Carers allowance wait time

carerof2withautism

Hi all I put a claim in for carers allowance 7 weeks ago it’s a simple claim I don’t work I have claimed carers in the past but not for a few years now everytime I ring they say no update and it’s a 9 week wait I’m just wondering how many weeks others have waited

poppy123456

Anything up to about 16 weeks, crazy I know. Are you claiming any other benefits? If so which ones exactly?

Albus_Scope

Heya @carerof2withautism andwelcome to the community.

I can see Poppy is already helping you out, so I wont disturb you. I just wanted to stop in and say a quick hello. I really hope they don't keep you waiting much longer. 😊

carerof2withautism

thank you both my daughter gets dla and we get uc my husband has his pip assessment tomorrow

poppy123456

Are you aware that carers allowance is just deducted in full from any UC entitlement? Unless you live in Scotland there’s no financial gain to claiming carers allowance as well as UC.

There are some advantages such as you would receive class 1 NI credits for CA but for UC it’s only class 3. For CA you can receive payment weekly so it can help to budget a little better.

Does your UC include carers element? You don’t need to claim CA to be entitled to this. If it doesn’t include it you will need to report a change of circumstances and then click caring for someone. Then report it through that. Assuming you’re not claiming the LCWRA element for yourself because the same person can’t receive both elements at the same time.

Once carers allowance is in payment and they pay what is owed if you were claiming UC the whole time then you will have an overpayment of UC which you will need to repay back.

carerof2withautism

hi yes i get the carers element already so would it be worth me cancelling my carers claim?

poppy123456

It’s entirely up to you what you do.