LCWRA & CA

stacca

Hi i am claiming uc with my husband and 3 children. My 10 year old gets high rate care DLA and low rate mobility, we get the severely disabled child element and carers element plus carers allowance (which they deduct from our award). I've just been dismissed from my job due to my condition (psoriatic arthritis) and placed on LCWRA which will start paying next month. My question is... will we lose the carers element/allowance? I did ask my work coach who told me that because it's for my son who is under 18 nothing will change except the extra element for my LCWRA? I thought I would check as I have been given wrong information from them before. I thought my LCWRA payments would take over the carers element and I would lose carers allowance as I'm incapable for work. I still care for my son, I am just unable to do as much as I did before due to my physical difficulties. Thanks x

poppy123456

Hi,

As you are now receiving the LCWRA element, if it's you that's claiming the carers element then you won't receive both elements. Your husband will need to claim the carers element instead of you. Of course if you're receiving the carers allowance then you will need to cancel this claim as well.

You don't need to claim carers allowance to be entitled to the carers element of UC. Hope this helps.

stacca

This is what I thought. But the work coach told me not to call carers allowance and that I would still get the carers element! Can my husband claim carers element for our son if he is working? I know he cant claim carers allowance, he is Self employed works between 6 & 20 hours a week x

poppy123456

Your work coach is not correct here because you can't claim both the LCWRA and the carers element at the same time. If you are owed any backdated money from the LCWRA element then the carers element will be deducted from that amount, so you won't receive as much as you though back dated.

Yes, your husband can claim the carers element as well as work because there's no earnings limit to claiming this like there is with carers allowance. You will need to ring Carers allowance to cancel your claim ASAP, then report the changes on your journal that you no longer care for your child.

Your partner will then need to report the changes that they are now caring for your child.

stacca

Thankyou. Glad I asked on here before getting into any trouble x

poppy123456

You're welcome,

You wouldn't have got into any trouble you just wouldn't have received both elements at the same time.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @stacca. When you call Carer's Allowance ensure they cancel the claim and not just suspend it. It's quite common for them just to suspend payment which then leads to it still being deducted from UC and blocks someone else claiming the carer element.

As Poppy said, you won't receive both the LCWRA payment and carer element, so you are best switching the carer to your partner. This will also prevent him being hit with the Minimum Income Floor which is an extra bonus!