A Guide to Carer s Allowance

Transcription

1 A Guide to Carer s Allowance Foreword: The Royal British Legion uses all reasonable endeavours to ensure the content of this guide is accurate at the time of writing. However, it is only a guide and cannot cover every possible situation and therefore you may wish to seek further advice and guidance from a Welfare Adviser. 1

2 Contents: What is carer s allowance? 3 The severe disability premium 3 The benefit cap 3 How much is carer s allowance ( ) 3 Do you qualify? 4 How to make a claim? 5 Backdating and forward claims 5 What happens next decision and payment 6 Payment 6 Challenging decisions 6 Change of circumstances 6 Carer s allowance and State Retirement Pension 7 Other overlapping benefits 7 Carer s allowance and Universal Credit 8 The benefits of the person you are caring for 8 National Insurance Credits 8 Carer s Credit 8 Invalid Care Allowance 9 If the person you care for dies 9 Breaks from Caring 9 If the person you care for goes into a care home or hospital 9 Going Abroad 10 Temporary absence abroad 10 Exporting Carer s Allowance 10 Other useful contact details 10 2

3 What is carer s allowance? Carer s allowance is a benefit for people who regularly spend at least 35 hours a week caring for a disabled person who is in receipt of a qualifying benefit (see below). You do not have to be related to, or live with, the disabled person. You can get carer s allowance even if you have never worked. You are not prevented from getting carer s allowance if you are disabled and need care yourself. If you are entitled to carer s allowance, a carer premium of will be included in the calculation of any means-tested benefit you receive. Carer s allowance is not means tested and does not depend on national insurance contributions. It is taxable and counts as income for tax credits. Carer s allowance gives you Class 1 national insurance contribution credits and helps you qualify for additional state pension. Only one carer can claim carers allowance for the eligible disabled person even if there is more than one carer involved in providing care for that same person. The severe disability premium If you are paid carer s allowance, the person you care for cannot get the severe disability premium included in their applicable amount for meanstested benefits (or the equivalent amount used in pension credit). Because of this, it is not always advantageous to claim carer s allowance even if you are eligible. The person you care for will not lose the severe disability premium (or the pension credit equivalent) if you are entitled to overlapping benefits rule. The benefit cap Carer s allowance is one of the benefits to which the benefit cap applies. The cap limits the total weekly benefits that can be claimed. How much is carer's allowance? The current rate of carer s allowance is a week ( ). If you are resident In Northern Ireland, go to the Northern Ireland website at 3

4 Do you qualify? You must regularly spend at least 35 hours a week caring for a person who receives one of the following qualifying benefits Disability living allowance (DLA) care component at middle or higher rate component only; or Attendance Allowance (AA) at either rate; or Personal Independence Payment (PIP) daily living component at either rate; or Constant Attendance Allowance of or more a week paid with Industrial Injuries/War Pensions schemes; or Armed Forces Independence payment You must be aged 16 or over. You must not be in full-time education. You are generally treated as being in full-time education if your course is described as such by your educational establishment, although there can be exceptions, e.g. you have been granted exemptions from parts of your course or your course is not a traditional university-type course. Even if your course is not described as full time, you will be treated as a full-time education if the course involves supervised study of 21 hours a week or more. If you are working, you cannot get carers allowance if you earn more than 110 net a week (after the deduction of allowable expenses, such as tax, national insurance contributions and some pension contributions). It does not matter if you do voluntary work, as long as you still provide care for 35 hours per week. If you pay someone to look after the disabled person, you care for while you are working, up to half of your net earnings may be ignored. Other income (such as an occupational pension) and savings will not affect your entitlement. Some presence and residence conditions apply. You must be habitually resident in the UK, not subject to immigration control and you must have been in Great Britain for 104 weeks out of the 156 weeks prior to your claim. These rules may not apply to members of the armed forces and some people who live in or have lived in EEA states or Switzerland. 4

