claiming carers allowance

mandy20861

I work two part time jobs with no other income such as benefits only part housing benefit,my 28yr old daughter was diagnosed 3 yrs ago with myasthenia gravis disease ,its a neurological disease with no cure,she has plasma exchange every 2 weeks and she becomes very ill at least every 2 weeks i.e cant swallow,cant breathe properly,cant lift her head or arms,she has an 8yr old daughter,i try my best to help her in anyway i can but working 2 jobs i find this very difficult at times,i feel i need to be there for her a lot more,im worried that if i try and claim for carers allowance it will affect my income or housing benefit as i know i would need to give up one of my jobs as i earn above the income thats allowed and would i have to stop working while the claim is in process,any advice would be much appreciated.

Sam_Alumni

Hi @mandy20861

Carer's Allowance (CA) is a benefit payable to someone who cares for a disabled person. It's a benefit for people who regularly spend at least 35 hours per week caring for someone who receives a qualifying benefit such as:

• Disability Living Allowance care component at high or middle rate
• Attendance Allowance
• Personal Independence Payment daily living component
• Armed Forced Independence Payment
• Constant Attendance Allowance paid with Industrial Injuries or War Pension Schemes

The carer must be over 16, not in full-time education and they must not earn more than £116 per week. Carers who are themselves disabled can claim. You can only get one award for Carer's Allowance even if you care for more than one person.

You can also try using our benefits calculator here.

feir

that's good to know that carers can claim it. i'm physically disabled but am a supervisory carer, was worried i would lose my carers allowance if i end up registered disabled. thanks.