Carers allowance reduction of benefits

Aliciasam

Hi can someone tell me if I claim carers allowance for someone will this reduce their 1)attendance allowence, 2) state pension and 3)Council tax.
I myself on Universal credit only.

Thank you.

poppy123456

Do they live alone? If they do then they maybe claiming pension credit that includes the Severe disability premium. (SDP) If you claim either carers allowance or carers element of UC for looking after them then the SDP will stop.

calcotti

Be aware that claiming Carers Allowance will not increase your income because it will be deducted from your UC. If you are a carer you can claim the carer element of UC without claiming UC.

If your UC includes the LCWRA element you cannot be paid the carer element.

Please note what poppy has said about impact on Pension Credit if applicable. The Council Tax Reduction calculation will also include SDP if he lives alone which would be lost (but this might not make any difference depending on his circumstances).

Aliciasam

@poppy123456 no they don't live alone and is taking attendance allowance at a low rate. Please advise now on this.

Aliciasam

@calcotti if I'm getting UC now of 330 so after carers allowance this is will be only around 52 pound a month. Am I correct?

Aliciasam

@calcotti I'm pregnant on UC. Would that affect my carers element

calcotti

Aliciasam said:

@calcotti if I'm getting UC now of 330 so after carers allowance this is will be only around 52 pound a month. Am I correct?

You can simply tell UC you are a carer and you will then get the carer element which will increase your UC by £168/month. 

If you claim CA will be deducted from the UC at a rate of £302.03/month.

Aliciasam said:

@calcotti I'm pregnant on UC. Would that affect my carers element

No.

There’s information about UC and pregnancy here 
https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Pregnancy-overview-Universal-Credit

Aliciasam

@calcotti yeh so if I claim CA while being on UC I only get 52 a month plus carers element of 168 making a total of £220 a month..
 which is much less than if I simply don't claim carers allowance.  

poppy123456

Aliciasam said:

@calcotti yeh so if I claim CA while being on UC I only get 52 a month plus carers element of 168 making a total of £220 a month..
 which is much less than if I simply don't claim carers allowance.  

That's not correct. You will also receive the carers allowance of £69.70 per week, paid separately.

calcotti

You get exactly the same money in total if you claim UC and CA or if you just claim UC (with UC incorporating the carer element in both cases).

Aliciasam

@poppy123456 yes which it says that for every pound of carers allowence your universal credit is cut by a pound. 
Thus: if I get £69.70 per week that's £278.80 per month deducted from universal credit of £334.. giving me a total of around £56 a month. 

Universal credit £56
Carers element £168
Total £224 monthly. 

Much less than just getting universal credit alone.

calcotti

Universal credit £56
Carers element £168
Total £224 monthly. 

Much less than just getting universal credit alone.

You’ve ignored the CA you will also be getting.

The carer element is part of UC

Your UC is currently £334.91. If you claim the carer element your UC becomes £503.72.

If you claim CA you get paid the equivalent of £302.03/month (£69.70 x 52 weeks / 12 months) which is deducted from the UC.

Your income becomes £302.03 CA plus UC of £201.69 making a total of £503.72. The same total.

poppy123456

Aliciasam said:

@poppy123456 yes which it says that for every pound of carers allowence your universal credit is cut by a pound. 
Thus: if I get £69.70 per week that's £278.80 per month deducted from universal credit of £334.. giving me a total of around £56 a month. 

Universal credit £56
Carers element £168
Total £224 monthly. 

Much less than just getting universal credit alone.

Carers element is part of UC. Carers allowance is a separate benefit. £302.03 is deducted from UC for the carers allowance, not £278.80. The reason for this is because UC is a monthly benefit and CA is weekly and there's 4.3 weeks in a month, not 4 weeks. To get the deducted amount you do the following.. £69.70 x 52 then divide it by 12.

Aliciasam

@calcotti but you didn't deduct carers allowance from universal credit. As it says for every pound of carers allowence you get your uc will be cut by a pound. 
So £503 (UC + CE) minus CA (69.70 x4) = 227 a month.

calcotti

Aliciasam said:

@calcotti but you didn't deduct carers allowance from universal credit. As it says for every pound of carers allowence you get your uc will be cut by a pound. 
So £503 (UC + CE) minus CA (69.70 x4) = 227 a month.

I don’t know what you are getting at.

As explained by both myself and poppy the deduction is £302.03/month because there are more than 4 weeks in a month.

My calculation said you would get £201 UC plus £302 of CA making a total of £503. Or you can just claim UC and get £503.

poppy123456

Aliciasam said:

@calcotti but you didn't deduct carers allowance from universal credit. As it says for every pound of carers allowence you get your uc will be cut by a pound. 
So £503 (UC + CE) minus CA (69.70 x4) = 227 a month.

Again, you are not correct here, the deductions were made a few times in the thread. Calcotti's calculation sums it up perfectly. So again £168.81+£334.91 =£503.72 UC before deductions.

Carers allowance £69.70 per week, which you will receive from carers allowance.

As advised above, the deduction for carers allowance is £302.03 per month because as we advised there's more than 4 weeks in a month, see calculation here.

calcotti said:

If you claim CA you get paid the equivalent of £302.03/month (£69.70 x 52 weeks / 12 months) which is deducted from the UC.

Therefore your income from UC will be £201.69 per month. Your Carers allowance will be £69.70 per week, which converted to monthly will be £303.03. Total monthly income from UC and carers allowance will be £503.72.

If you don't claim carers allowance your UC will be £334.91 + £168.81= £503.72 per month.

Aliciasam

@calcotti you know what I'm so confused. Why did you just add £201 UC with £302 CA when you already deducted it to give £201 UC???? Why did you end up adding CA again

poppy123456

Aliciasam said:

@calcotti you know what I'm so confused. Why did you just add £201 UC with £302 CA when you already deducted it to give £201 UC???? Why did you end up adding CA again

Carers allowance has been added to your total monthly income in the above calculations because as calcotti and myself have advised several times that you will receive the carers allowance separately to your UC monthly amount.

If you claim carers allowance you will be asked if you want to receive it weekly or 4 weekly. If you choose weekly it will be £69.70. If you choose 4 weekly it will be £278.80 but there will be 1 month in the year where you will receive 2 payments.

calcotti

I don’t know how many ways to keep saying the same thing. Am still trying to explain that you get the same amount of money in total.

If you claim just UC with the carer element you get paid £503/month.

If you claim CA you get paid the equivalent of £302/month. You will still get UC of £201. The combined total of UC plus CA is £503.

Aliciasam

@calcotti @poppy123456 I get it now lol. Sorry I was so confused.
Right so will the persons pension and attendance allowance Lower rate be affected?

poppy123456

Aliciasam said:

Right so will the persons pension and attendance allowance Lower rate be affected?

No. The only thing that could be affected is Pension credit, if they claim it. In a previous comment you said the person doesn't live alone? Do they live with a partner?