Hi! I've been awarded LCWRA, does this mean I no longer get carers allowance?

Dawnm1977

Hi, I’m dawn and I care for my son who is 28. After having both my knees replaced and other Illness I’ve just been awarded LWCWR on UC. I didn’t understand my backdated payment as I didn’t seem to be the correct amount. I’ve now realised they’ve removed my carers entitlement, does this mean I can longer get carers allowance and if not can my son get the extra money himself. 

poppy123456

Carers allowance is a completely different benefit to Universal Credit and it's deducted in full from any UC entitlement.

Carers element is part of UC and as you've now been found to have LCWRA then you can't claim the carers element at the same time as this so you will only be entitled to the LCWRA element.

For any money that was owed for UC you will only receive the differenct between the carers element and LCWRA element.

Your son can't claim carers allowance or carers element for looking after their self. What benefits exactly does your son claim other than a disability benefit?

Do you claim a disability benefit yourself such as PIP daily living or DLA mid/high rate care?

Cher_Alumni

Hi @Dawn1977 and a warm welcome to our online community, how are you keeping?

I just wanted to say hello and also advise, I've moved your thread to our Universal Credit (UC) category and amended the title to help others find it more easily.

Please keep asking any questions you may have and we'll endeavour to help. Best wishes.

calcotti

As poppy says, you cannot be paid both the LCWRA element and the carer element. Your arrears in the relevant months are therefore the difference between the LCWRA you are now due less the carer element you were previously paid.
(It's one of the changes on UC, in old benefits people could get extra money for being unable to work and for being a carer.)

If you are claiming Carer's Allowance separately that can continue and will still be deducted from your UC.

Dawnm1977

Hi my son is on ESA. I have just put in a claim for PIP around 3 weeks ago

poppy123456

Which ESA is he claiming? If it's Income Related then If you're successfully awarded daily living PIP then your son can claim carers allowance if he looks after you for at least 35 hours per week but he will need to wait for the PIP decision first.

Also if his ESA is Income Related and you're awarded daily living PIP (providing there's no other adults living with you) unless they either claim a qualifying disability benefit theirself or they are registered blind then he will be entitled to the Severe disability Premium, providing you cancel your carers allowance claim. There's no financial gain to claiming it now anyway because it's just deducted in full from any UC entitlement.

Dawnm1977

I will have to check his ESA but I think it is income related. I’ll wait to see what happens with my PIP before I do anything else. Thank you for your help

calcotti

Dawnm1977 said:

I will have to check his ESA but I think it is income related.

How much does he get?

Dawnm1977

Hi, he gets £270 every 2 weeks 

calcotti

Dawnm1977 said:

Hi, he gets £270 every 2 weeks 

That means it definitely includes some income based ESA (it could be completely income based or a mix of contribution based and income based).

Are there any other adults in your house other than yourself and your son?

Are you actually receiving Carer's Allowance or were you just getting carer element of UC?

Dawnm1977

It’s just me and my son and I receive carers allowance. I checked and the ESA is income related.

poppy123456

Dawnm1977 said:

It’s just me and my son and I receive carers allowance. I checked and the ESA is income related.

That means that if you're successfully awarded daily living PIP then if you cancel the carers allowance your grandson will be entitled to SDP in with his ESA. If the carers allowance isn't cancelled then this will prevent him being entitled to SDP. As advised previously there's no financial gain to claiming carers allowance anyway.

If you're also awarded daily living PIP your grandson will be able to claim carers allowance if they look after you for at least 35 hours per week.

