UC carers element after PIP award

anxiousbird

Hi all 
I contacted UC to ask whether we’ll now get the carer’s element backdated from the date of PIP claim date but they’ve replied saying that they’ll get back to me once they’ve got a confirmation of award. My questions are:
1) does PIP dept contact UC directly (without asking) to tell them about an award. If so, approx how long does it take for them to notify UC? 

2) we never claimed carer’s element as I wasn’t getting PIP, but now that I’ve got an award, will UC backdate it to the PIP start date? 

Kind regards 

calcotti

With respect to question 2 you will struggle to get backdating unless you previously told them that you were caring. If you did you will get backdating, if not they will likely refuse to backdate but some have been successful challenging this.

anxiousbird

We never formally told them my husband cares for me because they never asked and there was no form where such a question was asked. Although it’s possible we mentioned it in one of our conversations with a work coach. It just seems ridiculous that we should be penalised for for not telling them something which they never asked (or we never thought there was a need, as there was no financial gain from it anyway unless I was getting PIP). 

Well, let’s see what they say. 

calcotti

anxiousbird said:

We never formally told them my husband cares for me because they never asked and there was no form where such a question was asked. Although it’s possible we mentioned it in one of our conversations with a work coach. It just seems ridiculous that we should be penalised for for not telling them something which they never asked (or we never thought there was a need, as there was no financial gain from it anyway unless I was getting PIP). 

Well, let’s see what they say. 

There is a question during the claim process that asks if you care for anyone, followed by a second question that asks if that person gets a disability benefit.

As you say you will have to see how you get on.

anxiousbird

oh then oh then maybe we will have mentioned it there. UC knew about my disability from the beginning of our claim (last year May) n they had reduced my ‘commitments’ accordingly. We must have mentioned that my husband cared for me, although UC has never discussed anything regarding that in our time with them. 

calcotti

Has your husband ever been expected to look for work? If not, assuming he isn’t pension age, that may be because the work coach has taken into account that he is caring for you.

anxiousbird

Now that I think about it, my husband never got any appointments through with his work coach, only I used to get a call once a month to ask how I’m doing with my doctors’ appointments etc (as those were my ‘work commitments’ - working with my doctor). My husband was also in teacher training for a few months the past year. He  has now got a job though and we’ll be coming off UC soon. 

wilko

Are you claiming Carer’s allowance, if you are this will be taken into account on your UC deductions. If you are not officially claiming Carer’s Allowance then there will be no back payments to consider or deductions from your UC payments..PIP is not taken into account on claiming benefits, reference to deductions.  To claim Carer’s allowance look on government site and ensure you meet the criteria for claiming.

calcotti

wilko said: If you are not officially claiming Carer’s Allowance then there will be no back payments to consider ..

That is not correct. If UC are aware that someone was caring then, if the cared for person is awarded a disability benefit, the carer is entitled to the carer element of UC from the start of the UC assessment period in which the disability award starts. It is not necessary to claim Carer’s Allowance. UC will recalculate the entitlement for those periods - but may need prompting to do so.

The above assumes that the carer is not already getting the LCWRA element, if they are getting LCWRA then no carer element is payable.

anxiousbird

No we weren’t claiming carers allowance. How could we? I wasn’t getting PIP so my husband couldn’t even have been eligible for it! 

wilko

look on the government site for Carer’s allowance and see if you meet the criteria for claiming. PIP is not a requirement for claiming Carer’s Allowance.

anxiousbird

@wilko I’ve just check and it says that carers allowance does require the person being cared for to receive atleast one of the disability benefits (out of which I was/am only eligible for one -PIP). 

calcotti

wilko said: PIP is not a requirement for claiming Carer’s Allowance.

That is wrong, in order to claim Carer’s Allowance, or receive the carer element of UC, the cared for person must receive a relevant disability benefit, DLA care (at middle or high rate), PIP Daily Living or AA.

calcotti

Meant to include this in my previous reply but got interrupted.
https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/eligibility

The person you care for
The person you care for must already get one of these benefits:

• Personal Independence Payment - daily living component

• Disability Living Allowance - the middle or highest care rate

• Attendance Allowance

• Constant Attendance Allowance at or above the normal maximum rate with an Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

• Constant Attendance Allowance at the basic (full day) rate with a War Disablement Pension

• Armed Forces Independence Payment

If someone else also cares for the same person as you, only one of you can claim Carer’s Allowance.

tru88le

Curious why your asking UC about your carers claim being backdated, ask carers dept instead as they will be paying it and or will know the answer.

tru88le

anxiousbird said:

No we weren’t claiming carers allowance. How could we? I wasn’t getting PIP so my husband couldn’t even have been eligible for it! 

You might have been getting carers due to a dla claim which would continue uninterrupted if someone changed from income support to UC
To answer your other question about communication, no, the carers section will mot neccessarily inform UC about your carers claim.

calcotti

tru88le said:

Curious why your asking UC about your carers claim being backdated, ask carers dept instead as they will be paying it and or will know the answer.

They are not asking about claiming Carer's Allowance. They are asking about the carer element of UC which is paid as part of UC and has nothing to do with the Carer's Allowance unit.

tru88le said: To answer your other question about communication, no, the carers section will mot neccessarily inform UC about your carers claim.

OP has given no indication that they intend to claim Carer's Allowance, they have only asked about the carer element of UC and it is not necessary to claim Carer's Allowance to get this.

anxiousbird

calcotti said:

tru88le said:

Curious why your asking UC about your carers claim being backdated, ask carers dept instead as they will be paying it and or will know the answer.

They are not asking about claiming Carer's Allowance. They are asking about the carer element of UC which is paid as part of UC and has nothing to do with the Carer's Allowance unit.

tru88le said: To answer your other question about communication, no, the carers section will mot neccessarily inform UC about your carers claim.

OP has given no indication that they intend to claim Carer's Allowance, they have only asked about the carer element of UC and it is not necessary to claim Carer's Allowance to get this.

@calcotti for answering this. Also to add, I wasn’t at any point receiving DLA. This is my first time ever to receive any disability benefit n is the only benefit apart from UC that I receive. 

calcotti

anxiousbird said:..Also to add, I wasn’t at any point receiving DLA. This is my first time ever to receive any disability benefit ..

I inferred that from your opening post.