Carers allowance and ESA

Debbie1234

Hello all 😁
Could I please get some more help? I am on employment support allowance support group and my husband is a self-employed window cleaner who hasn’t worked for many years as he is taking care of me. I also get enhanced mobility and enhanced daily living. We have never put in for carers allowance as it seemed so much hassle after fighting so hard to get Pip. For my husbands own mental health he would like to start working around 10 hours a week doing a bit of gardening he would be earning £100 a week and we found employment support allowance and they told us that he is allowed to earn £20 so the rest of the money which would be £80 would get deducted from my employment and support allowance. The question I would like to know is he able to get carers allowance and if so would that put him over the limit and then my employment and support allowance would stop or would they disregard the carers allowance money. Again it has taken me many years to be on the support group employment and support allowance so I wouldn’t want anything to jeopardise coming off this benefit if that makes sense.

You have all helped me so much so far and I was wondering if you could help me with this also many thanks ☺️ 

poppy123456

If your husband claims carers allowance for looking after you it would be deducted in full from your ESA. Carers allowance would then pay him separately and they would add a carers premium to your ESA. 

Your overall benefit entitlement would increase by £38.85 per week.
Just a thought, in this situation you maybe better off claiming Universal Credit. 

If you’re in the Support Group for ESA you would be entitled to the LCWRA element from the start of your claim. 

You would also have the work allowance, which means that a certain amount of earnings received each month would be ignored before the 55% deduction applies. 

If you claim for help with the rent the work allowance is £344, if you don’t it’s £573. 

UC is much more generous in this case because of the deductions in your ESA from your partner working.
You should use a benefits calculator before applying but UC LCWRA pays more than ESA support group in this case. 

If you claim UC then your partner can report being your carer and your UC will include the carers element which is an extra £168.81 per month. No need to claim carers allowance to be entitled to this.
Just to add further the advice you received from ESA is correct. As you are the main claimant of your ESA then if your husband works there’s a £20 disregard before your ESA is deducted £1 for £1.

Debbie1234

wow Poppy you are so knowledgeable thank you so much ☺️ 
So let me clarify this so that I can tell you fully. My husband would like to earn £100 a week working self-employed and we would still be able to get the benefits that you have said above?
Also would I have to go through all the horrendous interviews to make a claim for universal credit it is so confusing I have no idea and when we phoned yesterday the DWP funnily enough never mentioned any of this 🙄

How do I make a claim for universal credit please?

this website is the best

Debbie1234

Also poppy with the extra money that my husband would get for carers allowance On top of his earnings hundred pound a week would that mean my employment and support allowance would stop as it is over the limit

poppy123456

The work allowance will apply to UC If you claim this because it applies to the claim, not the person that has LCWRA. 

If you claim UC any Income Related ESA will end 2 weeks later. 

If you’re in the Support Group you will be entitled to the LCWRA element from the start. You will need to attend a first appointment at your local job centre, just to agree to your claimant commitments. There will be no further appointments to attend.
As your partner will be your carer they will also not have to attend any further appointments. 

You maybe asked for a fit note when you first claim but tell them that you transferred from ESA Support Group. 

First payment will be 4 weeks and 6 days after your claim started. 

If you claim housing benefit for help with the rent then this will continue for a further 2 weeks and then end. 

Your rent will then be paid as part of your maximum UC entitlement.
Please make sure you use a benefits calculator before starting a claim because once you claim you can’t go back. https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/Intro/Home?cid=2a6adb49-5a91-43a2-bc6d-2cd77fed5cdc

Debbie1234

WOW 😮 thank you so much…. I do suffer with severe agoraphobia so attending the first in to view it’s giving me palpitations but it seems it would be worth it in the long run doesn’t it?

Can I just ask again if my husband claimed carers allowance at the moment and still earning £100 a week take-home that would make it £169.90 total would that mean that they would take away and stop my employment support allowance? 

poppy123456

Your ESA should currently be £187 per week. This is couple rate, Support Group rate and Enhanced disability premium couples.

Your husbands earnings would reduce this by £80/week. Total ESA would be £107 per week, without carers allowance.

Your husband claims carers allowance £69.70/week - £107 = £37.30 + carers premium £38.85=£76.15.

Therefore your total benefits entitlement would be ESA £76.15/week and Carers allowance £69.70/week. Total weekly amount £145. You would also need to report the changes for council tax reduction because your husbands earnings may affect entitlement and it will need to be recalculated.

Do you claim housing benefit for help with the rent? Do you claim tax credit?

Debbie1234

Thank you poppy we do claim housing benefit and at the moment we receive full housing benefit and we only have to pay £20 a month council tax my husband just said that when he spoke to the man from DWP yesterday he mentioned that we would be better off on universal credit but I thought they were trying to lie to us and scam us 🤣
It looks like he was genuinely trying to help us that is a shock to me

poppy123456

Debbie1234 said:

Thank you poppy we do claim housing benefit and at the moment we receive full housing benefit

Which could mean your husbands earnings may affect your housing benefit entitlement as well.

I will also urge extreme caution with any advice given by the call centre staff but this time, they were correct.

As you claim for help with the rent then your work allowance would be £344/month. Which means that amount of earnings will be ignored before the 55% deductions apply.