lanacurtis

Can I just clarify why her son would be entitled to the Sdp if they live in the same house? I thought the two eligibility criteria were that you had to live alone and not have anyone claiming carers for you? Also I’m looking at this the other way. I currently get esa counts with it topup I am in the support group with enhanced pip care and mobility. I get the carer premium for looking after my daughter (under 18 so doesn’t count as living with me) and no one claims carers for me for I also get the enhanced and severe disability premiums. I was moved 3 counties after fleeing a domestic abuse situation which meant my housing benefit claim was ended and I can’t reclaim it now. Which means I am currently paying my own rent because if I claim uc I will lose my sdp (some transitional protection) and from what I can see, I lose my carer premium too due to the rules about lcwra and carer premium not being able to be paid to the same person under uc? I’m so lost but it means I’m looking at losing out and I didn’t think they could do that if they move me but they can if it happens due to natural migration, for example, a change of circumstances like a change of address (which was what happened when the council moved us out of their area to fulfill their housing obligation) from my understanding if they’d kept us within the same council area, our housing benefit claim could have continued and no move to uc would be triggered by the change of address? I don’t know it’s all so confusing and all I know is that I’m currently self funding my rent even though I’m in a passported benefit because I’m terrified of what I’m going to lose if I move myself into us vs if they force me to move? I know this is probably too complicated and I’m also hijacking someone else’s thread but this is the closest q&a I’ve been able to find anywhere and I was civil servant for 8 years who processed benefit claims so I know all the places to search for legacy benefits and the rules for transitional protections and benefit overlaps and change of circa but this situation I just can’t find any answer for because all the systems have just been so messed up with the introduction of uc and the lack of dm guidelines or really any info on uc available online at all tbh. Sorry. Please feel free to move this if needed and I’m happy to clarify or add any more details if anyone thinks they can offer any advice or suggestions on where I can start. I just need to know what to do because I can’t keep self funding my rent when I’m living in income related legacy benefits it’s killing me and I can’t claim discretionary housing payments because I’m not getting housing benefit or housing element with uc so I don’t qualify because I am in a passported benefit so it’s literally like I’m falling through the cracks because everyone I try I’m not entitled to help because my rent should be covered 100% by hb or he(uc) including my financial assessment for my social services direct payments who now won’t include my rent as an outgoing because they say I’m on a passported benefit. So basicall They are saying I’m choosing to pay my own rent, this has meant I’ve had to let my own carer go because I couldn’t afford the £200 a month contribution towards my care costs that I never used to have to pay towards as I was on income related benefits and had no additional income so the council covered the cost of my care package via direct payments. I’m honestly in a nightmare and it has been going on for almost a year and I’m barely keeping my head above water but I’m literally just frozen, spending hours and hours going down the rabbit hole of research trying to figure out what to do and how to sort this situation out and then unfortunately because of my epilepsy clusters I have, I spend sparidic months in and out of hospital, forget everything and have to start the whole process again and tbh if it wasn’t for my daughter I’d have completely given up by now. I can’t even look after myself right now let alone her, so she’s staying with her dad right now while I’m so sick. I haven’t left my bed in weeks other than to go to the bathroom because I keep losing consciousness and having my sos feature in my watch call the emergency services to the house but not being able to eat is just making the whole situation into a catch 22. Sorry this appears to have turned into a therapy/rant session, if you can ignore all of that and please please help me figure out about the sdp/carer premium legacy benefits vs uc question I’d be really grateful. I will be happy to clarify for anyone willing to help. I would just delete everything and not post my question/comment like I have been doing for the last year but it’s just too much for me to deal with alone and if I don’t ask for help now, from somewhere, when it’s in my head right now the question etc will just be forgotten after my next seizure or stroke. Ok I’m am stopping now and again I’m sorry but if I try to edit I’ll just delete it

lanacurtis

Sorry just as an aside could I gently ask that no one suggest the cab? Or social services/ etc I know it may seem like a reasonable suggestion given the complexity but my own knowledge and experience with the benefits system means I usually know the rules more than the average advisor and I can’t get a specialist on the phone and can’t get out of the house to attend centres etc and my disabilities mean I am not always mentally capable of answering phone calls or even physically making them when I am mentally capable. Believe me I’ve tried. 

poppy123456

@lanacurtis this thread is over a year old. I found your question extremely difficult to read due to no paragraphs but I'll do my best. If I miss something as I continue to advise please just ask and I'll be more than happy to help all I can. 

The reason their son would be entitled to SDP if dawnm claimed daily living PIP isn't because their son also claims a qualifying disability benefit. You missed a vital part of the eligibility criteria, you must live alone OR be treated as living alone. Treated as living alone means that all the adults in the house must either be registered blind or claim a qualifying disability benefit. 

I live with my daughter (over 18) and we both claim PIP, which includes daily living. I still claim Income Related ESA and it includes SDP because of the PIP awards. 

I see you mentioned a daughter under the age of 18, is she still in full time education? If so are you still claiming Tax credits for her? If she's not in full time education, is she claiming UC in her own right?

I will be able to advise further once I know the answer to those questions.