To Claim or Not To Claim Carers Allowance

See also Carers Allowance / Carers Premium notes.

There is a lot of confusion and fear over when it is best to claim Carers Allowance/Carers Premium, and when it is not. If you get it wrong, you could loose money. The Department for Work and Pensions will not correct you if you put in a claim that will reduce the money you get, they will quite happily process it through and reduce the money they pay out.

This has a tendency to frighten people from making the judgement call as to which would be best to do.

But it is a simple issue. The action to take all hinges on this one question:

Q – Is the disabled person getting the Severe Disability Premium?

• If Yes – then Carers Allowance/Carers Premium should NOT be claimed, except in the special circumstances for carers with overlapping benefits (e.g. state retirement pension) below.

• If No – then Carers Allowance/Carers Premium should be claimed. Go and get one of your carers to claim as soon as possible.

Phone the DWP to confirm whether or not the disabled person is getting the severe disability premium if you are in any way unsure about that (actually, phone them anyway, just to make assurance doubly sure).

The Special Circumstances for Carers with overlapping benefits are:

Q – Is the CARER getting an 'overlapping benefit' worth more than Carers Allowance (which was £53.10 in 2009/10)?

• If Yes – then is ok to go claim Carers Allowance/Carers Premium. Your claim will not impact the disabled persons Severe Disability Premium.

• If No – then still, as before, Carers Allowance/Carers Premium should NOT be claimed

The list of overlapping benefits is:

• State Retirement Pension

• Maternity Allowance

• Incapacity Benefit / Contribution Based Employment and Support Allowance

• Contribution Based Jobseekers Allowance

• Widows Benefit

• Bereavement Benefit

• State training Allowance

If any of those benefits is being paid to the carer at a rate of more than £53.10, then Carers Allowance can be claimed ok without impacting the disabled persons Severe Disability Premium.

For most people, this happens for carers who are receiving a State Retirement Pension. This is one of the few areas where having a traditional State Retirement Pension, as opposed to relying on the new Pension Credits, is beneficial.

Similarly this is one of the few areas where having contribution based ESA, rather than income based ESA, is beneficial.

Note that a pensioner couple could have one of the couple getting a State Retirement Pension worth more than £53.10, and the other getting a State Retirement Pension worth less (or even no State Retirement Pension at all). In that case, one member of the couple should claim Carers Allowance/Premium, but the other should not in circumstances where there is a Severe Disability Premium at stake.

Pensioner couples can care for each other, and yet still qualify for the Severe Disability Premium. This arises where both members of the couple count as disabled. Because disabled people are allowed to care for each other.