Stopping (and starting!) claim for carers allowance

muddlingmywaythrough

I am currently claiming carers allowance for someone but recently it has been decided that she will need more advanced care (likely with a private care agency) so I plan on stopping my claim.  However my dad does need a carer so I want to become his carer instead (he does meet the criteria) I'm aware that I can't claim for 2 people at the same time so what is the best way to do it? Should I stop my current claim and put (for example) the end date as 29.11.24 then wait for it to be processed and when I have confirmation it's been stopped THEN put in a new claim dated from 30.11.24. The two caring roles will run one after the other and I don't want to lose money but neither do I want to have to pay money back because I've inadvertently made 2 claims!

Brie

I assume your dad is getting attendance allowance?  

I would wait til the first individual officially no longer needs your help before stopping your claim.  And then do the claim to be dad's carer as of the next day.  I wouldn't wait for the first to be processed but just keep an eye for what they actually pay.  Chances are there will be a gap before the dad care portion kicks in and you don't want to be out of pocket - though they should date it back to the first date of the claim. 

Spoonie_Turtle

Is it possible to keep the claim open and simply change the cared-for person, or does it have to count as a separate claim?

muddlingmywaythrough

Brie said:

I assume your dad is getting attendance allowance?  

I would wait til the first individual officially no longer needs your help before stopping your claim.  And then do the claim to be dad's carer as of the next day.  I wouldn't wait for the first to be processed but just keep an eye for what they actually pay.  Chances are there will be a gap before the dad care portion kicks in and you don't want to be out of pocket - though they should date it back to the first date of the claim. 

Thank you for the reply. Yes my dad is getting attendance allowance. I will wait until a new carer is in place which should be within the next week and when I have a definite date (and that date has passed) I will stop the first claim and then do a new claim for my dad from the following day. No doubt I will have a bit of time with no money but hopefully they will back date it so it will catch up in the end. 

poppy12345

Does your dad currently live alone or with a partner? If living alone or with a partner that also claims a qualifying disability benefit you need to check that they are not claiming Severe disability Premium in with Pension Credit. If they are and you claim carers allowance, this will stop the SDP. If SDP stops, PC could also stops, which may affect other benefits such as Housing benefit and council Tax reduction. 

muddlingmywaythrough

poppy12345 said:

Does your dad currently live alone or with a partner? If living alone or with a partner that also claims a qualifying disability benefit you need to check that they are not claiming Severe disability Premium in with Pension Credit. If they are and you claim carers allowance, this will stop the SDP. If SDP stops, PC could also stops, which may affect other benefits such as Housing benefit and council Tax reduction. 

He lives alone and I don't think he is claiming Severe disability Premium but I know he is claiming Pension Credit. He is quite forgetful so doesn't know exactly which benefits he gets. Is there somewhere I could ring who can tell me clearly what he gets? Maybe a department at the local council or something?

Sarahspangles

muddlingmywaythrough said:

poppy12345 said:

Does your dad currently live alone or with a partner? If living alone or with a partner that also claims a qualifying disability benefit you need to check that they are not claiming Severe disability Premium in with Pension Credit. If they are and you claim carers allowance, this will stop the SDP. If SDP stops, PC could also stops, which may affect other benefits such as Housing benefit and council Tax reduction. 

He lives alone and I don't think he is claiming Severe disability Premium but I know he is claiming Pension Credit. He is quite forgetful so doesn't know exactly which benefits he gets. Is there somewhere I could ring who can tell me clearly what he gets? Maybe a department at the local council or something?

I don’t know the answer but it seems like a good time to have a conversation with him about a lasting power of attorney. Then you can help with ‘lifemin’ stuff.

muddlingmywaythrough

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Is it possible to keep the claim open and simply change the cared-for person, or does it have to count as a separate claim?

It has to be a separate claim unfortunately - it would be a lot easier if I could just change the name!

poppy12345

muddlingmywaythrough said:

poppy12345 said:

Does your dad currently live alone or with a partner? If living alone or with a partner that also claims a qualifying disability benefit you need to check that they are not claiming Severe disability Premium in with Pension Credit. If they are and you claim carers allowance, this will stop the SDP. If SDP stops, PC could also stops, which may affect other benefits such as Housing benefit and council Tax reduction. 

He lives alone and I don't think he is claiming Severe disability Premium but I know he is claiming Pension Credit. He is quite forgetful so doesn't know exactly which benefits he gets. Is there somewhere I could ring who can tell me clearly what he gets? Maybe a department at the local council or something?

Can you find a recent letter from PC? it should include the full breakdown of what's included with the calculation. It may be down as Severe disability Addition (SDA) , rather than SDP. 

muddlingmywaythrough

poppy12345 said:

muddlingmywaythrough said:

poppy12345 said:

Does your dad currently live alone or with a partner? If living alone or with a partner that also claims a qualifying disability benefit you need to check that they are not claiming Severe disability Premium in with Pension Credit. If they are and you claim carers allowance, this will stop the SDP. If SDP stops, PC could also stops, which may affect other benefits such as Housing benefit and council Tax reduction. 

He lives alone and I don't think he is claiming Severe disability Premium but I know he is claiming Pension Credit. He is quite forgetful so doesn't know exactly which benefits he gets. Is there somewhere I could ring who can tell me clearly what he gets? Maybe a department at the local council or something?

Can you find a recent letter from PC? it should include the full breakdown of what's included with the calculation. It may be down as Severe disability Addition (SDA) , rather than SDP. 

I have had a look through dad's paperwork and couldn't find anything but I think he's thrown a lot away as he's not very good at dealing with admin stuff (which is one of the many things he needs help with). He was fairly certain he received a couple of the qualifying benefits (I can't remember which ones it was now) so I have put the one down that he was more certain of (i was only allowed to select one) but I'm assuming this is checked? They wouldn't just take my word for it? 

poppy12345

Before making a claim for carers allowance you need to check that the SDA is not included in his Pension Credit because it's your responsibility to do that before making a claim. If he doesn't know what's included in the calculation and you can't find any paper work then it's better to ring Pension Credit to ask them and they will tell you. 

As he's living alone I would expect it to be included but this doesn't mean it is, although he's definitely entitled to it. 

They will obviously check that he's claiming a qualifying disability benefit such as PIP daily living, DLA mid/high rate care or AA.