Carer’s
Allowance Fact Sheet – 2008
What
is it?
Carer’s Allowance (CA) is a non-means-tested, non-contributory benefit. In plainer English this means that carers do not have to go through a means-test (though there are various restrictions noted below) and carers do not have to have paid National Insurance contributions to be entitled to it. It is estimated that about 250,000 people in Northern Ireland provide assistance to others because they are elderly or disabled. However, only a minority of carers get CA. This is because of the many conditions attached to receipt of this benefit.
What are the main conditions
for this benefit?
Putting it briefly, there are three main conditions. The first condition for CA is that you must normally spend at least 35 hours a week caring. Secondly, the person cared for must be getting Attendance Allowance OR the Disability Living Allowance care component at the middle or higher rate OR certain industrial injuries benefits. Beyond this, you must not be in full time education or full time work –that is earning more than £95 (net) a week after allowable expenses. Thirdly, claimants must be aged 16 or over. As a result of various changes, CA can now be claimed by persons aged 65 or over but such persons may gain little by virtue of the overlapping benefits regulations-see below.
How much is CA?
This is a very ungenerous benefit considering the savings to the NHS that are made because of the help carers provide. Carers receive £50.55 a week for themselves. Small additions for dependents may also be payable.
How does CA interact with other
benefits?
This is a very complex area but, broadly speaking, CA interacts with other benefits in three main ways.
a) First, if you are getting a means-tested benefit, such as Income Support, CA is taken into account in full. This is not quite as bad as it sounds because receipt of CA gives you entitlement to something called the Carer premium. For example, someone getting £100 Income Support would have their entitlement reduced by their CA (£50.55) but then increased by the Carer premium (£27.75) and would thus be £27.75 better off when account is taken of all of their income.
b) Secondly, a claim for CA can impact upon the entitlement of the person cared for. For example, it could affect an elderly mother, who is in receipt of Attendance Allowance, lives alone and is getting means –tested Pension Credit. Because she lives alone and is on Attendance Allowance, with nobody claiming CA for assisting her, she may be getting extra Pension Credit by way of something called the Severe disability addition. She will lose this once someone receives CA for helping her.
c) Thirdly, there are the Overlapping Benefits Regulations. These affect CA in various ways. The regulations contain a list of benefits including things like retirement pension and incapacity benefit. You cannot get CA at the full rate on top of any of the benefits on the list. Many carers are tripped up by these regulations and feel unfairly treated. This is because carers see CA as recognition of what they do and think it should be paid in addition to any other entitlement they have. Unfortunately government sees CA as recompense for wages foregone as a result of caring. Given the lowness of CA this reasoning is difficult to follow but the upshot of these provisions is that there are no grounds for challenging the loss of CA where these regulations apply.
Also under these regulations an addition for an adult dependent paid ,for example, to a husband on incapacity benefit will be affected if the adult dependent –typically the wife-claims CA.
Commonly asked questions
1. Do you have to be related to the person you care for to get this benefit? No – you can qualify for helping neighbours and friends as well as other family members.
2. Do you have to live with the person cared for? No- many carers, for example those helping elderly parents, will live in another household but will still qualify for CA.
3. Supposing someone needs a lot of help and two people are providing care. Will both get CA? No- the rule is that only one person can claim CA for each disabled person. Where more than one person is providing care, they need to think carefully about who should claim this benefit and take advice.
4. Supposing someone is caring for more than one person. Do they get extra? No- the standard rate of benefit is paid regardless of how much caring someone is doing. Additionally, carers cannot simply ad up all of the care they provide. To qualify for CA at least one of the persons cared for must be being assisted for the prescribed 35 hours a week.
5. What happens to CA when the person cared for dies? CA can continue for up to eight weeks after the death to give carers a chance to adjust.
6. What happens when people make late claims for CA because they do not realise they are entitled to it? CA can be backdated but only for three months.
7. What happens if the person being cared for is not yet on DLA/AA but has claimed this benefit? Carers should apply for CA within three months of AA/DLA being awarded and their claims will be treated as having been made on the date AA/DLA became payable.
8. Is there any point to claiming if the carer is not much better off financially or qualifies but does not actually get the benefit because of the Overlapping Benefits Regulations? Very probably – if the carer is entitled to CA she/he will be credited with National Insurance contributions which count towards the basic state pension and CA entitlement will help them to qualify for the state second pension.
Other points to think about
1. If you are considering claiming CA talk to your local CAB or Independent Advice Centre.
2. The thirty five hour rule sounds quite onerous but carers do things, and watch out for problems, without thinking. Keep a diary for a week putting down everything that could count as caring/supervision and then take this with you to your advice centre.
3. If you are not awarded CA because of the Overlapping Benefits Regulations you are still officially recognised as a carer for the purpose of means-tested benefits. This means a more generous view is taken of your entitlement. Your benefit could go up or, if you are not already getting means-tested help, you could now come within the scope of it. Again your local advice centre should be able to help on this.4. OR you can contact
us at On Your Behalf - oyb@bbc.co.uk
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