Carers element

johnb92

Hi all new to this and need advice  
Going back in 2018/2019 I was caring for my ex partner who was receiving pip, so I claimed ca. At the time I was on uc and having ca deducted from my uc, I told my work coach about my caring responsibilities and they made notes on my uc account. Now Going back june 2023 I became a carer for my dad and claimed ca and I was told about the carers element part of uc, so I claimed it and if ca didn't tell me about it I wouldn't of been aware. The problem... I have asked uc to look at my claim from previous claim for the carers element to be sorted as I.e I wasn't aware of it and I informed my work coach of my caring responsibilities and I was claiming carers allowance and nothing was mentioned by the work coach to claim for it. After some research I fount out that dwp can either look at the claim previously under special circumstances/revised or superseded. Can anyone share any more information on this thanks much appreciated.

Albus_Scope

Hi there @johnb92 and welcome to the community. How are you today?

The community has been very busy over the last 24 hours due to the autumn statement, so some posts have slipped through the cracks.  So I thought I'd say hi as this will give your post a bump back to the top of the page, so hopefully someone will be able to give you the answers you seek.  

poppy123456

Yes the carers element should have been included in your UC unless you were also claiming the LCWRA element for yourself at that time. The most annoying part about carers allowance when claiming UC is that they don't automatically include the carers element. For the old legacy benefits such as Income Related ESA and Income Support they will automatically add the carers premium.

Yes a decision maker can supersede the decision and pay the CE from the assessment period in which your CA started. 

However, If you were claiming UC with your partner at that time, the only issue i could see is that when you changed from couple to single claim you would have lost all your journal enteries and statements, unless you kept a copy of those statements to prove the CE wasn't included. For this reason there maybe issues in the backdating it. I'm not saying there will definitely be issues, but maybe.

Have you asked for this to be looked at?

johnb92

Hi poppy I wasn't claiming lcwra, I was claiming uc only and then became a carer and claimed ca and when I was accepted for ca I told my work coach. I did mention it on my journal and at first they were adamant that it couldn't be backdated from previous claim more than 18 months back and I did come across the revision/supersede part and currently arguing on that basis, it's now back with a decision maker under mandatory reconsideration. Thanks for ur response much appreciated ☺️