Backdated carers element and carers allowance arrears

gigih95
gigih95 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
edited January 2024 in Benefits and income
Hi everyone, just got a couple of questions to ask and get some help on please.

I have been awarded backdated carers element this week and have been paid already. My next UC payment is 14th Dec. Will the backdated carers element be taken off my UC? 

Also this week I was given carers allowance arrears (5 weeks worth) and then my normal weekly payments. I know that carers allowance does come off UC but will the arrears also come off my UC? 

Thank you, sorry for all the questions. I’ve called both UC and the carers allowance dept and both unhelpful.

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    Carers element is not deducted from your UC. It’s an element that’s part of UC so increases your maximum entitlement by £185.86/month. 

    Carers allowance is deducted in full from UC at £332.58/month. You may have an overpayment of UC now because of the backdated carers allowance. If there’s an overpayment they will upload a letter on your journal telling you how much you owe. It will likely reduce your future UC payments to pay it back, unless you want to pay it off as a lump sum.

    For future reference you do not need to claim carers allowance to be entitled to carers element. There’s no financial gain to claiming it will UC anyway. The only advantage is you will receive class 1 NI credits for carers allowance but only class 3 for UC.

    Do also be aware of the earnings limit for carers allowance, which is £139/week. There’s no earnings limit to carers element. 
  • gigih95
    gigih95 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    poppy123456 said:
    Carers element is not deducted from your UC. It’s an element that’s part of UC so increases your maximum entitlement by £185.86/month. 

    Carers allowance is deducted in full from UC at £332.58/month. You may have an overpayment of UC now because of the backdated carers allowance. If there’s an overpayment they will upload a letter on your journal telling you how much you owe. It will likely reduce your future UC payments to pay it back, unless you want to pay it off as a lump sum.

    For future reference you do not need to claim carers allowance to be entitled to carers element. There’s no financial gain to claiming it will UC anyway. The only advantage is you will receive class 1 NI credits for carers allowance but only class 3 for UC.

    Do also be aware of the earnings limit for carers allowance, which is £139/week. There’s no earnings limit to carers element. 
    Thank you for replying to fast! I’m still in my assessment period so I’m assuming they’ll take it into account for the carers allowance arrears.
    I was worried with the carers element being taken just because it was quite a large sum on money. That’s a relief, thank you so much again.
  • gigih95
    gigih95 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    Just to add, I had to
    give up work as I have a 3yo and also caring for my grandma. Too much to do, not enough hours in a week!
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    gigih95 said:
    poppy123456 said:
    Carers element is not deducted from your UC. It’s an element that’s part of UC so increases your maximum entitlement by £185.86/month. 

    Carers allowance is deducted in full from UC at £332.58/month. You may have an overpayment of UC now because of the backdated carers allowance. If there’s an overpayment they will upload a letter on your journal telling you how much you owe. It will likely reduce your future UC payments to pay it back, unless you want to pay it off as a lump sum.

    For future reference you do not need to claim carers allowance to be entitled to carers element. There’s no financial gain to claiming it will UC anyway. The only advantage is you will receive class 1 NI credits for carers allowance but only class 3 for UC.

    Do also be aware of the earnings limit for carers allowance, which is £139/week. There’s no earnings limit to carers element. 
    I’m still in my assessment period so I’m assuming they’ll take it into account for the carers allowance arrears.

    I’m not sure what you mean by that. Assessment periods last for 1 month, every month. Whether there’s an overpayment will depend on the dates and figures. 
  • gigih95
    gigih95 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    poppy123456 said:
    gigih95 said:
    poppy123456 said:
    Carers element is not deducted from your UC. It’s an element that’s part of UC so increases your maximum entitlement by £185.86/month. 

    Carers allowance is deducted in full from UC at £332.58/month. You may have an overpayment of UC now because of the backdated carers allowance. If there’s an overpayment they will upload a letter on your journal telling you how much you owe. It will likely reduce your future UC payments to pay it back, unless you want to pay it off as a lump sum.

    For future reference you do not need to claim carers allowance to be entitled to carers element. There’s no financial gain to claiming it will UC anyway. The only advantage is you will receive class 1 NI credits for carers allowance but only class 3 for UC.

    Do also be aware of the earnings limit for carers allowance, which is £139/week. There’s no earnings limit to carers element. 
    I’m still in my assessment period so I’m assuming they’ll take it into account for the carers allowance arrears.

    I’m not sure what you mean by that. Assessment periods last for 1 month, every month. Whether there’s an overpayment will depend on the dates and figures. 
    Yeah I know, I got the arrears for my carers allowance on the 30th which is in my assessment period so I won’t have had an overpayment because they will already take it into account 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    It will depend on the exact dates. 
  • gigih95
    gigih95 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    Yes, I know my exact dates and it falls in the assessment period
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    The reason I said it depends on the exact dates is because you said you were owed 5 weeks carers allowance but UC is a monthly benefit paid 1 month in arrears. 5 weeks is more than 1 month. 

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