Carers allowance overpayment ( DWP fault )

leadcore

Hi all,

Back in January I applied and was granted carers allowance. I had been caring for about 18 months previously to my application. The reason I didn't apply sooner was because the person I care for wasn't aware of carers allowance even being a thing. She applied and got attendance allowance which then put me in a position to claim carers allowance.

She started getting attendance allowance in November 2024 and that's the date I put i started caring for more than 35 hours a week.....even though it was a long time before that!

As I mentioned I applied in January and back dated the claim to the November ( 2 months ) A couple of weeks later I got a message in my UC account saying that I was entitled to carers allowance and what I was entitled too. A few days later I received a lump sum from the DWP for just over £1000 which was 2 months of back dated payments and that particular month too...so basically 3 months worth in 1 go.

Today I received my monthly payment but was £80 short so I logged into my UC account which I haven't had to for a while and to my suprise there was a message which I wasn't notified about ( I usually get a SMS saying I have a message but didn't this time ) The message contained a PDF document which said that I have been overpaid by nearly £830 and they will be taking it from my UC every month.

The document said that they overpaid me from 14th of October but I didn't make the claim until over a month later. It says my UC wasn't taken into consideration when applying for carers allowance which I dont understand.

When applying for carers allowance i was asked a few simple questions about the person I was caring for and asked what benefits I was currently getting which at the time was JSA. My application was submitted and accepted.

I don't know what to do now. I can't afford to lose a single penny of my UC. Carers allowance is a miniscule £83 a week which considering I care 24 hours a day 7 days a week is an insult. To pay a carer from the NHS do do what I do would want more than that in a day.

What can I do about this situation? I'm literally struggling to put food on the table and keep the house going for me and the person I care for

Thanks for reading

Lauren29

What is your Assessment Period on Universal Credit? Are you in receipt of the Carer Element of Universal Credit?

leadcore

Hi,

What do you mean by assesment period?

Im not sure if it's carers element or not. All I know is that I get £83 every Monday and then I get UC every 20th of the month.

When I applied for Carers allowance I had to put down I was receiving income support based JSA which I was at the time.

Im not sure if that is helpful or not

Thanks

Kimi87

Each UC payment is based on your circumstances for the previous calender month, known as the Assessment Period.

With a payment date of the 20th, your AP would be 15th - 14th.

If you get Carer Element (£201.68). it will be listed on your payment statement.