Attendence Allowance and Carer's Allowance - how to avoid bureaucracy

Brie

OK so MiL is in hospital and so I rang up on her behalf to advise the DWP.  Must admit I was a bit surprised to be questioned about why it had taken us so long to ring them - actually I wasn't even sure it was required but turns out that we're a couple of days late in the notification as AA only runs for 28 days from going into hospital. 

What I was actually trying to do was ensure that the OH's carer allowance was stopped as I understood that would only go for 8 weeks from the start of a hospital admittance.  So after going through all the questions and justifying the delay - we honestly didn't think originally that she would be there for so long - I made a comment about OH's CA.  Oh no you have to ring them up separately!

Is there anyway to avoid this?  I assume we could post them a letter but it would be great to just be able to go online and do something.  We don't really want to spend an hour or two waiting on a phone line.

in_my_wellies

I'm in a similar situation but had an entirely different experience re AA
I also thought/hoped mum would only be in hospital for a short while so I delayed ringing until week 7

I got straight through to a very understanding man who said he completely understood why I had delayed the call.  He explained the process to me saying I needed to ring again upon discharge and then the payments would be sorted out. He also took details of my CA and said that would also be sorted out upon discharge too

He said other agencies government agencies would also be automatically contacted e.g. Pension Credit (not sure as she doesn't claim anything else). He said I needed to contact the Council re Council Tax

Both will depend on whether she returns home or goes into care

All sorted in 5 - 10 minutes. I think the OP caught them on a bad day 

poppy12345

Brie said:

What I was actually trying to do was ensure that the OH's carer allowance was stopped as I understood that would only go for 8 weeks from the start of a hospital admittance.

That's not correct. The Carers allowance will stop when the AA stops. Yes, you will need to ring CA to report the changes, although they should be informed that the AA has stopped.

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/carers-allowance-hospital

calcotti

Brie said:

What I was actually trying to do was ensure that the OH's carer allowance was stopped as I understood that would only go for 8 weeks from the start of a hospital admittance.  

As advised by poppy, that is incorrect.
The 8 week rule is the run on after death.

Brie

Thanks all.

TELLIT01

There is no central system for reporting a change to one benefit office which then automatically cascades the information to others.  Although the person in_my_wellies spoke to said they would take care of things, never assume that will be the case.

in_my_wellies

TELLIT01 said:

There is no central system for reporting a change to one benefit office which then automatically cascades the information to others.  Although the person in_my_wellies spoke to said they would take care of things, never assume that will be the case.

Thanks for that info.

He said I would receive a letter from both AA and CA. If I don't get one from CA within a few days I'll call them too. He did take my CA ref number and details again so I assumed he was completing a new form. 

He listed several gov agencies he said would be informed but I only took notice of the CA as that's the only one which applies to me/mum