I know this will be contentious - cost of living rise

Well that didn't take long... now we don't have the "immigrants" you start on the disabled and elderly....
And someone has had the audacity to suggest they don't see disabled people struggling for money.... do you know why? Because many live with elderly relatives who are struggling for money.
No pensioners and the non working disabled cannot increase their income, working people theoretically can, or can earn money in the future.


The problem is not disabled people or their benefits... it is this shit government who have systematically dismantled every nice and decent thing in this country and somehow convince you all its the nasty Labour Party who have done this... then brag they have been in power for approximately 30 of the past 40 years.

What do you want disabled people to do? Maybe we could just turn off their heating and get them to die quietly?

From DWP.

Can I claim Carer’s Allowance if I get other state benefits?
The ‘overlapping benefits’ rule means that, although you may qualify for two or more earnings-replacements benefits, you normally can’t receive the full amount for more than one benefit at the same time.

You may not be able to get Carer’s Allowance or it may be reduced/eliminated if you receive one or more of the following benefits:

State pension (see more on this above)
Contributory Employment and Support Allowance
Incapacity Benefit
Maternity Allowance
Bereavement or Widow’s Benefits
Severe Disablement Allowance
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Universal Credit (see more on carer element above)

My terminology may be different but it amounts to the same thing. Carers Allowance is an overlapping benefit. If a UC claimant is already claiming CA, it will remain in payment but will be deducted pound for pound from UC entitlement and the claimant will be eligible for the UC carer element of £38.85. If the claimant is not already claiming CA, and they are eligible to do so, they will establish an underlying entitlement and will receive the £38.85 carer element.

No it doesn’t amount to the same thing. You said And she can’t claim UC because it’s an income replacement benefit, as is carers allowance, which she is already claiming - and you can’t claim both. which is factually incorrect as you can claim both. You posting misinformation may prevent someone from claiming when they are entitled to or worry someone already claiming.

Your quote doesn’t say you can’t claim it says “You may not be able to get Carer’s Allowance or it may be reduced/eliminated” and yes it is reduced but it doesn’t mean you can’t claim. Reduced and can’t have vastly different definitions.

UC wipes out CA pound for pound. What don’t you understand about that ? So someone who is already claiming CA will have their UC claim reduced by the amount of CA - £67.70. Then they will be eligible for carers element of UC at £38.85. Someone who isn’t claiming CA before they claim UC, who has caring duties and would be eligible for CA, will have underlying entitlement and will receive the carers element just the same - but they won’t have any existing CA as a stand alone benefit to take into account for the UC calculation. Can’t be bothered with this any more.

There’s nothing I don’t understand about that. I posted UC deduct CA £ for £ in my first post. But deducting £ for £ is not the same thing as being unable to claim both at the same time, which is what you stated when you posted “you can’t claim both”, that is what I corrected. You absolutely can claim UC at the same time as claiming CA. Don’t you understand the meaning can’t and deducted or reduced?

I also posted upthread someone didn’t need to be claiming CA in order to receive the carer element of UC, so I don’t know why you are telling me that.

Pedantry. Jesus h Christ

It’s not pedantry when someone posting you can’t claim both together may prevent someone from claiming or worry someone already claiming.

By prevent I mean in the sense of someone may not claim because they believe the poster who says they can’t.

I’ve turned off notifications to the thread because I can’t be bothered with this any more. I think it’s clear enough from the discussion what I meant, and I don’t think anything I posted would put someone off claiming, or worry someone who is. If a CA claimant puts in a claim for UC they will have the CA amount deducted and the underlying entitlement will give them back the carers element of UC. That’s what I meant when I said you can’t claim both - CA is an income replacement benefit and as such overlaps with several others, including UC and is clawed back. A UC claimant who isn’t yet claiming CA won’t be any worse off than one who is, because there’s nothing to deduct and they will establish the same underlying entitlement and receive the carers element.

Well it certainly wasn’t clear to me.

And she can’t claim UC because it’s an income replacement benefit, as is carers allowance, which she is already claiming - and you can’t claim both.

^^This may well put someone off or worry them because it says “you can’t claim both”. If you didn’t mean can’t you should have explained more.

I didn’t say a claimant would be worse off because they aren’t claiming CA, although there are other benefits to claiming CA than the monetary value of the benefit itself.

This post might be from a while back, but I would like to add that a lot of pensioners did lose money from equitable life pension. My parents paid into it for years..family ran their own business, they lost all of their pension. It was under a Labour government that it was decided to only cover the cost of later pension contributions at a nominal rate…my parents paid in for decades and ended up with only a state pension. Good old Tony Blair …one reason I will never vote Labour, amongst many others!