Attendance allowance and paying for carers

[Tavaress]

I wonder if someone could help or advise me, my Mum and Dad are in their 80's and my Dad has recently started getting carers coming to the house three times everyday, he lost his leg nine years ago and while I am there as much as I can they have both managed very well. They have been told over the phone it will be £105 per week which is fine. What my Mum would like to know is do they also lose the attendance allowance or any other benefits as well as paying the £420 a month.

No, they’re still entitled to receive AA.

Thanks Georgie, does my Mum lose the carers allowance.

If your parents have less than £46,500 in savings, they may be entitled to a financial contribution from the Local Authority. Their income (pensions etc) will be taken into account but not AA as that is not included.

The first step is having a social care assessment, which your dad is entitled to. If your Mum is caring for him then she is also entitled to a Carers Assessment. They can contact their Local Authority for more information and to request assessments.

Thanks Emma, they have filled out the form, in fact I completed it. They have a few thousand in savings. The form has been sent to them a week ago so that's why she called them and someone told her over the phone it will be £420 a month. She then started worrying that does she lose benefits as well as paying for carers. Thank you for the replies.

she won't loose the benefits - that's what they are for - to pay for carers

She won't lose the benefits. This is exactly the scenario attendance allowance is for - to pay for care that will make the recipient's life easier. Your mum won't lose her carer's allowance - she'll still be caring for 35 hours+ a week.

Age Concern has a very useful helpline and may even have a volunteer in your parents’ area who can visit and advise on all benefits/help available to them.

Please talk to your parents about having a social care assessment. As well as it perhaps being beneficial financially, they also can suggest options your parents may not be aware of that could help.

Age UK (no such thing as Age Concern) has a website with lots of useful information, but a social care assessment from their LA will know the local situation and hopefully give them options.

My mum had carers twice a day and her contribution was capped at £ 100 per week. She received the lower rate of Attendance Allowance and I received Carers Allowance because I was still doing waaaay more than 35 hours a week.

Thank you all, that's brilliant. I will phone them now.

Thanks again, I phoned my sister to tell her the good news about our Mum and Dad and she said Mum doesn't get carers allowance because she is too old, she is 84.
I had a little look on their website and it says there is no upper age limit but it depends on the persons state pension. She might be getting some type of benefit in other ways.
On the form there was a box to tick so they could check if they were getting all their benefits.
My Mum has always said she only gets a half pension because of working part-time for most of her life but she might get it topped up.
Thanks

Your Mum's pension might be reduced if she paid the 'Married woman's stamp'. It was a reduced rate of tax applied to married women on the assumption they would be financially provided for by their husbands.

Thanks D

I have recently been reading about carers allowence and I think you generally cannot claim carers allowence and a state pension, however if your pension is under the amount of carers allowence then you can claim the difference . There is a section on the gov website about this .