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Hi, I'm deelee. If we apply for the carer's element of UC, will this interrupt our other benefits?

deeleedeelee Member Posts: 10 Listener
edited November 2020 in Universal Credit
My partner cares for me full time and does not get paid at all for this ....we have a joint U.C claim... I was advised to apply for PIP, which I did. My  partner has not applied for the Carer's element of the UC nor any other carer Allowance. We were worried if we applied for the carer's element of UC that it would cause interruption to our benefits or deductions as others have had...is there any advice anyone out there can give us? 
Thanks

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Replies

  • Tori_ScopeTori_Scope Community Team Posts: 3,214 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello and welcome to the community @deelee :) It's great to have you with us. 

    Just so you know, I've moved your post into the Universal Credit category so that you can get some more focussed replies.
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  • janer1967janer1967 Community champion Posts: 7,440 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi and welcome to the community I'm not 100% sure but I dont think the carers element affects other benefits as long as you meet the eligibility 

    I am sure our benefits expert will be able to give you a definitive answer 
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  • Adrian_ScopeAdrian_Scope Testing Team, Community Team Posts: 7,949 Scope community team
    Hello @deelee.

    Which other elements do you have on your UC currently? Does your partner claim LCWRA? 

    If not, he can update his details now to be your carer providing he meets the other criteria. It’s not clear if you’ve been awarded PIP or not. If you’re still waiting for a decision the carer element won’t award him any extra money until you have PIP daily living in payment.

    If you’re awarded daily living element of PIP then he would receive the carer element added onto your UC claim at £162 a month. 
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  • poppy123456poppy123456 Member Posts: 22,218 Disability Gamechanger
    edited November 2020
    Hi and welcome,

    For your partner to be able to claim for the carers element of UC you must be receiving the daily living part of PIP and they must be caring for you for at least 35 hours per week. . If yes to both then they will just need to report the changes on their journal. Providing they are not claiming the LCWRA element of UC then the extra £160 will be added to your monthly amount. Whether it can be backdated though will depend on whether your partner reported being your carer when the claim for UC was first made. It can be extremely difficult to get this element backdated.

    It doesn't affect any other benefits. Your partner does not need to claim Carers allowance to be able to claim the carers element but if they do then the carers allowance will be deducted in full from your UC entitlement. The only benefit to claiming the carers allowance is it pays class 1 NI credits and UC pays class 3. Also if claiming carers allowance it has a maximum earnings limit of £128 per week.

    Hope this helps.
    Community champion and proud winner of the 2019 empowering others award. This award was given for supporting disabled people and their families for the benefit advice i have given to members here on the community.
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  • deeleedeelee Member Posts: 10 Listener
    Hi - finally worked out how to reply - many thanks to you all for replying so quickly !  :)  

    Thank you Tori_Scope for moving my post to the UC Category  :)

    Thank you all for being there and all your welcoming voices, it is good to know you are out there!  :)
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  • deeleedeelee Member Posts: 10 Listener
    Thanks for your informative answer to my question Poppy123456......I will do as you advise  :)
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  • deeleedeelee Member Posts: 10 Listener
    Thanks again for your advice and answering my questions  - I forgot to ask another question and hope it is ok to add it here? Just to re-cap - my partner and I have a joint UC claim and my partner is my carer and we were advised to claim PIP so that my partner could get the carer element. In Oct 2020, I was awarded standard rate for PIP and have followed the advice you have all given me and today updated our journal about my PIP and my partner caring for me. thank you ! :)  But I do have another question and in need for some more advice! my partner, who is my carer is also severely deaf in one ear, which means that he is unable to hear much at all - and his new hearing aid helps a little but not much. Is it advisable to claim PIP for this or not? We have never done so as we always assumed that it would not be worth the trouble - meaning that we would get a cut in our UC claim and with all the bother with mine it really put us off...it is very limiting for him as he lost the hearing fairly recently in an accident a year ago. It affected his job and he lost it as he could not hear and understand what was being said. What would your advice be with regards to this? Thank you again!  :)
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  • poppy123456poppy123456 Member Posts: 22,218 Disability Gamechanger
    edited November 2020
    PIP isn't awarded based on any diagnosis, it will totally depend on how his conditions affect him against the PIP descriptors. It's very difficult to give any further advice here because no one knows exactly how his conditions affect his daily life. Take a look at the PIP descriptors to see if you think he could scored enough of points for an award. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Migrated_Documents/adviceguide/pip-9-table-of-activities-descriptors-and-points.pdf

    PIP isn't means tested and not part of UC so any claim would not affect your UC in a bad way. Although do be aware that not being able to do work or do the job he used to do will not help a PIP claim because it's not about your ability to work.

    It may also be worth speaking to an advice agency near you to ask for some further advice. This way he'll be able to explain his condition to them and they will be able to go through the descriptors with him over the phone. For this, start here. https://advicelocal.uk/

    If either of you, or both of you are unable to work you could send in fit notes to start the work capability assessment off for UC, if you haven't already done this.


