7. Carers
Are you, or is someone you know caring for someone who has support needs? If so you may be missing out on claiming extra financial help.
If you spend at least 35 hours per week caring for a severely disabled person you may also be to claim Carer's Allowance (CA). It doesn't matter whether you live with the person you care for or live somewhere else.
To qualify for CA the person you are caring for must be getting either Attendance Allowance (AA), Disability Living Allowance (DLA) care component paid or the daily Living Component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP). You must also:
- not be in full time education
- have earnings which are below £123 per week after certain allowable deductions have been made.
Housing benefit and Council Tax Benefit
If you are on a low income you may be entitled to claim Housing Benefit to help you pay your rent and/or Council Tax Benefit to help you pay your council tax. These benefits can be paid to people on low income and people with modest incomes who have made savings for their retirement.
The benefits of the person you care for
If the person you care for receives a severe disability premium think carefully before claiming a UC carer’s element as the overall impact can be a significant loss of benefit overall.
In some situations, the person you care for can lose money if you start to receive CA or UC carer’s element. This can happen if the person you care for receives a severe disability premium or addition as part of their Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, ESA, JSA, or Council Tax Support. This is worth an extra £65.85 a week. Their severe disability premium or addition is not affected if you are awarded an underlying entitlement to CA only for example CA is not being paid.
Other benefits and underlying entitlement
CA has a complicated relationship with other benefits and because of this, some carers miss out on their full entitlement. It is possible your CA claim can affect the benefits entitlement of the person you care for.
You cannot normally receive CA and another ‘earnings replacement’ benefit such as State Pension because of overlapping benefit rules. If the other benefit pays less than the weekly CA rate of £66.15, you are entitled to a top-up of CA to that amount. If the other benefit pays more than £66.15 a week and you qualify for CA, you are awarded an ‘underlying entitlement’ only. You are not paid any CA, but the underlying entitlement might help you to qualify for higher rates of means-tested benefits like Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support (or Council Tax Reduction).
These benefits can include an extra amount called a carer’s premium or addition. An underlying entitlement to CA can be worthwhile if you have a low income, because it may allow you to claim these benefits, or get an increase, for the first time. Many carers, especially over State Pension age, could be helped by the underlying entitlement rules.
Here we have used Mary as an example.
Mary is 66 and has an income of £175.00 a week, from State Pension (£130.00) and private pension (£45.00). She does not qualify for Pension Credit as her income is more than £167.25 – the basic Pension Credit rate. Mary cares for her sister who gets Attendance Allowance. She applies for CA but only gets an underlying entitlement because her State Pension is more than the rate of CA, £66.15 a week. As she has CA entitlement, her overall Pension Credit entitlement is now £204.10 a week – the basic rate of £167.25 plus a carer addition of £36.85. This means she is now entitled to Pension Credit of £29.10 a week to bring her income up to the Pension Credit rate.
If you are awarded CA or an underlying entitlement, make sure you check whether you can get other means-tested benefits. It’s a good idea to get a benefit check from an independent advice agency
Universal Credit (UC) and Carers
Universal Credit and Carers is a new benefit for working age people. UC can include an extra amount or ‘element’ if you are a carer. You do not have to claim CA to qualify for the UC carer’s element, but you have to satisfy all the CA conditions, apart from the earnings condition. This means you can get the UC carers element if you earn more than £123 per week as long as you meet the other CA conditions. If you qualify for the UC carer’s element (£36.97 a week), you are exempt from the benefit cap, but the person you care will lose their severe disability premium if they receive this which is an addition worth £65.85 a week.