Hi this is a question i cannot find the answer to about carers allowance and other benefits

gerrys6

hi I’m on Esa in the wrag group I get p I p too I also have a special needs 15 year old I get d l a for her I also get the disability premium in my tax credit at my Esa wrag meeting at the job centre the the other day they asked me am I her carer well I am her only carer she doesn’t see her dad and she is a real handful on my own she has two siblings at home and three grown up but it’s such a struggle with her behaviour and each day brings its own dramas I wanted to know if I can claim carers along with my Esa and the child tax credits would I lose money on either the Esa premiums or the child tax premiums. Is there any benefits from claiming carers ? I know I wouldn’t need to go to the Jobcentre meetings but would they not  query how I can be a carer when I have my own disabilities and mental health issues no one claims carers for me either. 

poppy123456

Hi,

If your daughter claims the care part of DLA then yes it's possible that you can claim carers allowance for looking after her. However, this won't prevent you having to attend the job centre for the interviews because you're in the WRAG for ESA and it's part of being in this group.

If you claimed carers allowance for looking after her, it could possible go against your future PIP claims when you're reassessed. It will totally depend on the reasons for your PIP claim. For example, if you claim PIP because of a physical disability and you care for your daughter for physical reasons then yes it could go against you.

Claiming carers allowance will mean you'll be £36 per week better off, it doesn't affect the amount of tax credits you claim. It could affect the amount of Council tax reduction/housing benefit you claim because carers allowance is classed as income when calculating any means tested benefits.

It's very difficult to give advice like this on an internet forum so i'd advise a visit to your local CAB for a full benefits check.

BenefitsTrainingCo

gerrys6,

Poppy has really covered a lot of the things you need to know. Yes you can get carer's allowance (CA) and that would give you the carer's premium in your ESA. CA is counted as income for income-related ESA, but overall, you'd be a bit better off. 

You are right that there can be a bit of a risk that claiming CA could affect your own claims for benefit (ESA & PIP), but that depends on whether caring for your daughter would undermine or contradict any of the things you can't do which mean you need ESA or PIP yourself. For example it may be that you have to manage your daughter because she needs lots of supervision and care, but that doesn't mean you don't still have your own health conditions which mean you have limited capability for work (and possibly might mean you qualify for PIP, too).

As long as you get some income-related ESA, you can still get your full child tax credit as you do now, and full council tax reduction and housing benefit. You only have to worry about carer's allowance as income if you do NOT get income-related ESA (that would mean CA would count as income for child tax credit, housing benefit and council tax reduction). However, I don't think that would happen to you. If think if you're getting income-related ESA now, you'd still get it if you claimed CA, and you would be a bit better off - £36.00 as Poppy says. 

If you are a carer getting CA, then you are exempt from having to do work-related activity. But, as Poppy says, you would still have to attend work-focused interviews at the Jobcentre. However, your work coach might be prepared to make them less frequent and you might receive different support. In the meantime, you've done the right thing by telling them about your situation. As Poppy suggests, an overall benefit check done locally by someone like the CAB would be a good idea.

Will