When using the benefits calculator please make sure you add both your details, including the earnings he will recieve from working, also make sure you add that he's caring for you. 

Debbie1234

Thank you so much for your help Poppy it really is appreciated so much. So on the benefits calculator do I put in what we would be on if we were on universal credit

poppy123456

You're welcome. It will ask you questions about each of you individually. For yourself, put that you're claiming ESA and in the Support Group. For your partner, put they care for you and their potential earnings.

If you're not currently claiming any tax credits then your UC will look something like this.

Standard couples element £525.72 (if at least one of you is over 25)

LCWRA element £354.28

Carers element. £168.81

housing element ??     please add the amount.

Then add them all together.

If his earnings are aprox £400 per month then £344 of that will be ignored. Therefore £56 x 0.55. £30.80 deduction in your UC for earnings.

Hope this helps.

PIP will of course not affect your UC.

calcotti

Just to add, if you find the benefits calculators confusing then please approach an advice agency to do a benefits check for you.
When doing the benefits calculators yourself use two different calculators to check whether or not you get the same answer, there may be some small differences but any significant difference means that you have put information in incorrectly on at least one of them.

poppy123456

Also remember that ESA is a weekly benefit paid fortnightly. UC is paid monthly. This means that the figues for UC may not seem as much as you think so you'll need to convert your ESA total amount to a monthly figure to compare the difference.

Debbie1234

Hello again 😊
I have done the benefits calculator for ESA and universal credit and it seems we would be slightly better off but we would lose child tax credits that I get weekly for my son so for the time being we are going to stay on what we are but we are very happy because we have never claimed for carers and that little bit extra will help. Thank you have a lovely evening everyone

poppy123456

Debbie1234 said:

Hello again 😊
I have done the benefits calculator for ESA and universal credit and it seems we would be slightly better off but we would lose child tax credits that I get weekly for my son so for the time being we are going to stay on what we are but we are very happy because we have never claimed for carers and that little bit extra will help. Thank you have a lovely evening everyone

Back earlier in the thread I asked if you’re claiming other benefits such as tax credit, housing benefit. You said you claim housing benefit but didn’t mention tax credits so I assumed you weren’t claiming it.
Yes tax credits would stop but you would be entitled to the child element of UC to replace that. Which I didn’t include in my calculation. How old is your child/ or children?

With the reduction in your ESA if your husband works I can’t see how you would be only be slightly better off. 

If your husband starts work then your housing benefit could also be reduced as well as CTR changes.

The managed migration has already started for those claiming the old legacy benefits, so you could soon be invited to apply anyway. 

calcotti

poppy123456 said: The managed migration has already started for those claiming the old legacy benefits, so you could soon be invited to apply anyway. 

Just to note - currently only in Medway, Bolton, Weymouth and Truro.

Debbie1234

Good morning Poppy 😁
I hope you are well? Oh dear me! All this is terribly confusing by tax credit I thought you meant council tax credit 🤣 Honestly I am so dizzy I don’t know how I get from day to day. I went on the link that you sent me but again I got terribly confused even with that.

If I tell you exactly what we get would you be so kind as to work it out for me please I don’t trust other people from the DWP.

so here goes:
at the moment we get
£187 weekly esa
£65.94 child tax credits (my son is 16 but has just been accepted to stay in school full time to do his A levels)
£21.80 child benefit
£627.60 pip both elements enhanced 

We don’t claim any carers elements at the moment but we would like to start at the beginning of September and my husband would like to start working one day a week for 5 hours doing friends/family windows earning £100
self employed (That way he can manoeuvre the days around to suit me in case I am having an extremely bad day and he needs to be home with me due to my panic attacks) I feel he really needs this for his own mental health it will get him out a bit and also I can be quite depressing to be around when I am very poorly

thank you for all your help 🥰
I remember speaking to you poppy when I have been assessed and got zero points for PIP on both elements and I was so down and after speaking to you and a couple of others I put in for a reconsideration mandatory thing and one and now I am on enhanced both this wouldn’t of been possible without this lovely webpage and the lovely people on it

Debbie1234

Also I would just like to mention that we get full housing benefit at the moment we are in a three bedroomed property my son as one bedroom we have the other bedroom and we have a small box room with a bed in it when I have really really bad days I have to sleep in there due to being raped and violently attacked I have awful nightmares and I can punch and kick out my poor husband has had black eyes before now

Debbie1234

So for a few years we haven’t had to pay bedroom tax for the other bedroom the council have been very compassionate and understanding and realise that we need that extra bedroom for me

poppy123456

You're very welcome! I'm sleepy, should have gone to bed earlier. The sun is shinning this morning so that's a good thing.

 Just one quick question (while i drink my first cuppa) how much housing benefit do you receive? That's the only thing you didn't mention above. I will then do all the sums for you.

Debbie1234

Oh poppy you are an angel honestly 🥰 It will be so nice when we phone up to make the claim to know roughly what we will be getting….
At the moment we do get full housing benefit which is £117 weekly 😁
we pay £20 a month towards our council tax 
enjoy your coffee ☕️ 
I am on my 3rd 🤣
The Sun is shining and it is a beautiful day my husband has planted some sunflowers from seed and they are now above the shed so when I have bad days and have to stay in the house I can see these beautiful sunflowers waving in the Sun 🌞❤️