5 How to make a claim? England, Wales and Scotland The Department for Work and Pensions encourage online claims and say they are the quickest way of applying for Carer's Allowance. Visit to apply online or to download a claim form. On the online claim form, the person you are caring for no longer has to sign their consent see note below for more information. Request a claim pack DS700 (or DS700 (SP) if you are getting a State Retirement Pension) by calling the Carer s Allowance Unit on (text phone , calls from type talk are also welcome). Note: On the online claim form, the person you are caring for no longer has to sign their consent. Instead, there is a disclaimer section where you declare that you have made/will make the person you are caring for aware of the potential consequences to their benefits (see the section the income of the person you care for ). A notification will still be sent to the person you are caring for informing them that a carer s allowance claim has been made and the impact this may have on their benefits. Contact the Carers UK Tel No: or visit if you need further advice. Northern Ireland Request a claim pack from the Carers Allowance Unit call (text phone , calls from type talk are also welcome) or visit for online information. Once you claim carer s allowance, you may be offered the option of attending a voluntary interview to discuss work prospects. However, if you are also claiming certain other benefits, e.g. income support, you may be obliged to attend an interview as a condition of receiving that other benefit. Backdating and forward claims Usually, carers allowance can only be backdated for 3 months so it is important to claim as soon as you think you might be entitled. If the person you are looking after has recently been awarded a qualifying benefit you can get carers allowance backdated to the date that the award of the qualifying benefit started (even if this was over three months ago). However, you should claim carers allowance within 3 months of the award of the qualifying benefit being notified to the disabled person otherwise you could lose out. 5

6 If claiming carers allowance will entitle you to other benefits for the first time (for example Pension Credit or Housing Benefit), it is a good idea to make the claim while waiting for a decision on your carers allowance to ensure you do not lose out. Ask that a decision on these benefits be not made until you have had the carers allowance decision. If you are not sure of your position, get advice. If you know that you are going to become entitled to carers allowance in the future, you can claim it up to 3 months in advance. This gives the DWP time to deal with your claim and pay you as soon as you qualify. What happens next - decision and payment You will receive a decision on your claim in writing. The decision letter will include information about appeal processes, reporting changes of circumstances and payment details. Payment Carers allowance is usually paid by direct credit transfer into your bank, building society or Post Office account. If you are unable to open or manage an account, you can ask for a Simple Payments card, which will allow you to withdraw your benefits from Pay-point outlets displaying the Simple Payments sign. If you are unable to use any of these methods of payment, you should contact the Carer s Allowance Unit. You can choose to be paid either weekly in advance, or at four-weekly or 13- weekly intervals. If you get carers allowance (or have an underlying entitlement), you are entitled to a Christmas bonus of 10. Challenging decisions If you think a decision on carers allowance is wrong, you can challenge it by asking for a mandatory reconsideration, and then proceed to appeal if necessary. There are time limits for submitting reconsideration requests and appeals and so it is important to act quickly. Note: This information does not apply to Northern Ireland. Instead, you can ask the Social Security Agency to look at the decision again. Alternatively, you can appeal the decision. Contact Carers Northern Ireland on Changes of Circumstances You should let the DWP know if your circumstances change as it may affect your benefit entitlement. You can do this in writing, by telephone or online if the DWP accepts electronic communications from you. If you do not inform 6

7 the DWP of a change in circumstances and you are overpaid as a result, you will have to pay the money back. Carer s Allowance and State Retirement Pension You cannot normally receive both carers allowance and another earnings replacement benefit such as State Pension because of overlapping benefit rules. However, if your state retirement pension is less than the carers allowance rate, currently you will be entitled to a top-up of carers allowance to that amount. If your state retirement pension is more than per week and you qualify for carer s allowance, you will be awarded an underlying entitlement only to this benefit. You won t be paid any carers allowance, 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. Many carers, especially those over State Pension age, could be helped by the underlying entitlement rules. Other Overlapping benefits Bereavement Allowance Employment and Support Allowance (contribution based) Government training allowance Incapacity Benefit or War Pensions Un-employability Supplement Jobseeker s Allowance (contribution based); Maternity Allowance; Severe Disablement Allowance State Pension Widowed Mother s Allowance Widowed Parent s Allowance Widow s Pension If you are receiving any of these benefits at a rate of less than a week, your carers allowance will be a top-up to this amount. If your other benefit payment is more than a week, you will not be paid any carers allowance but you will be awarded an underlying entitlement to carer s allowance. An underlying entitlement to carers allowance might mean that you qualify for the first time for means-tested benefits like ESA (income related), JSA (income based), Income Support, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support. It s always wise to seek advice and guidance from a local welfare agency to check any overall benefit entitlement you might have. 7

