Carers Allowance

Conditions are that the carer: -

• is 16 or over
• spends at least 35 hours a week caring for someone
• are in Great Britain when you claim
• has been in Great Britain for at least 2 of the last 3 years
• are habitually resident in the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man or the Channel Islands

The person you care for must get one of these benefits: -

• Attendance Allowance
• Disability Living Allowance - the middle or highest care rate
• Constant Attendance Allowance at or above the normal maximum rate with an Industrial Injuries
• Disablement Benefit
• Personal Independence Payment daily living component

Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) started to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) from 8 April 2013 for people aged 16 to 64 with a health condition or disability. If you're a carer you don't need to do anything now, unless your circumstances change.

Exceptions You may not get Carer's Allowance if: -

• you're in full-time education, and studying for 21 hours a week or more (this includes supervised study and things like coursework and experiments, not just time spent with a tutor).
• you earn more than £100 a week (after tax)
• you get one of the benefits listed below

If you get any of the benefits listed below and they pay you £58.45 or more you may not get Carer's Allowance. Instead, Jobcentre plus will work out if these benefits can be increased or if you're entitled to other benefits.

• Bereavement Allowance
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• Incapacity Benefit
• Industrial Death Benefit
• Maternity Allowance
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• State Pension
• Training Allowance
• and others

Problems with Carers Allowance

The problem that many people face is that they declare their capabilities truthfully to begin with but their conditions vary and change so frequently that they it is difficult or impossible to describe the variations and effects of different conditions they and treatment deployed on them. They forget how they described the conditions on their DLA forms and find themselves subject to scrutiny or investigation and accused of lying in the first place or failing to notify a change of circumstances.

Carers need to be careful that the declarations are true and change of circumstances coordinated with the person receiving DLA and similar benefits to avoid being accused jointly or in conspiracy which happens quite frequently and inadvertently.

Legal Advice - Claimant need to advise changes or circumstance in order to cover themselves against the risk of criminal investigation. A record of contacts need to be made and it needs to be clear which completed form [if any] the claimant is referring to.