-employment - whereas Carers Allowance would definitely be deducted £ for £.

calcotti

I overlooked the reference to earnings. Quite apart from the points made in my earlier post Carer’s Allowance cannot be claimed if you earn £123/week or more. There is no earnings limit for UC, but they will reduce the UC payable as explained by NedS.

Spoonie_Turtle

calcotti said:

I overlooked the reference to earnings. Quite apart from the points made in my earlier post Carer’s Allowance cannot be claimed if you earn £123/week or more. There is no earnings limit for UC, but they will reduce the UC payable as explained by NedS.

From the OP it seems there are no other earnings (though always best to check, of course) as they said they'd struggle to live off the CA amount.

Spoonie_Turtle

calcotti said:

I overlooked the reference to earnings. Quite apart from the points made in my earlier post Carer’s Allowance cannot be claimed if you earn £123/week or more. There is no earnings limit for UC, but they will reduce the UC payable as explained by NedS.

From the OP it seems there are no other earnings (though always best to check, of course) as they said they'd struggle to live off £66 a week.

wheatonpenk

Thanks guys. You've given me all the answers I needed. Yep, no other earnings to declare. Mom's care needs are severe & it will be my full time job till further notice 

I will apply for universal credit with carers element tomorrow 

Thanks again 

Robbie64

Personally I would still claim Carers Allowance as well as Universal Credit. Although your UC will be reduced by the amount of CA you receive there are some advantages:

1. Carers Allowance can be paid weekly - this can help with cashflow, especially if you are on a low income. You are given a choice of weekly or 4 weekly payments.

2. The potential of backdating of CA for up to 3 months (it depends when your mother first received AA - the period will be from when your mum first received AA up to a maximum of the past 3 months). This may affect your first payment of UC but may leave you better off overall for that month. You could receive up to £859.95 backdated Carers Allowance which is a lot more than one month's worth of UC.

3. You will get Class 1 National Insurance credits unlike UC which gives Class 3 credits. This helps protect more than just your State Pension.

A claim to Carers Allowance should be decided on within 4 weeks.

More info: https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance

You can claim online at the above link.

Spoonie_Turtle

Robbie64 said:

Personally I would still claim Carers Allowance as well as Universal Credit. Although your UC will be reduced by the amount of CA you receive there are some advantages:

1. Carers Allowance can be paid weekly - this can help with cashflow, especially if you are on a low income. You are given a choice of weekly or 4 weekly payments.

2. The potential of backdating of CA for up to 3 months (it depends when your mother first received AA - the period will be from when your mum first received AA up to a maximum of the past 3 months). This may affect your first payment of UC but may leave you better off overall for that month. You could receive up to £859.95 backdated Carers Allowance which is a lot more than one month's worth of UC.

3. You will get Class 1 National Insurance credits unlike UC which gives Class 3 credits. This helps protect more than just your State Pension.

A claim to Carers Allowance should be decided on within 4 weeks.

More info: https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance

You can claim online at the above link.

Ooh that's an excellent point, providing OP already met the criteria each week in order to backdate it