8 Carer s Allowance and Universal Credit Universal credit is starting to replace means-tested benefits for people of working age in some parts of the country and will eventually be fully rolled out. If you claim universal credit, your award will be reduced by the amount of carer s allowance you receive. However, you will receive an extra amount, the Carer Element in your universal credit calculation. If you get carer s allowance, no work-related requirements will apply to your universal credit claim, as you will be accepted as having regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a disabled person, which exempts you. The benefits of the person you are caring for As stated previously in some situations the person you care for could lose money if you start to receive carer s allowance. This could happen if the person you care for receives a severe disability premium or addition as part of their Pension Credit, Income Support, ESA, JSA, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support. Their benefits will not be affected if you are awarded an underlying entitlement to carers allowance only. We strongly advise and recommend that you seek independent advice on how a claim for carers allowance might affect the benefit entitlement of the person you look after, as well as your own entitlement. National Insurance Credits If you are entitled to carer s allowance, national insurance contributions will be credited automatically to protect your right to a future State Pension, unless you have retained the right to pay the married woman s reduced-rate contributions. If you are under State Pension age and you become sick, you may qualify for Employment and Support Allowance based on national insurance credits from when you were receiving carers allowance. Carer s Credit If you are a carer, but do not qualify for carers allowance (perhaps because the person you look after does not get a qualifying benefit or you do not care for them for 35 hours a week), you may still be able to qualify for carer s national insurance credits. These credits are available to people spending 20 hours a week or more caring for a severely disabled person. The application pack for Carer s Credit, form CC1, can be obtained online from or from the Carer s Allowance Unit. 8

9 Invalid Care Allowance There are some special rules that apply to people who were entitled to Invalid Care Allowance (the old name for carers allowance) on 27 October 2002, and who were aged 65 or over at that time. If this applies to you, you will still be able to get carers allowance (or maintain an underlying entitlement to it) even if you stop caring for the disabled person for any reason, or if you start to exceed the earnings limit. If the person you care for dies If the person you are caring for dies, carers allowance can continue to be paid for up to 8 weeks after their death. You will still need to satisfy the other rules. The 8-week period runs from the Sunday after the death or from the day of the death if it occurred on a Sunday. Breaks from caring Once you have been caring for someone for a while, you can have short breaks from caring without it affecting your benefit. The usual qualifying period before you can have a break is 22 weeks, but it can be up to 8 weeks shorter if you or the people you care for have been in hospital. Any weeks that you spent caring before you claimed carers allowance can count towards the 22 weeks, as long as the person you care for was receiving a qualifying benefit. You can have up to 4 weeks break from caring, for any reason, in any 26- week period. If you are in hospital, your carers allowance can continue for up to 12 weeks. You cannot have more than 12 weeks break from care in any 26- week period. If the person you care for goes into a care home or hospital Your entitlement to carers allowance depends on the person you are caring for receiving a qualifying benefit. If the person you are caring for goes into a hospital and the stay is arranged by the NHS, payment of their qualifying benefit stops after 4 weeks (12 weeks in the case of a disabled child under 16). Your carers allowance will also stop at the same time. If the person you are caring for is terminally ill and the DWP is aware of this, their qualifying benefit may continue if they go into a non-nhs hospice. Carers allowance will also remain payable, as long as you are still providing care for 35 hours a week. If the person you are caring for goes into a care home, their qualifying benefit and your carers allowance will stop after 28 days if their care home fees are 9

10 met in full by NHS continuing care funding, or in full or in part by the local authority. If the person is self-funding (responsible for paying all of the care home fees themselves), their qualifying benefit may still be payable and so will your carer s allowance, as long as you are still providing care for 35 hours a week. If the person you are caring for needs regular periods of respite care, it may be possible to plan these periods so that their qualifying benefit and your carers allowance are not affected. Seek advice if this applies to you. Going Abroad Temporary absence abroad If you go abroad, you remain entitled to carers allowance if your absence is temporary and does not exceed 4 weeks. If you are not abroad with the person you care for, you also need to satisfy the conditions for a break in caring (see above). If the main purpose in you going abroad is to care for the disabled person, and they remain entitled to a qualifying benefit then the 4-week limit does not apply. Exporting Carer s Allowance Sometimes benefits can be paid if you and the person you claim carers allowance for leave the UK to live in another EEA state or Switzerland. For further information write to: Exportability Co-ordinator, Room B201, Pension, Disability and Carers Service, Warbreck House, Warbreck Hill Road, Blackpool FY2 OYE or exportability.team@dwp.gsi.gov.uk. If you have internet access there is more information on the Government website: Other Useful Contact Details To make a new claim for other potential benefits: For Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance or income-based Jobseeker s Allowance, call the Jobcentre Plus contact centre on (England, Wales and Scotland) or contact your local Jobs and Benefits Office (Northern Ireland). For Pension Credit, call the Pension Service on ( in Northern Ireland). For Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction, contact your local authority or for Rate Relief in Northern Ireland contact your local Jobs and Benefits Office. 10