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Benefits Change Help

mmc1978

Hi

I am writing on behalf of my dad who I am now trying to help ensure he gets his correct entitlements. My mum passed away on 18th April and now it's time to sort out my dad's benefits. Can anyone help if I give his circumstances:

Aged 73
Gets Attendance Allowance £92.40
State Pension
No private pensions/income

To now they had a joint pension credit claim and both claimed Carers Allowance which needs reassed and no CA

His Pension Credit claim will become a single claim. Is there any benefit (to him) if someone claims Carers Allowance to look after him or is it better not to have this claimed?

My sister has offered to come live with him, she is on PIP, if she does should she claim Carers for looking after him and indeed would there be any benefit (to either of them)? My dad could claim Carers Allowance for her, is there any benefit in this? Is it better for him from a benefits perspective financially to live alone?

Sorry for all the questions but I/we are all over the place at the minute trying to deal with all this and to do the right thing.

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Comments

poppy123456

Sorry for your loss. Whether he lives alone or they live together he would be able to claim Severe disability premium because they both claim a qualifying disability benefit. If she claims carers allowance for looking after him then he won't be able to claim the SDP. It's claimed with pension credit, so once he reports the changes to them then he'll be able to claim this.

If your sister claims any of the old legacy benefits such as Income Support, Income Related ESA or JSA then she will also be able entitled to the Severe disability Premium. If she's claiming Universal Credit then there's no disability premiums payable with this.

mmc1978

Thank you both so much for responding.

My sister is getting UC. I think the best thing is that she does not live with him. Should they claim Carers Allowance or not?

So he would be living alone and and iro basic state pension, attendance allowance at £92.40 and then also he would get Pension Credit? I'm not certain how much state pension he gets but it would be the the most amount applicable I think so I assume £141.85

poppy123456

Living with hm will not affect any of their benefits. If she claims carers allowance it will be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. If her UC includes the LCWRA element for herself then she won't be able to claim the Carers element at the same time.

As previously advised, he will be entitled to the Severe disability Premium which is paid through pension credit. If someone claims carers allowance or carers element of UC for looking after him then he won't be able to claim the SDP. Which will mean financially, he'll be worse off.

calcotti

Following assumes that your sister's PIP includes the Daily Living component. If it doesn't dad cannot claim CA for looking after her and her presence with him would exclude him from SDP. However if she does get DL -

It is likely that he is better off if she does not claim Carer's Allowance for looking after him because if she doesn't he can get the SDP in his Pension Credit. However it depends how much his pension income is.

If he claims Carer's Allowance for looking after her he will also get the carer premium in the Pension Credit calculation. He will not actually be paid CA because it is classed as an overlapping benefit with State Pension (assuming the SP is more than £****.70/week). Because he will not be receiving CA your sister would still be entitled to SDP in her income based legacy benefits if applicable.

He will not be worse off financially if she lives with him.

poppy123456

calcotti said:

Because he will not be receiving CA your sister would still be entitled to SDP in her income based legacy benefits if applicable.

She claims UC..

mmc1978 said:

My sister is getting UC.

mmc1978

Again thank you all. So best scenario seems to be live alone:

State Pension
Attendance Allowance
Pension Credit with SDP
No Carers Allowance claimed

I think this would work for him. I just need to make sure he is getting what he needs as my mum dealt with all their finances until now.

calcotti

poppy123456 said:
She claims UC..

mmc1978 said:

My sister is getting UC.

Thanks poppy, I think that went up after I'd opened the thread (got distracted while i was doing my post).

calcotti

mmc1978 said:

Again thank you all. So best scenario seems to be live alone:

State Pension
Attendance Allowance
Pension Credit with SDP
No Carers Allowance claimed

I think this would work for him. I just need to make sure he is getting what he needs as my mum dealt with all their finances until now.

That is not the conclusion and is not what has been advised.

As explained, if she gets Daily Living PIP his benefits are not affected if she lives with him.

Similarly if she lives with him her benefits are not affected (except that she will obviously no longer be entitled to claim help with rent if she gets it where she currently lives).

If he were to claim Carer's Allowance for looking after her (if she gets daily Living PIP) he would get Pension Credit with SDP and carer premium (but it would not affect her benefits as he would not be paid CA).

She should not claim Carer's Allowance or the carer element of UC for looking after him.

mmc1978

Sorry, heads a bit over the place. Thanks.

I will get it all in order.

L_Volunteer

Please don't be sorry @mmc1978. We understand that these things are difficult and can be confusing and overwhelming.

How are you in general at the moment? If you need any further clarification or have any follow-up questions, please don't hesitate to let us know.

We are here for you. You don't have to face this, or anything else, alone if you don't want to

calcotti

mmc1978 said:

Sorry, heads a bit over the place. Thanks.

No need to apologise. You will be dealing with a lot at the moment. First thing is to get your dad's stuff sorted out. He and your sister can take time to think what works best for them both (finances are only one consideration).

In the short term, assuming he was already getting Pension Credit, you simply need to contact Pension Credit and let them know he is now living alone and that he gets AA and that nobody claims Carer's Allowance or the carer element for looking after him. He needs to be with you when you ring. They will then recalculate his entitlement.