Why no help

Shlbly

I am a disabled lady who has been on benefits since 2007. As I have got worse over the years, I now need a carer. My daughter moved back in with me in January and has claimed carers allowance. Now they have stopped my Severe disablement premium, so we are a whole 30p a week better off, how can we feed clothe etc on that? Is there anything else we can claim please? Also £700 in debt with council and DWP as they said we didn’t let them know about this. It was all done online with all mine and my daughters details. It is all getting very worrying now with the price of everything going up constantly. Any advice gratefully accepted thank you.

poppy123456

There's no such thing as Severe disablement premium, it's called Severe disability Premium (SDP). The reason why this stopped was because your daughter claimed carers allowance for looking after you. However, even if she didn't claim carers allowance for looking after you it still would have stopped anyway unless your daughter also claims a qualifying disability benefit herself such as PIP daily living or DLA mid/high rate care.

Your daughter, if she doesn't have savings/capital of more than £16,000 she'll be able to claim Universal Credit in her own right. The carers allowance will be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. When she claims she needs to report being your carer and her UC will include the carers element as well as the standard element. She can claim UC online if she has internet access. https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/how-to-claim I'd advise her to claim ASAP because UC can't be backdated.

Her first payment will be 1 month and 6 days after she submits her claim. She can ask for an advance payment but do be aware that she'll need to repay this back and her future payments will be reduced.

Shlbly said:

 Also £700 in debt with council and DWP as they said we didn’t let them know about this.

If you didn't report the changes to ESA when your daughter moved in and you now have an overpayment for ESA then this will be because you were no longer entitled to SDP. I'm not sure how you could have reported the changes for your ESA online because there's no way for you to do that.

For your local Authority if this is because of council tax reduction and you were claiming the single person discount then this is likely why you now have an overpayment. However, as a carer your daughter will be able to claim carers discount of 25% for this you need to speak to your local Authority. https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/financial-support/help-with-bills-and-household-costs/help-with-council-tax/

Shlbly

Hi thank you for getting back to me, I got the SDP wrong, and yes we realised that after she had claimed carers, too late then. She has now put a claim in for UC, why doesn’t anybody tell you?
The authority is not for council tax as I get a 100% reduction, they are saying it’s overpayment from August 22 to November 22, my daughter moved in January 21, so very confusing it all is! Surely they would have all been informed when she put all the applications in no? 

Have tried to get help and there’s nothing, so I really appreciate this. 😊

poppy123456

Shlbly said:

Hi thank you for getting back to me, I got the SDP wrong, and yes we realised that after she had claimed carers, too late then. She has now put a claim in for UC, why doesn’t anybody tell you?
The authority is not for council tax as I get a 100% reduction, they are saying it’s overpayment from August 22 to November 22, my daughter moved in January 21, so very confusing it all is! Surely they would have all been informed when she put all the applications in no? 

Have tried to get help and there’s nothing, so I really appreciate this. 😊

No one can tell you anything unless you ask. Asking DWP call centre for advice if that's what you mean then they are not benefits advisors.

What benefit is the overpayment for? When did your daughter claim carers allowance?

Shlbly

The benefit overpayment is for not informing them off the changes. I have been very unwell mentally and physically. So was in no fit state to inform anyone. Think it was £545 approx

JBS2022

The SDP is extra money for people that live on their own with severe disabilities due to extra expenses. As you now have a carer, your SDP as been removed.

poppy123456

Shlbly said:

The benefit overpayment is for not informing them off the changes. I have been very unwell mentally and physically. So was in no fit state to inform anyone. Think it was £545 approx

If your daughter moved in with you and you were still claiming the SDP then you wouldn't have been entitled to it unless she either claimed a qualifying disability benefit herself or she's registered blind.