Career Allowance

james19o6

Hello Guys
My Mother has been awarded PIP last month. And my father is looking after her. My dad contacted the universal credit and have seen that there is also a online application for the career allowance. On Universal they stated that he can receive £162.00 a month and career allowance states £68.00 a week (if i am not wrong). Could someone explain this please if he get automatically both or what does he have to do?

Many Thanks

poppy123456

HI,

When claiming carers allowance and UC at the same time there's no financial gain to this because the carers allowance is always deducted £1 for £1 from any UC entitlement. Unless they're living in Scotland and then he will receive a carers allowance supplement payment twice a year.

As UC is paid weekly and UC is paid monthly if claiming carers allowance as well as UC then they deduct £291 per month from the UC entitement. Carers allowance then pays the person caring separately. Carers Allowance is £67.25 per week and can be paid weekly or 4 weekly. It also pays class 1 NI credits where as UC pays class 3.

He can claim the carers element of UC without having to claim the carers allowance.

If he want's to claim the carers allowance as well then he'll need to claim this and online is the quickest way to claim.

To also add to the above, to claim carers allowance he mustn't earn more than £128 per week after deductions.

https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/eligibility

james19o6

Thank you very much @poppy123456, this has cleared me and i will forward this to him. So as a result, claiming just the UC careers allowance is better 162 a month. As you can claim both but they will deduct some money from their entilements. Or is it better just to claim Career allowance online and not the UC Career Allowance? As the online format pays higher amount?

poppy123456

You're welcome.

The £162 per month is called Carers element and to claim this he needs to report a change on his journal.

Carers allowance doesn't have to be claimed to get the carers element. If he does claim it then it will be deducted in full from their UC entitlement. Yes it's a higher amount but as advised, unless they're living in Scotland there's no financial gain to claiming it, other than it's can be paid weekly which may help the budgeting because UC is paid monthly and some find it very difficult to manage a single monthly payment.

james19o6

Great i will then advise him just to claim the career element as it better off than the career allowance. 
Many thanks again

Adrian_Scope

Hi @james19o6. 

Just to clarify, whether he claims just Carer Element of Universal Credit or Carer's Allowance and the Carer Element of UC, he'll receive the same amount overall.

If he just claims it from UC, his UC will go up £162 a month. 

If he claims it from Carer's Allowance and from UC, it just means his money will come from two different places. He'll still be £162 a month better off overall. 

james19o6

Thank you Guys,
I just have a question as my mum was awarded pip last month July 2020, but my dad was caring for her since November 2019. Would they be able to get a Backdated pay from career element or career allowance? 
Just to add she applied for pip in march 2020 and was awarded in july 2020.
Many thanks

poppy123456

Neither the carers element or carers allowance will be backdated to before start of the PIP award (March) because no qualifying benefit was being claimed at that time.

If the carers allowance is claimed from the start of the PIP award and UC was being claimed at the time then any backdated money received from carers allowance will mean they will have an overpayment of UC because as advised the carers allowance is deducted £1 for £1 from the UC entitlement. There's no financial benefit to claiming carers allowance and UC at the same time, as previously advised.

Carers element can be backdated but if he didn't report being her carer from the start of the PIP claim then it can be very difficult to get this element backdated but he can certainly try.

james19o6

Hello guys
So my dad has got his carer element verified last week. But this morning he received a call from Universal Credit. They asked him when my mum started her pip claim and since when he is caring for her. And then she said that she will send this all to the decision makers which can take up to 2 weeks? Can anyone tell me or advice what this means?

poppy123456

The carers element can be backdated to the start of the PIP award, as advised previously but it's never easy to get this. This is most likely what the phone call was about but a decision maker will decide whether it can or can't be backdated.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @james19o6. Glad to hear they've verified the carer element of UC. Fingers crossed they can sort the backdate for him too.