Universal Credit, Carer's Allowance, Part Time Study & Other Benefits

Penelope_Pitstop_2000

I'm considering quitting my full time job and am really confused about benefits. I currently care for my son (who receives DLA) and my husband (Long term illness, Universal Credit, PIP being appealed), as well as our other son. I'm finding it impossible to balance their needs with working and am very close to quitting my job. I'm not on an incredible salary and I think I could earn more in the future if I did a degree part time while the kids are at school. 

So my questions are many! Will I get the carers element of UC, should I apply for carers allowance, can I study PT as a carer, will this impact my UC, how long will it take for benefits to kick in?

Is there anything else I should consider?

Any advice from anyone who has done something similar before welcome!

Spoonie_Turtle

Yes you can study part-time.

Do you not already claim the carer element of UC?

You probably could apply for Carers Allowance but it'd be deducted in full from your UC so no overall financial benefit.  However it would give you class 1 NI credits (UC gives class 3) which could be helpful if you needed to claim certain other benefits yourself in future.

Penelope_Pitstop_2000

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Yes you can study part-time.

Do you not already claim the carer element of UC?

You probably could apply for Carers Allowance but it'd be deducted in full from your UC so no overall financial benefit.  However it would give you class 1 NI credits (UC gives class 3) which could be helpful if you needed to claim certain other benefits yourself in future.

No, I didn't think I was eligible for carers element due to working full time. It's good to know that it's worth claiming Carers allowance, even if this is taken off UC, I've seen conflicting advice about this online when trying to research myself 

Spoonie_Turtle

As long as you are providing 35+hrs of care/week for someone claiming a relevant disability benefit (in this case daily living element of PIP / mid or higher rate care DLA) you can claim the carer element.  I don't know if you can backdate it if you've been entitled to it all along.

poppy12345

Penelope_Pitstop_2000 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Yes you can study part-time.

Do you not already claim the carer element of UC?

You probably could apply for Carers Allowance but it'd be deducted in full from your UC so no overall financial benefit.  However it would give you class 1 NI credits (UC gives class 3) which could be helpful if you needed to claim certain other benefits yourself in future.

No, I didn't think I was eligible for carers element due to working full time. It's good to know that it's worth claiming Carers allowance, even if this is taken off UC, I've seen conflicting advice about this online when trying to research myself 

You can't claim carers allowance because you work full time. There's an earnings limit when claiming this. There's no earnings limit to claiming carers element of UC. The conflicting information you mentioned is probably due to misunderstanding what you've read and being confused between CA and CE.