Carers allowance

Torridon01

Hello , I have been receiving carers allowance as I care for my mother who is immobile/dementia/ virtually blind. I have just been informed that when I reach my state pension age that my carers allowance will be withdrawn. My thoughts on this are as follows:- I have paid into my state pension since 16 , never missed any contributions so I believe this is my benefit for me to enjoy. When they stop paying my carers allowance , I will have to meet the shortfall from my state pension . I feel ( please tell me if I am incorrect) that I am being discriminated against due to the fact that I am a carer. Citizen A gets full state pension as they are not caring for anyone. . Citizen B has a reduced state pension as it has to meet the shortfall from the removal of carers allowance. Discriminatory against a carer. I have asked the DWP under FOI how much the treasury recoups annually from this draconian measure , and how many carers are affected each year. I would appreciate any views on my mindset here. Thanks.

kayleighali

The current legislation is that your earnings have to be below £139 a week to qualify, State Pension is more than that which is why you no longer qualify. It is not for anyone on this board to say whether that is correct or not, that is the legislation. It is not discriminatory in any way

housebuyer143

As above, loads of people are unpaid carers but earn too much and can't get the benefit at all. They are not going around crying discrimination. 
Your pension means you earn to much, therefore you don't qualify. That's it.

NedS

kayleighali said:

The current legislation is that your earnings have to be below £139 a week to qualify, State Pension is more than that which is why you no longer qualify. It is not for anyone on this board to say whether that is correct or not, that is the legislation. It is not discriminatory in any way

That's not technically correct. Pension income is not earned income so is not relevant to the £139/week earnings threshold.

The reason you will likely not receive CA once you reach state pension age is that they are classed as overlapping benefits, so any CA you are entitled to will be reduced by the amount of your SP. See here:

https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/eligibility

pmlindyloo

It is also worth mentioning that it would be sensible to check whether you are eligible for Pension Credit.  The fact that you are a carer and would receive Carer's Allowance if you were not receiving your state pension (overlapping benefits) then you would  be eligible for the Carer's Premium.  This can make a difference when Pension Credit is being calculated.

Information here:

Pension Credit: What you'll get - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Alice_Holt

Citizen A gets full state pension as they are not caring for anyone. . Citizen B has a reduced state pension as it has to meet the shortfall from the removal of carers allowance. 

    This makes very little sense, as both are income replacement, overlapping benefits. 

Your income will rise at SPA as your SP is higher than your CA.   Your SP is not reduced.
CA gives you Class 1 NI credits towards your SP.

Of more concern might be the low rates paid for both the basic SP and CA, should we want to embark on a discussion about benefit policy.