Carers allowance

[Leannieboo]

Hello,

My Mum tried to apply for carers allowance for my son when I was working, as he was approved for mid rate care dla earlier this year. They said her application was unsuccessful, but she was allowed to apply to carers credit and if she wanted to do so, to ring a number. She didn't bother and I instead ended up giving my notice in at work and I left in April.
I applied for carers allowance 2 months ago. I’ve sent in all the information needed, old wage slips, p45 ect.

Me and my Mum both got a letter a couple weeks ago, saying who is claiming and who isn’t.. a little odd as she was told she wasn’t entitled to 🤷‍♀️ We signed the declarations saying I would be the one applying.

I phoned today to ask for an update. The person on the phone said everything had been logged. It’s written that I’m entitled to it from 1st April, but a decision hasn’t been made yet. They told me to wait a bit longer and hopefully it will be approved soon, but they seemed a little puzzled too, as it says I am entitled to it.

Has anyone else applied and have this happen? If so how long before it was all sorted?? They said the forms we sent in were logged only 4 days ago, but someone is obviously looking at my case.

Any information is greatly appreciated!

Why was your mum unsuccessful? Sorry not advice on the above but just intrigued about that. Thanks

How many hours does/did your Mum care for your son? If it was less than 35 hours a week but more than 20 this will be why she got declined for carers allowance.
Unfortunately unless your Mum closed her claim when she wasn't successful she would still be down as caring for him even if not receiving the allowance. It happened to us when my daughter put in a claim to care for me, she started working more hours and was no longer eligible to receive the allowance, and we assumed they would close the claim. They didn't, and it caused issues when she lost her job and claimed UC, they had her down as a carer and deducted the amount of carers allowance from the UC even though she wasn't receiving the money! It took a couple of months to sort out. They usually take approximately 6 -8 weeks to make their decision, but you will get back pay if you are entitled from April

My Mum doesn’t work. She’s a pensioner, but she gets pension credit, which is why I think they said she was only entitled to carers credit. I’m not 100% sure as the letter wasn’t very clear.

We sent off the declaration, as we both had one to say she wasn’t caring for him anymore and from when and they must have accepted that, although I asked for it to be backpayed to 19th march, as I originally reduced my hours before ultimately deciding to leave. I only earned between 400 and 550 over the last 3 months at work.

The letter we had for who was caring for my son said if we didn’t send it back they would make a decision themselves from 24th June anyway, so do you think it will be done by then anyway?

Thankyou!

If she gets state pension then she cannot be paid carers allowance but it would increase her Pension credit with the addition of a carers premium of around £42 a week. I wonder if her claim was successful in that she has been awarded an underlying entitlement to carers allowance but just can't be paid it. If this is what has happened then you may be turned down for it unless hers is cancelled. It sounds like it may be ok if you have now made it clear you will be claiming. It's a shame as it sounds like if your mum had pursued that and let pension credit know she could have been getting that extra carers premium. The letter that pensioners are sent confuses a lot of people because it says you cannot be paid carers allowance but can be awarded an underlying entitlement to carers allowance. It makes a lot of people think they haven't been awarded but actually they have they just can't be paid it, but as I said it can give premiums on pension credit, or in the case of a couple with one caring for the other it can give make them more likely to get pension credit.

It really was confusing! She hasn’t been paid anything at all, as I help with her online banking too, so I know nothing was ever paid in to do with that.

Yes the declaration we signed we put she stopped caring for my son from 19th March and that we both agree that I am the carer and will get carers allowance and she won’t.

It’s just annoying when I phoned they could only read to me the notes that others had put on, so I couldn’t talk directly to someone dealing with it and get proper confirmation on what’s going on and timeline. If I’ve not heard anything by July I’ll have to phone again.

To get any extra money for caring for your son, she would have needed to let Pension credit know that she was a carer. Then she would have got an extra £40 + a week from Pension credit. carers allowance is an overlapping benefit with state pension so if your mum's state pension is above the carers allowance amount ( £81 ) she can't be paid carers allowance. She could try ringing Pension credit to see if they will backdate the carers premium for that time she was down as his carer but I think they will only look at the last 3 months so they may not do it. What date did she actually originally apply for Carers allowance - she could potentially claim form that point up to 19th march when it switched to you, but depends whether Pension credit will backdate.

I can’t remember. It was either towards the end of last year or January this year, so quite a while ago.

I’m just hoping mine gets sorted soon because funds are running low >.<