Income support + Carers?

[Merker]

Hey guys... so here my situation.

 

Mother is terminally ill and has been claiming middle rate DLA for years. My grandmother had been doing most of the caring for my mum previously (she had her pension so was not able to claim CA) since I was working until August last year (left my job back then)

 

I was then on the sick and claiming ESA until the start of Feb this year. As soon as I had recovered, my DR stopped giving me sicknotes and I had warnings off the ESA department saying my money will be stopped if I don't send them more sicknotes (I didnt send anymore sicknotes and thus assumed the claim was closed).

 

That was until the infamous ATOS got in touch about my assessment. They booked me in for it in a weeks time and the letter actually threatened me claiming "if you do not attend your ESA payments will be stopped".... What payments? My payments had already stopped weeks before. I'm not even bothering to cancel my appointment with them, they can pull in their dr's and nurses and sit waiting for me and waste their time just like they would have done with me if I was still ill, getting signed off by my DR and actually attended.

 

Right back on topic.

 

I put in an application for carers allowance now. I thought about it and even when I was on ESA I was still helping out with my mum for 35 hours or more per week and now i'm better and not receiving ESA I am caring for her more often.

 

I was told by some friends about a possibility of income support to go with it? I did tick on my CA form about IS but since I gathered they wouldnt be about in their department at weekends I have decided to phone them on Monday morning and apply.

 

 

Just wondering if this is correct and I will get IS as well as CA and if so how much will I get per week in total? (Not on any other income, not in employment and have no savings or cash of any sort to my name). Also regarding backdating... I requested the CA to be backdated from the date my final DR's note for my ESA claim ran out. Would I be able to do the same with IS and request backdating from the same date?

 

Thanks

[antone]

Yes, you can claim IS if you are in receipt of CA for someone. Your CA would be deducted from the IS, but you would also be entitled to the IS Carer's Premium, so you would be better off.

 

IS can be backdated for up to three months (or to the date you first satisfied the conditions of entitlement, whichever is later), but you must explain why you did not claim earlier and a Decision Maker will look at the circumstances and decide whether you have shown "Good Cause" (GC) for a late claim. Note that "I didn't know I could claim" is not usually accepted as GC, but if you were misinformed by a DWP officer about your entitlement or you have some other reason for the delay it may be OK.

 

I believe you can claim IS while you are waiting for a decision about your CA, but I'm not 100% sure about this.

[Merker]

Thanks for the reply.

 

I guess it may be difficult to backdate my IS from the sounds of that. I guess it was almost like "I dont know" as back at the start of Feb when my ESA payments were stopped, I didn't know that would be when the DR would stop giving me sicknotes (1 visit I was given a sicknote, the next a few weeks later I was better and didnt need 1 according to them). Then the ESA people only told me about going on Jobseekers, since my fit for work form only gave me the option of saying I was fit for work and was claiming JSA or that I wasnt given a DR's note but still consider myself unfit for work

[antone]

It does sound a bit unfortunate the way it has worked out. The thing to remember is that Jobcentre staff aren't benefit advisers as such - they're only trained on one benefit, usually, and it's up to you to figure out what's available. If the person who mentioned JSA had no idea you were a carer for someone on DLA they would have had no reason to think you might be entitled to IS and CA.

 

Of course, you could always ask for a backdate. They might well say no, but all you'd lose is the time taken to complete the relevant form.

[flumps1976]

I would recommend calling the contact centre tomorrow morning 0800 0556688 to make a claim for IS, you can state that you would like to request the claim is taken from the date you applied for carers allowance as you were not advised to claim at the same time and that due to caring for your Mum you had not applied at the same time.

[Merker]

Been a few problems with my claim...

 

They send letters back saying my grandmother has "underlying entitlement" to carers allowance. Strange because she told me she has never applied for it before as she was told she wouldnt get it due to her pension.

 

She gets paid something like £177 per week (Which shows on her statement as DWP pension credit or something like that).

 

I have no idea how it will work out now, is £177 per week the normal for a pension? Would it mean if I sent back the forms and put myself as person to be claiming carers allowance that she would lose money?

 

Thanks

[Feebee_71]

£177 is quite a lot for just basic pension, my dad is 82 and gets £147.40 a week (he also gets an occupational pension and isn't entitled to any enhancements). Perhaps your grandmother gets guaranteed pension credit which ensures she has a specific level of income each week.

 

Feebee_71

[Nystagmite]

The £177 might be a mix of carers premium and money to bring up her income up to £147? I am working on the assumption that she only has her state pension coming in.

[Merker]

Thanks guys, well it could be 147. I only glanced at her statement a while back.

 

She did say she had a pension form with her name and new pension rates for april and it didnt say anything about carers allowance on it, just pension credit.

 

I know whatever the amount is, its over £100 a week thus wouldnt that mean no carers allowance top ups would be paid as you have to be on £100 or less a week to get carers allowance?

 

edit:

 

just seen her total amount from april is £180.67 per week

 

something like £120 for pension

then an extra £60 for state pension credit

Edited March 17, 2013 by Merker

[Nystagmite]

That £100 a week is if you're working.

 

If you receive a pension, you can't receive carers allowance too. But you have an underlying entitlement and receive the premium for it.

[Merker]

Ahhh I see, how much would that premium be that she could be getting?

 

Basically I know a few years back my grandmother spoke to a social worker who told her she would not get anything for carers allowance so she never actually applied.

 

Just strange that she had a letter as well as me saying that they know she has an "underlying entitlement" and that her pension paid is that high per week. Typical of the DWP they didnt actually give amounts she was getting.

 

Trying to work it out because if she will lose £60 a week and I will be paid £60 a week, its hardly worth me becoming the named carer as I could let her continue getting that money and go on jobseekers

[ellie12022]

Only one person can be registered as a carer so if your grandmother is down as your mum's carer then you need to discuss things with her. She may not be getting carer's allowance but she could be getting the 'underlying entitlement' and any premiums linked with that.

[ellie12022]

Also you will need to close down your claim for ESA if you are not eligible anymore. A live claim for ESA could stop you from getting anything else such as job seekers.

[Merker]

Thanks, yea she is down as a carer from what the forms said (underlying entitlement) but wondering how much that is per week? so we can work out if its worth me going on it (like if I got paid more than what she gets for this "underlying entitlement", then it would be worth me claiming it instead). It doesnt say on any forms how much that would be and on her pension form it doesnt mention the underlying entitlement or carers premium

[ellie12022]

Maybe you could just claim income support as a carer? http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dmgch20.pdf

[ellie12022]

Carer's premium is about £30 per week, whereas carer's allowance is about £58. Looking at DWP website it looks like if you're on a pension you get pensioner premiums but not carer's premium or other premiums with housing benefit. https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance

[ellie12022]

I would get your grandmother to ring the pensions people and ask how her pension is made up.

[Merker]

Thanks, she isnt getting housing benefit or anything like since she owns the house outright.

 

Im guessing that £60 pension credit must be made up of pension credit + carers premium to top it up, meaning she cant get more than £30 a week for underlying entitlement.

 

So if I was to claim both CA and IS.... that would give me just over £100 a week and I could do a £30 weekly food shop for her or something like that out of my cash so she isnt losing out.

 

 

 

Edit:

 

Just rechecked her pension info form and it says she gets "Pension Credit guarantee credit" so that must top it up somewhat

Edited March 17, 2013 by Merker