How far back can you claim for Carers Allowence

sara477

Hi everyone. I recently went through my pip review and my award has remained enhanced/enhanced. My daughter was caring for me until she decided to start working in April 2021 she didn’t claim carers Allowence my son also lives with me and has taken over the responsibilities of looking after me. He is on universal credit. I don’t receive SDP because they live at home. So how far back can I claim Carers Allowence for. 

  Many thanks 

poppy123456

HI,

It can be backdated for a maximum of 3 months but when claiming UC there's no financial gain to claiming both of those together because the carers allowance is deducted in full from any UC entitlement, so if he's been claiming UC for the whole of the 3 months he won't be owed any money as such because CA will pay him the 3 months and then he'll have an overpayment for UC. The only difference being that UC pays class 3 NI credits and CA pays class 1. The only good thing is that carers allowance can be paid weekly so it can help budgeting a little easier.

He can claim the carers element of UC which is an extra £163.73 per month and you don't need to claim Carers allowance to be entitled to this. Although unless he reported being your carer onto his journal previously then it will be extremely difficult to get this backdated.

sara477

Hi x once again thank you poppy123456. So it’s better to go for Carers element. Can he apply for this on his journal. 

poppy123456

For the carers element he needs to report the changes onto his journal. With this his work commitments will change and he'll be in the no work requirements group so won't be expected to look for work or attend any appointments.

He can still apply for Carers allowance if he wants to but do be aware of the earnings limit that comes with it.