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Does carers allowance get backdated more than 3 months ?

Fastlife91

Hey all
I was getting DLA indefinitely, then in October 2017 my money was stopped as didn't attend assesment for pip switchover for certain reasons.
Been fighting this case for about 17 months ( October 2017 - March 2019 ) and finally yesterday I had tribunal and was awarded the standard daily living rate but nothing for mobility despite having been awarded it while on DLA.

My question is, would my mum who is my carer get her carers allowance back dated all the way back to October 2017 to March 2019 or does it only go back so far for back payment ?
I have read somewhere it may only be backdated for 3 months but then elsewhere people say different.

Any help on this is much appreciated. Thanks

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poppy123456

Hi,

As long as your mum claims within 3 months of the Tribunal decision and she's been caring for you for the whole of the 17 months and hasn't worked and earned over the maximum amount then yes it can be backdated. Does she claim any other benefits herself?

happyolddog

As Poppy says above yes it can be backdated, my wife is my carer and we had a real fight on our hands, for 18 months we were denied any benefits and after winning our final appeal we were able to claim all 'including' carers allowence right back to the date they were stopped. Do it ASAP or you may not get anything.

poppy123456

Whether it's backdated in full depends whether or not you're claiming another benefit like ESA, Income Support or UC. Which is why i asked if any other benefits are being claimed.

happyolddog

May I just add you only have a certain amount of time from the date you win your decision for your mum/carer to make the claim, I think this is 28 days but I'm not certain of that, so get the claim in quickly.

poppy123456

happyolddog said:

May I just add you only have a certain amount of time from the date you win your decision for your mum/carer to make the claim, I think this is 28 days but I'm not certain of that, so get the claim in quickly.

That's not correct, as i previously advised it's 3 months after the date of the Tribunal decision.

Fastlife91

poppy123456 said:

Hi,

As long as your mum claims within 3 months of the Tribunal decision and she's been caring for you for the whole of the 17 months and hasn't worked and earned over the maximum amount then yes it can be backdated. Does she claim any other benefits herself?

Hi, sorry for the delay in my response.

Yes I have been living with here the entire time, she has not worked for several years and cares for em over 35 hours per week. She claims Income support or universal credit now and is on pip herself

thanks

Fastlife91

poppy123456 said:

Whether it's backdated in full depends whether or not you're claiming another benefit like ESA, Income Support or UC. Which is why i asked if any other benefits are being claimed.

Hi, sorry for the delay in my response.
I also get employment support allowance , any my mum who is my carer is on income support or universal credit and also get's pip, could that affect anything ?

thanks

Fastlife91

happyolddog said:

As Poppy says above yes it can be backdated, my wife is my carer and we had a real fight on our hands, for 18 months we were denied any benefits and after winning our final appeal we were able to claim all 'including' carers allowence right back to the date they were stopped. Do it ASAP or you may not get anything.

Hi, sorry for the delay in my response.

I am glad that you and your wife finally got it sorted out, it can be a nightmare of a process so well done in seeing it through.
My Mum is going to put the claim in tomorrow

poppy123456

Fastlife91 said:

Hi, sorry for the delay in my response.

Yes I have been living with here the entire time, she has not worked for several years and cares for em over 35 hours per week. She claims Income support or universal credit now and is on pip herself

thanks

When claiming Universal credit there's no need to claim carers allowance because it's deducted £1 for £1 from the UC amount and if UC has been claimed since losing the carers allowance then carers allowance won't be backdated because of the UC claim.

You can claim the carers element of UC without having to claim the carers allowance, providing the person caring doesn't claim the extra LCWRA element in with their claim.

See link to confirm that a claim for carers allowance isn't needed. Scroll down to carers element.

https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/universal-credit/guidance/entitlement-to-uc/elements/

You will also need to wait for DWP to send you the award letter before your mum can claim the carers element of UC. This is because DWP have the same chance we do to appeal the decision. To do this they must first ask for the statement of reasons. Once this is received they have to find an error in law. Back dated money for your PIP can take 8 weeks and sometimes longer for payments to start.

Fastlife91

poppy123456 said:

Fastlife91 said:

Hi, sorry for the delay in my response.

Yes I have been living with here the entire time, she has not worked for several years and cares for em over 35 hours per week. She claims Income support or universal credit now and is on pip herself

thanks

When claiming Universal credit there's no need to claim carers allowance because it's deducted £1 for £1 from the UC amount and if UC has been claimed since losing the carers allowance then carers allowance won't be backdated because of the UC claim.

You can claim the carers element of UC without having to claim the carers allowance, providing the person caring doesn't claim the extra LCWRA element in with their claim.

See link to confirm that a claim for carers allowance isn't needed. Scroll down to carers element.
https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/universal-credit/guidance/entitlement-to-uc/elements/

You will also need to wait for DWP to send you the award letter before your mum can claim the carers element of UC. This is because DWP have the same chance we do to appeal the decision. To do this they must first ask for the statement of reasons. Once this is received they have to find an error in law. Back dated money for your PIP can take 8 weeks and sometimes longer for payments to start.

