Carers Allowance - temp loss

Wibbles

Does my wife lose her carers allowance - if she is unable to care for me for 6 weeks due to undergoing an operation, in a weeks and half, to remove her womb due to cancer ?

Bear in mind that she has cared for me for 22 years without a single days break and has been claiming CA for 14 of those years.

She is planning on informing Carers Allowance of this…

Will she have to start a fresh claim - with delay - when she is able to care for me once more ?

Rachel_Scope

Hi @Wibbles. It seems that it won't affect her claim and she won't need to reapply. Here's what I found:

If you temporarily stop providing care for someone

You can still get Carer’s Allowance if you temporarily stop providing care. This means any period when you spend less than 35 hours a week caring for the other person.

The person you care for must still receive their disability benefit.

You must tell DWP if you temporarily stop providing care and:

• you or the person you care for will be in hospital, a nursing home, or respite care for more than 12 weeks
• you stop caring for more than 28 days for any other reason

Wibbles

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1119601#Comment_1119601

She will NOT be in hospital - she will be recovering at home !

just stopping caring for me for over 28 days (6 weeks)

SoapySoutar

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1119619#Comment_1119619

I would be making plans for if your wife isn't able to care for you in the future, to the extent that she has. That operation sounds pretty major to me.

Wibbles

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1119601#Comment_1119601

This seems incredibly unfair - but then the DWP has a history of HATING Carers as well as carees !!

Carers Allowance can be paid for up to 4 weeks in any 26-week period for temporary breaks in care. This means that a carer can continue to be paid Carers Allowance. This can be for one spell or a series of short breaks. In order to take advantage of this break in care they must have been providing 35 hours or more of care a week for at least 22 of the past 26 weeks and the person they have been caring for must have been in receipt of a qualifying benefit for that period. The qualifying period before you can have a break is usually 22 weeks, but it can be up to eight weeks shorter if you or the person you care for have been in hospital during that time.

The “break “period can also be extended to up to 12 weeks in any 26-week period where the carer (or the person they care for) spent at least 8 of those weeks in hospital. The extended “12-week rule” means the limit can increases (to 12 weeks in a 26-week period) where the break is because the carer or the disabled person is in hospital or similar circumstances

Carers Allowance will stop after 12 weeks but it may stop sooner if the carer has been in hospital or had a break in care within the previous 26 weeks.