Carers allowance and Uc

[Canyouanswermyquestion]

Good morning
I'm hoping someone can help. I applied for carers allowance in February still awaiting a decision but have signed into my universal credit account today to check my statement and carers allowance has been deducted and there is a message (not from a person) stating i receive carers allowance. So I'm guessing my carers allowance claim has been sorted but I just haven't heard about it yet. The thing is I haven't received a payment from the so surely nothing should be deducted from my uc payment this month?

Your carers allowance will be backdated to the date you applied for it, so when processed you'll get a lump sum. Seems harsh that it's deducted from your UC but I'm not surprised unfortunately.

The thing is aswell they have deducted £231 which is a random amount, its not even a full months worth of carers, So confused, surely they shouldnt be deducting things i havent received yet

Yes I claim carers and they take more than £300 a month. It does feel unfair, especially as you haven't even had any payments yet. And while you can work and earn about £100 a week it's just not possible in some situations. I think you get taxed and pay NI out of it.

Do you currently receive carers element on your claim? Once your carers allowance is awarded, you should receive those payments weekly ( if that's how you opted to be paid). Carers allowance is then deducted at a monthly averaged amount so weekly amount x 52 divided by 52 = the monthly amount because Uc is paid monthly. On carers allowance you can earn up to £132 a week before carers allowance stops. It is deducted because it is an overlapping benefit with your UC. It is the carers element that make you slightly better off on UC, so make sure you get that, it is around £163 a month, maybe a little more now rates have gone up.

Yes I get the carers element. My problem is uc have deducted £231 from this months payment for something I haven't received yet. I called carers allowance on Wednesday and they told me my claim hadn't been looked into yet so im baffled as to why uc have now started taking carers allowance from me?

Very odd. Are you sure it's definitely a deduction for carers allowance as it the figure doesn't even correspond to the amount they take and I've never known them take a part month payment if you see what I mean?

Yeah it's definitely carers allowance, very strange!

I guess you'll have to ring UC and see. I expect you may get a carers allowance payment in the next few days. Sometimes I think claiming carers allowance is just an extra faff. If you've asked for 12 weeks backdated, it will class as an overpayment and have to be paid back.

You would think if i was about to get a back dated payment that would be taken from my uc payment this month? All very confusing

No they take it back gradually.

I"ve called carers allowance today and my claim is still processing so no further forward. I have left a note in my journal for uc. I dont think its fair they can take money from me that ive not even had yet