Hi Poppy.
Before this all got messed up, my mum was getting income support and a disability premium ( + PIP for herself ) and carers while I was getting ESA and DLA
Then due to failure to attend switchover to PIP my DLA was stopped, along with my mums income support , carers , and disability premium.
They left her on no benefit at all for 2 months then finally put her on Universal credit of £300 a month, beforehand she was getting about £720 on income support and disability premium
She should have remained on income support and disability premium due to her own health issues and the fact she is on PIP herself. She has been fighting to get the disability premium reinstated and back dated for months, Citizens advice have been assisting her, she meets the criteria but Universal Credit are saying different tings and trying to refuse it but they should be paying it to her, that case is ongoing

When getting the DLA it worked out she was only getting about £30 a month in carers pay instead of £60 as the other £30 was deducted from another benefit which could be similar to what you are saying here.

Surely she should be back dated the caers allowance, not sure for certain if it will be in full but it should be something.

Any ideas on this ?

Thanks Poppy

poppy123456

The disability premium that your mum was claiming while claiming Income support is not paid on UC and she won't be able to reclaim that back. The disability premiums are not paid on UC.

Has she sent in sick/fit notes for herself for the UC claim? If so, has she had a work capability assessment? If she hasn't been sending in the fit notes and she has a limited capability for work then maybe she should consider doing this. Once assessed if she's given limited capability for work related activity then she'll receive the extra £328 per month.

As she wasn't claiming any benefits for 2 months then i'd advise her to claim the carers allowance. This will be backdated for the dates she wasn't claiming any benefits. It will not be back dated for the dates she was claiming UC.

The carers premium she was receiving in with her Income Support is paid in with the UC claim (see link) but it's called the carers element which is £156 per month. As i previously advised in my other comment, if your mum is claiming LCWRA element in with her UC payment then she won't be able to claim the carers element on top of this.

The carers element of UC is not backdated unfortunately, so she will lose out on that from the time she started her UC claim.

May i ask if there's anyone else that lives with you and your mum?

Fastlife91

poppy123456 said:

The disability premium that your mum was claiming while claiming Income support is not paid on UC and she won't be able to reclaim that back. The disability premiums are not paid on UC.

Has she sent in sick/fit notes for herself for the UC claim? If so, has she had a work capability assessment? If she hasn't been sending in the fit notes and she has a limited capability for work then maybe she should consider doing this. Once assessed if she's given limited capability for work related activity then she'll receive the extra £328 per month.

As she wasn't claiming any benefits for 2 months then i'd advise her to claim the carers allowance. This will be backdated for the dates she wasn't claiming any benefits. It will not be back dated for the dates she was claiming UC.

The carers premium she was receiving in with her Income Support is paid in with the UC claim (see link) but it's called the carers element which is £156 per month. As i previously advised in my other comment, if your mum is claiming LCWRA element in with her UC payment then she won't be able to claim the carers element on top of this.

The carers element of UC is not backdated unfortunately, so she will lose out on that from the time she started her UC claim.

May i ask if there's anyone else that lives with you and your mum?

Hey Poppy

My mum was getting the disability premium while I was on DLA.
March, 2018 she was put on Universal Credit in the same group of people who are eligible for the £328 a month bonus. However they were refusing to pay her this and giving different excuses. Citizens advice and welfare rights agree she meets the criteria and are assisting her with the case ongoing.
Around November 2018 she was re assessed and put on the other group on universal credit where people are not entitled to the extra premium.
She was put in the other group because the assessor made up a LOT of lies on the assessment and the decision maker put her in the other group. She is appealing that and trying to be put back into the group she was in previously.

She has medical reports and is going again to the doctors next week to collect more evidence and she is going to citizens advice tomorrow again to try and get the disability premium backdated that she should have got for months ago. The Citizens advice have said they will help with sorting out the carers allowance and back pay tomorrow too.
She is trying to get back pay she should have been getting for the disability premium while she was in the eligible universal credit group group from approximately March 2018 - November 2018.

The Citizens advice have said they will help with sorting out the carers allowance and carers back pay tomorrow too.

It is just me and my Mum living together at our home

thanks Poppy

edit : Can one claim carers and also get the £328 a month premium on universal credit ? On income support both carers allowance and disability premium can be claimed. On income support I believe the disability premium was around £400, on universal credit £328

poppy123456

You're getting confused between the disability premium paid to your mum while she claimed Income support and the LCWRA of UC. These are completely different and are paid for completely different reasons. The disability premium your mum was claiming on Income support isn't paid on UC. It can never be reclaimed.

When she was claiming the extra £328 per month which is the LCWRA element and not the disability premium she can't claim the carers element on top of that. See this link about the LCWRA and the carers element, it confirms they can't be paid together.

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Carers-with-limited-capability-for-work-Universal-Credit

Since was placed into the other group she can claim the carers element, however, it can't be backdated.

Does your mum claim daily living PIP? if so then As it's only the 2 of you at home. i'm assuming you're claiming Income related ESA yes? If so then you can claim the severe disability premium on top of your ESA and this is an extra £64.30 per week. BUT if your mum claims the carers element or carers allowance for looking after you then you won't be able to claim this extra disability premium for yourself. It can be backdated to the start of your PIP award. See link. https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/severe-disability-premium

To claim this premium you'll need to wait for the DWP to start your PIP payments after the Tribunal win and this can take 8 weeks. Once they have started you'll need to ring DWP and ask to fill out the IS10 form to claim the severe disability premium (SDP) Remember, if your mum claims either carers element or carers allowance then you will lose this SDP and you won't be entitled to it.