Carers Allowance with ESA OR Carers Element in UC

JaneDoeJohnDoe

A person I know is in the ESA WRAG group pre 2017 benefit disability premium level. (i.e Still get their WRAG premium of old).

They have to migrate onto UC by end of May.

I have some knowledge of their issue, but am not certain what is best, so asking for comments....

They are (to their belief) giving care to someone for over 35 hours per week on average. Not necessarily daily but enough, being a mixture of general housework, cooking, shopping & assisting & accompanying trips to hospital which can take most of a day, so thought about claiming a Carers benefit.

Are they better off claiming Carers Allowance (CA) for caring for someone now whilst on ESA before transitioning to UC or is it best to transition across to UC & when initially claiming UC to state they now have caring responsibilities which have just started?

Basically, new benefit & start anew kind of thing, or get all included NOW in the ending ESA claim which will transition into UC once they make the claim?

I am aware that in UC you don't actually have to claim CA so long as meeting the conditions for it to get UC Carers Element.

However I have been aware from the back of my mind, that in UC you can't claim more than one 'add on element' (eg LCW & Carers Element together) & can't go back to one of them if circumstances change. (Say for example, no longer have caring responsibilities) Or something like that.

So they would not want to shoot their selves in the foot for not claiming CA before they start their claim for UC as the ESA to UC transition deadline looms.

The person needing care gets both sections of PIP & contribution rate ESA support group. (Their ESA is reduced as they get some pension money). They are 58.

The carer & the person needing care do not live together but are within a few miles.

KxMx

There is no financial gain to claiming Carers Allowance, as it's deducted in full from a UC award.
As Carers Element pays more than LCW, your friend can get it. 

If they stopped being a carer then the LCW element would become payable. 

It's only LCWRA and CE that can't be paid together because only the higher amount applies, which would be LCWRA. 

8dayweek

I’d disagree with the advice above. I’d be looking at claiming Carers Allowance (which won’t be paid due to overlapping benefit rules with ESA) and adding the Carers Premium to the ESA claim BEFORE migrating to UC.

Then when it comes to UC, yes you can only receive either the Health Element OR the Carers Element (the higher of which applies - so if they are WRAG / LCW, it’ll be the Carers Element which is higher, if they’re Support Group / LCWRA it’ll be LCWRA which is higher) BUT their Transitional Protection will factor in the fact they got BOTH premiums on ESA.