    Community champion and proud winner of the 2019 empowering others award. This award was given for supporting disabled people and their families for the benefit advice i have given to members here on the community.
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  • deeleedeelee Member Posts: 10 Listener
    Hi and thank you again for your reply - poppy123456 and for clearing up that matter. He will have a look at that link you sent. Thank you for explaining again how PIP works too.
    Thank you again it is so appreciated.  :)
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  • deeleedeelee Member Posts: 10 Listener
    Hello there
    I wanted to update you regarding my query about my partner wanting to claim the carer element of UC...(Just to remind you, we have a joint UC claim and I was awarded LCWRA since January 2020 - my partner is unemployed and began caring for me full time since November 2019. I was awarded standard PIP last month, Oct 2020.)

    Following your advice, we let UC know via our journal yesterday and heard back from them about an hour later via the journal. We were told that merely stating this on the journal that I now have PIP and my partner is now caring for me over 35 hours a week was not enough and that it would need to be declared through updating "change in circumstances" .

    They then said that they had not known that my partner had been caring for me. (even though having got PIP at their advice, after first becoming sick last August 2020 and  going for the medical to get my LCWRA.
    I am now terrified at the prospect of my partner updating updating their "change in circumstances" as my carer in case this will mean proving that I am indeed being cared for - I do not know if that would happen - but I am still getting over the ordeal from PIP - which has taken from March to Oct to get done!
    If this will involve more stress - is it worth updating him as my carer? Do you know what the procedure is to claim the carers element? We do not want to claim the carers allowance, which we pointed out to them but they said this would still need to be done to claim the carers element...please can someone advise us? Many thanks again! 
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  • deeleedeelee Member Posts: 10 Listener
    Hi @poppy123456
    Thanks for all your help and advice yesterday...I wanted to update you and I am new to this type of communication so please forgive me if you have already read my update and perhaps some more advice if you have any  :).....  

    I wanted to update you regarding my query about my partner wanting to claim the carer element of UC...(Just to remind you, we have a joint UC claim and I was awarded LCWRA since January 2020 - my partner is unemployed and began caring for me full time since November 2019. I was awarded standard PIP last month, Oct 2020.)

    Following your advice, we let UC know via our journal yesterday and heard back from them about an hour later via the journal. We were told that merely stating this on the journal that I now have PIP and my partner is now caring for me over 35 hours a week was not enough and that it would need to be declared through updating "change in circumstances" .

    They then said that they had not known that my partner had been caring for me. (even though having got PIP at their advice, after first becoming sick last August 2020 and  going for the medical to get my LCWRA.
    I am now terrified at the prospect of my partner updating updating their "change in circumstances" as my carer in case this will mean proving that I am indeed being cared for - I do not know if that would happen - but I am still getting over the ordeal from PIP - which has taken from March to Oct to get done!
    If this will involve more stress - is it worth updating him as my carer? Do you know what the procedure is to claim the carers element? We do not want to claim the carers allowance, which we pointed out to them but they said this would still need to be done to claim the carers element...thank you again for your help and advice again!
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  • poppy123456poppy123456 Member Posts: 22,218 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi,

    I did advise that the change of circumstances needed to be reported through your partners journal.

    Your partner doesn't need to prove that they are caring for you, they just have to state they are caring for you for at least 35 hours per week. UC will then check that you're receiving the daily living part of PIP and once that's done the carers element will be added to your monthly maximum UC amount.

    There's no stress involved and no telephone calls to prove anything and is definitely worth reporting the changes.
    Hope this helps.
    Community champion and proud winner of the 2019 empowering others award. This award was given for supporting disabled people and their families for the benefit advice i have given to members here on the community.
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  • janer1967janer1967 Community champion Posts: 7,440 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi there poppy may not be around today I will try answer best I can 

    Yes your husband need to do the change of circumstances to claim the carers element and DWP would not presume you have a carer just because you get PIP and LCWRA I get both but dont have a carer 

    I dont think you need to prove he is caring for you but if so that shouldn't worry you if that is the case there is no assessment for carers element like PIP 

    I hope this answers your question 

    If not let me know and I will pass on to someone else who may have the answer 


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  • deeleedeelee Member Posts: 10 Listener
    Hi @poppy123456
    Thank you so so much for that, and yes it does help !  :):)
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  • janer1967janer1967 Community champion Posts: 7,440 Disability Gamechanger
    Sorry we must have replied at same time at least the advice is the same 
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  • deeleedeelee Member Posts: 10 Listener
    @janer1967
    Thanks for your reply too !  :) It all helps !  :)
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  • Adrian_ScopeAdrian_Scope Testing Team, Community Team Posts: 7,949 Scope community team
    Hi @deelee, just to add to the brilliant advice from @poppy123456 and @janer1967, to report caring you do it via your partner's online account. It isn't making a note in your journal as this is just for sending messages to your work coach and case manager. He needs to logon to his Universal Credit account, go to Homepage > Report a change of circumstances > Caring for someone

    It'll then ask him to confirm some details (such as whether the person he is caring for claims PIP, their details, if he cares for them for 35 hours a week etc).

    He won't be asked to prove that he is caring for you and it won't stop your claim. 

    I hope that helps! :)
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    Scope

    If you have a few minutes to spare, we'd appreciate your feedback on our online community.
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  • deeleedeelee Member Posts: 10 Listener
    Hi @Adrian_Scope
    Yes thank you for that added info - that does help too , thank you !  :)
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