Carers and Stamp

[anniea]

Asking for a friend of mine who has disabled son - he is now 28 yrs old.

She has been carer for the past 24 yrs - she herself suffers with polymyalgia rheumatica.

She is concerned about the coming changes to PIP and what would happen if he were to lose/downgrade his DLA and she were to lose the carers allowance. She is not sure if she can sign on for job seekers - has she paid a stamp whilst on carers allowance.

 

I could not answer her query - is a full stamp paid on carers, or just enough to pay for her state pension?

[antone]

Credits for parents and carers are class 3 contributions, and do not count towards contribution based JSA or other contributory benefits. Depending on her circumstances, she may be entitled to income based JSA, which is not based on her stamp but instead on her household income.

[anniea]

Thank you Antone - had a feeling that was the case. She is looking at different scenario's just in case her lad loses his IB/ESA and DLA. She has obvioulsy spent a large part of her life looking after him and at her time of life is going to find things hard if he does have to come off benefits. To be quite honest I do not think he will - he has a reading age of 8, but even this I question because everything he learns is parrot fashion. He is very much a child, lovely lovely boy, very vunerable, you can tell him anything silly and he believes you. I am really hoping he will not even have to go for an assessment for his transfer to ESA, it will be done on paperwork alone. He is very much afraid of people and places he does not know. Fingers crossed.