Hi. I have posted in another forum ,didnt get anything concerete so trying here.
Im new. I never thought I would be a carer, but I suppose none of us do.
I am looking after somebody who is claiming PIP and his bedbound. There is plenty of documentation regarding this and I had to stop working because I'm looking after him more than 35 hours a week. Just myself and my mom and dad here, dad is on Pip.
I had no clue about the carers element of UC and the DWP did not convey this information properly. It has been documented somewhat on my journal randomly over a period of years.
My claim started in mid 2018 for universal credit but the carers element was only informed by me to the DWP in mid 2023 so they put it on straight away.
I would say I've been doing more than 35 hours a week since Covid started so that's roughly mid 2020, but after looking into this indeed detail 35 hours a week is nothing for somebody who needs 24 hour care so I have been doing it since the start of my claim and I did not work in my universal credit claim from 2018.
Yes it's my own fault because I should've investigated properly because I would've not have to have gone to the job centre and got more money but the job centre didn't advise me correctly and I had a lot of issues going on looking after somebody that has a lot of health problems.
I requested for it to be backdated six months and they refused. The mandatory reconsideration was refused
so I took it to a tribunal at nine months later I won.
The tribunal made them backdate the carers element for six months.
Speaking to somebody in the enhanced review team, who are just randomly checking in my ID, there is absolutely no problem with that but when the lady was on the phone she was talking to me about my claim and I should speak to different people about it to see what help I can get. He is palliative.
When I read online that plenty of people have managed to get the carers element backdated for a number of years I wish to do this now
the reason I did not ask the tribunal to backdate it further as I thought that if they require some hard evidence which I have limited, but I have some, they might not backdate it at all... and just throw it out then I get zero
I was just in a panic because imagine realising you haven't been claiming the correct benefit for a number of years and you've been going into the job centre for nothing making reasons as to why you cannot actually work not knowing the general fact I was actually in shock, so I didn't want to try to backdate it any further.
I need to backdate it to the start of the claim because it's actually accurate… to 35 hours a week is nothing for somebody like my dad and my mum is elderly. She doesn't get anything for him.
previous of that as I was genuinely looking after him for more than 35 hours a week in Covid just I don't need all of the headache before, so I just left it.
so just a summarise the claim started in mid 2018 in mid 2023 the carers element was added, DWP refused to backdate it but the tribunal agreed by only initially requested six months because I was worried that they would throw it out and I would get zero.
after looking at the evidence on my journal it seems to me that if the judge said yes to this situation previously why would anybody say no to a date completely separate to the original tribunal date which is just earlier on?.
does anybody have any advice on this because it's all confusing?
I don't want to start something that I'm not going to win and waste my time on and I've heard all this stuff about a 13 month rule, then again, according to the Internet it doesn't apply. It's just so difficult to get a straight answer
do I have a chance of winning because the DWP told the truth with your circumstances so I am wanting to do that but they actually owe me money it's just difficult to prove.
I'm also thinking, what have I got to lose?
