New claim

arthur34
arthur34 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
in Universal Credit (UC)
Hi I’ve just been made redundant and my wife has ms I’ve put in to claim Carers allowance and we both have a universal credit claim in is there anything else we can claim for, my wife gets pip as well .am I right to put a claim in for Carers at the same time as it’s a separate claim do I need to tell the jobcentre before our interview on Friday .Never been out of work for a long long time so is a bit stressful with it all thanks 

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,458 Championing
    Hi and welcome,

    I'm one of the community champions here on scope and i'm here to help and advise others.

    As you claim UC then your carers allowance will be deducted £1 for £1 from your UC amount. You need make sure that you report the changes on your journal that you're caring for your wife and then they will add the carers element onto your monthly amount.

    Unless you live in Scotland there's no financial gain to claiming Carers allowance and UC because you can claim the carers element of UC without having to claim carers allowance. The only advantage is that carers allowance pays class 1 NI and UC pays class 3.

    UC is one monthly payment and the only other benefit that you maybe entitled to is Council tax reduction because it's not part of UC. To claim this, if you don't already then you'll need to contact your local council because all councils have their own criteria.

    Hope this helps.
  • arthur34
    arthur34 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    thanks thanks so I’m the journal part i need to just say I’ve put a claim in for Carers as I look after my wife 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,458 Championing
    No, you need to report that you're caring for your wife and then the carers element will be added. They will already know about the carers allowance claim because carers allowance will contact them.
  • Chloe_Alumni
    Chloe_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 10,506 Championing
    Hi @arthur34 and a warm welcome to the community, how are you getting on?
  • arthur34
    arthur34 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    hi and thank you very much ,
    finding it a bit hard at the moment it’s hard knowing what we can claim my wife has ms and it’s very stressful for us both I’ve not been used to being out of work and have also just realised we have no insurance cover for our mortgage every other cover but that ,my son from previous relationship is living with us so his mam cancelled his child benefit and we have to claim for it now but this stops our universal credit claim for him until this is sorted so even less money until it’s sorted I feel like they make it hard to claim anything I’ve worked hard all my life so did my wife until her ms and just need someone to talk to 
  • Joanne_Alumni
    Joanne_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 185 Empowering
    Hello @arthur34, 
    Welcome to the Community!
    Has your wife had a work capability assessment through UC? Does she get the Limited Capability for Work Related Activity element?


  • arthur34
    arthur34 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    We are unsure what we are getting until beginning of feb and my wife hasn’t had a works capability assessment as of yet as she has a 3 month fit note in 
  • Chloe_Alumni
    Chloe_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 10,506 Championing
    It must be hard to be left in the dark at the moment.. Please do let us know how you get on in February. :)
  • arthur34
    arthur34 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    Will do thanks 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,458 Championing
    I see that you've only recently claimed UC. You can ask for an advance payment if you're struggling financially but do be aware that this will need to be repaid back from future UC payments.

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