Any PIP / Carers Allowance / Pension Credit experts?

[GarlicGrace]

I've only just found out, via Mumsnet, that someone could claim Carer's Allowance for helping me out, as I get the daily living component of PIP. I am in need of help - but I read all the government info yesterday, and found it suspiciously vague.

It looks like I will lose money if someone gets CA for helping me. My suspicion is that I'll actually lose MORE per week than the princely £76 the carer would get. I'm hoping somebody here knows their way around this system, before I start complicating my life and potentially someone else's.

So, assuming I could find anyone willing to do this for what amounts to £2 an hour (!) ....

I'm on the full state pension (new version)
I get PIP. Daily living at standard rate. (Awarded before pension age, otherwise it'd be Attendance Allowance.)
Because I get PIP, I get Pension Credit.
Because I get Pension Credit, I get housing benefit & council tax concession.
Pension Credit also brings a few other concessions.

All this comes to more than the amount of Carer's Allowance and, from what the govt says, it looks like I'd lose the Pension Credit and therefore the other benefits that cascade from it.

If that's the case, I'll be better off hiring someone at £15 an hour to do less for me. I thought CA could be better, not just for me but - if the right person happens to exist - they'd get further benefits as a result.

Any informed advice, please?

My DM kept her pension credit but it was £76 less (or whatever it was then) and I claimed carers benefit.

As I understand it, you don't loose anything by having a someone claiming carers allowance for helping you? It is their money, paid to them if they earn under the threshold. If they earn over the threshold then they don't get the money but get a National Insurance credit.
Your PIP is there for you to pay for help you might need.

No you can lose something, there’s a extra bit of pension credit you can get if you claim PIP or AA . You have the choice to claim it or someone can claim carers allowance.

Sorry, ignore that, my caree is below pension age. Carers UK website was helpful to set me straight.

You would lose the severe disability premium part of your pension credit if someone claims Carers allowance to help you. This effectively means your premium is transferred to your career so that you are not both getting a payment for the same thing.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/carers-allowance/

Oh, thanks! It sounds less scary than I'd thought. Thanks for the CA link, and I'll look up Carers UK too

Don't do it!!

You'll have a Severe Disability Premium BECAUSE you live alone, are on a qualifying disability benefit and nobody claims CA for you.

If someone claims a CA for you, you will lose the SDP (it'll add 76.40 a week). It is possible you 'may' still get Pension Credit (and therefore not lose your housing benefit, Council tax reduction etc). BUT you need to check. Contact Citizens Advice or local Welfare Rights to run you a benefit check.

If you 'need' care - contact Social Services.

If someone claimed carers allowance for looking after you, then you would lose the severe disability premium on your pension credit. The sdp is exactly the same amount as carers allowance, but yes as you rightly say you could stand to lose a lot more if it stopped your pension credit altogether as you would lose full housing benefit and council tax reduction although there is a chance that even without pension credit in place you might still be eligible for some housing benefit and reduction on council tax, just not covered in full.

When I had carer's allowance (I stopped earlier this year), the person I was a carer for lost some if their disability benefits (about £40 a week I think — not clear on exact amounts when I started claiming it was DLA and income support and I didn't keep up with all the changes over the years). He akso lost his higher pension credits fir that period, as the carer gets them instead . It's unfair and appalling.

Also, the carer has to be providing care for at least 35 hours a week and the carer's allowance is stopped if they earn over £139 a week.

If you don't have someone already not in paid work and providing care for you, you might be better off paying for care services out if your p.i.p., but that won't stretch far, so you could apply for direct payments for specific services, though that's more for activities that enhance your life, such as exercise, regular outings, etc..

Do you live alone? As pp said you lose the severe disability premium if someone claims carers allowance for you. But you only get that premium if you live alone, so check your pension credit award to see if it's in there.

I claim pension credit as a couple, and get PIP. Because I live with my DH, I don't get a severe disability premium anyway. So my DD claims carers allowance for caring for me. It's worth quite a bit for her, as it means she can claim UC with no work search requirements, and includes money for her children, rent and she can claim most of her council tax help too. So the total financial help is far more than the £76 carers allowance.

Sorry, I'm thinking of national insurance credits, not pension credit. But you would lose some benefits nevertheless.

Phoning Carers UK is an excellent idea. They have benefits advisors who can talk you through it. Age UK have benefits advisors too, usually.