atttendance allwance

scottiebronte

Hi all, m husband is 72 and has a few things wrong, lungs, stroke, knees etc. Question,  I'm told he could qualify for AA, but he is my carer as I have PD, so how can care for me if he needs help himself. We are both on our state pension, I also get PIP enhanced on both mobility and care. We also get a small amount of pension credit, which I wouldn't want to lose. So if he claimed AA would that then be taken as income and put us over the limited for PC, and would someone not ask my original question about him being my carer, it just doesn't seem right to me.


a 

poppy123456

scottiebronte said:

Hi all, m husband is 72 and has a few things wrong, lungs, stroke, knees etc. Question,  I'm told he could qualify for AA, but he is my carer as I have PD, so how can care for me if he needs help himself. We are both on our state pension, I also get PIP enhanced on both mobility and care. We also get a small amount of pension credit, which I wouldn't want to lose. So if he claimed AA would that then be taken as income and put us over the limited for PC, and would someone not ask my original question about him being my carer, it just doesn't seem right to me.


a 

A person can claim a disability benefit and CA if what they do as a carer doesn't contradict the reasons why they are claiming the disability benefit.

AA/PIP isn't counted as Income and won't affect any of your money. If a claim for AA was successful then you could both claim Severe disability premium instead of Carers Allowance.

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi @scottiebronte

At the start of this thread you refer to an earlier question, but I can't see that...

In answer to your question above - it is very common that two disabled people live together, both claim disability benefits (PIP/DLA/AA) and both claim Carers Allowance for caring for each other, as in reality disabled people do still care for their partners. If you feel you do not provide 35 hours of care then don't claim, but over the course of a week I'd say it's unlikely you don't.

The possible complicating factor in your case is if one of you receives a State Pension (not Pension Credit) that is less than the amount of Carer's Allowance (62.70). If this is the case, then it may be better for neither of you to claim Carer's Allowance, and to instead receive a couple's Severe Disability Premium on your Pension Credit - you can't claim this at present, as both of you need to be in receipt of disability benefits for either of you to qualify.

Bottom line - claiming AA won't result in any loss of benefits, but it is worth going through your actual figures with a benefits adviser to establish the course of action which will result in the biggest gain. Age UK or a local Citizens Advice may be able to help, or you could try using a benefit calculator such as https://www.entitledto.co.uk/

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mary

scottiebronte

thank you very much I will take your advice