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Claiming carers allowance

kittybelle

My husband and I get income support I'm on his claim,he claims carers allowance for looking after me.i get enhanced pip both rates and hubby gets standard both rates..we own our own home and get full rate relief.my question is this:if I were to claim carers allowance for caring for my husband,should I do it now before we get the migration notice? I am aware my husband would lose his sdp by doing this, but when we'd move over I'd be recognised as a carer and get the carers element added on to our UC claim and it wouldn't affect any transitional payment am I correct in assuming this? Any help appreciated 👍

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OverlyAnxious

Hi,

If he loses his SDP then there won't be much Transitional Protection as the couples rate of IS is very close to the couples rate of UC.

I think it would be a better option to keep his SDP until the migration, which will give you a much higher rate of TP. Then for you to do a WCA in order to claim LCWRA. (With him claiming the Carers Element). Although the LCWRA award will erode the TP, you should still be better off after that from my rough calculations.

Hopefully someone else can calculate it exactly to confirm.

kittybelle

Overlyanxious thank you so much for taking the time to reply.my plan was to skip applying for wca and maybe avoid being reassessed if I didn't get lcwra,with all the upcoming changes afoot I thought maybe if I was on carers they'd leave me alone.I know we'd be worse off,but what price can you put on peace of mind?

poppy123456

I agree with overlyAnxious here. It’s not a good idea to apply for carers allowance before you migrate because you will be worse off by doing this.

Instead what you can do when you do eventually claim UC is report being his carer on your 2nd assessment period. (After you receive your first UC payment) if you apply during your first assessment period then it would affect your Transitional Protection.

The carers element from the 2nd assessment will period will erode some of your TP but you should still be better off doing it this way.

Other than that you can report your health condition, provide fit notes and go through the WCA.

kittybelle

Thank you Poppy that is very helpful. Is there any way to find out how much transitional payment we would be entitled to? And any idea how much of it would be eroded by my saying I was my husbands carer? Would they require proof of my caring responsibilities, would a form be required? Sorry for asking so many questions i appreciate your time is valuable.

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/949780#Comment_949780

Transitional Protection is based on the amount of Legacy Benefits you get right now. It can be calculated but we need to know if you get any other legacy benefits apart from couples IS and SDP. (And presumably Carers Premium?)

Then we can work out how much UC you would get. Currently that looks like:

Couples basic rate
1x Carers Element

The Legacy total minus the UC total gives us the Transitional Protection amount.

Then we can take another Carers Element (£198.31) from that amount if you become your husbands Carer.

There is no official proof of caring required for this.

kittybelle

Overlyanxious thank you,we get carers premium and enhanced disability premium, and disability premium. Also rate relief and mortgage interest loan.

poppy123456

SDP TP is about £334/month for single SDP for someone without the LCWRA element. Carers element is much less than that at £198/month. If you claim that in your first assessment period then you won’t be entitled to then SDP TP. Therefore you would be much worse off than if you wait until after your first UC payment before claiming carers element for looking after your partner.

Can’t advise about rate relief sorry. Not sure what it is to be honest as it’s not part of UC.

kittybelle

Thank you Poppy,just to clarify I have bad brain fog.if I wait until the first UC payment,the carers element won't affect the sdp TP.finally I read somewhere that there is going to be a TP for other premiums as well i.e the disability and carers premium etc. What are your thoughts regarding this? Thanks again 😀

poppy123456

Yes wait until your first payment or during your 2nd assessment period to claim carers element.

When you do claim it, it will erode your TP by the same amount so you won’t be any better off and your entitlement will remain the same.

It’s only if you claim it during your first assessment period that you would be worse off.

For the rest of your TP that will be calculated once you’ve claimed UC.

OverlyAnxious

I have done some calculations if they include all of the premiums by the time you migrate.

Couples IS - £616.42
Couples EDP - £128.04
Couples DP - £262.48
Single SDP - £353.17
Carers Premium - £197.60

Total legacy benefits = £1557.71 per month

Couples UC - £617.60
Carers Element - £198.31

Total UC = £815.91

Transitional Protection = £741.80 = overall payment of £1557.71

Addition of second Carers Element reduces TP to = £543.49 = overall payments remain the same at £1557.71.

Looking those figures, there would be no point to you claiming LCWRA immediately as your TP is above the rate of LWCRA (before eroding). Those figures could change though, as it depends on which premiums they include, and also if you don't migrate until after the rates increase in April.

kittybelle

Poppy and overlyanxious thank you both so much for taking the time out of your busy day to calculate and help me understand the minefield that is uc. I appreciate you both so much. Have a great evening. 😊

kittybelle

Hello again,

Does it matter that my husband is claiming carers allowance that's not a legacy benefit,in regards to the TP. Also there is a second property which is disregarded, which brings in a small rent of £60 PW. This is deducted from the IS. Would this mean there's less IS for an award of TP if you get what im saying.

Thanks again.

poppy123456

Carers allowance is deducted in full from UC. You need to declare the 2nd property and it will be down to a decision maker to disregard that. Rental income from that is also disregarded. TP will be based on your UC entitlement before the £60 deduction.

kittybelle

Thanks again Poppy,overlyAnxious did a previous calculation and determined that our overall TP would work out around £543.49.per month.will this be eroded by the carers allowance of £81.90.and the Rent £60.

Sorry I sort of understand what you're saying but I'm still slightly confused as to the total amount we may expect monthly?As for the rental income being disregarded this was the advice I was given back in April by another advice agency.Youre saying it is disregarded?Thank you for your patience your knowledge is second to none.

OverlyAnxious

Carers Allowance is deducted in full from UC. It will show up on the statement as a deduction of £354.90 each month. But you still get the Carers Allowance paid separately. That is exactly the same as it is for IS. Just that with IS it gets replaced by Carers Premium, and with UC it gets replaced with Carers Element. So it doesn't affect the overall monthly calculations, but you will still be getting it as separate payments instead of just one UC payment.

Carers Allowance does not erode the TP. The TP will be eroded if you start getting Carers Element. Or if you start getting LCWRA. Or when the benefit rates increase each April.

I'm afraid I don't know the rules on rental income with UC so can't advise on that.

poppy123456

The rules for rental income are completely different for UC than they are for legacy benefits. Rental income is disregarded for UC purposes.

Whether the property itself is disregarded will depend on who lives in it and their circumstances.

poppy123456

See link about rental income, it’s treated as capital and not income. Scroll to H5094

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65d336b3e1bdec2be1322238/admh1.pdf

kittybelle

Sorry Poppy the link you sent doesn't lead me to the regs H5094. Here is something I found

Screenshot_20241204_202550.jpg

Would that be similar to renting out a house? My relative lives in my house and is incapacitated. The house has been disregarded.

kittybelle

Overly Anxious thank you for your earlier reply . Just to clarify one last time sorry. The other income which is deducted at present from our IS that is carers allowance and rental income will it have any bearing on us getting full TP. Will we still get £543.49 per month plus couples rate UC. Apologies for not understanding what you told me earlier.

poppy123456

As advised the carers allowance deduction and the rental income deduction will not have any affect on your TP.