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Carer's Allowance
Chinqupark12
Member Posts: 1 Listener
My husband is 81 years of age, and I am 79. I have been caring for him since 1995, when he was medically found unfit to continue serving in the Merchant Marine. It is only in the last month that I have had news that there was such a thing as Carer's Allowance. I applied for that a the beginning of January last. The form at the time stated that it took six weeks to work its way through the system. Now the BBC are saying that it takes up yo a year. Would the purpose of the government be that there is a chance of him dying before help can be handed out?
I gave up work when this happened, in 1996.
Does anyone have any kind of suggestion as to where I go to next?
I gave up work when this happened, in 1996.
Does anyone have any kind of suggestion as to where I go to next?
Replies
You can't receive Carers Allowance if you are claiming State Retirement Pension as this is classed as an overlapping benefit. I claimed Carers Alliwance for my disabled daughter for many years but this stopped when I was 60 and went onto State Pension.
If you get state retirement pension then as Castleford1 advises, you probably can't get Carer's Allowance as well, unless your retirement pension is very low.
It can still be worth claiming carer's allowance if you have a low income generally (including low or no savings). That is because it increases your chances of getting an income-based benefit called Pension Credit, or, if you already get PC, it can make it higher.
I'm afraid there are delays in pretty much all aspects of the benefits system so I don't think there is any connection to your husband's age or condition. I haven't personally come across delays as long as the BBC mention, or at least, not very often, and only where there are complications such as not having a national insurance number.
You might benefit from getting a benefits check done by Age UK, or doing one yourself using the benefits calculator. Even if you can't get Pension Credit, you could still be entitled to some Housing Benefit if you pay rent, or some Council Tax Reduction to help with the council tax.
It may be worth asking for 3 months backdating of your carer's allowance claim, particularly if you are entitled to it (which would only be if you had no or very low retirement pension). It would also be worth it if you're already getting Pension Credit, to help you get any extra amount of that backdated too. If you're not already getting PC, it can be backdated by 3 months too, and Housing Benefit can be backdated by 3 months as well.
Hope this helps.
Will
I'm really sorry but you are not entitled to the severe disability premium or the enhanced disability premium with your ESA. That's because you only get the low rate care component of DLA.
The thing is, if you asked for your DLA care component to be increased, you will be told you have to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and this will probably mean going to an assessment. It's really up to you - sooner or later, you will have to claim PIP anyway, so it depends whether you want to risk it now, or wait until the DWP decide to move you from DLA.
If you do claim PIP, you'd need the standard rate daily living component to get the severe disability premium in your income-related ESA. You'd also need to live alone (no partner or other adults, unless your partner also gets a qualifying benefit), and have no one getting carer's allowance for you.
So, at the moment, you're not missing out on any top up. There's no ordinary disability premium in ESA. You might want to think about whether you want to go for PIP now, or later - lots of people on the forum have experience of the PIP assessments & can help you.
Please start a new post if you have any more queries, because otherwise we can easily miss them! Thank you.
Will