Your Rights

Benefits for carers

Summary: Benefit for people caring for a person with disability.

• Carer’s Allowance
• Income Support and Pension Credit
• Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit
• Further information

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Carer’s Allowance

Carer’s Allowance is the main benefit if you are caring for another person. You do not have to be living with, or related to, the disabled person. The person you look after must be getting Attendance Allowance or the middle or highest rate of Disability Living Allowance care component. Carer’s Allowance does not depend on National Insurance contributions. If you are working, your earnings must not exceed £95.00 per week. However, all other types of income will not affect your entitlement. Carer's Allowance is taxable.

How much will I get?

The basic rate of Carer’s Allowance is £50.55 per week. You may be entitled to additional amounts for your partner, as well as for your children.

If you already receive means-tested benefits such as:

• Jobseekers Allowance
• Employment and Support Allowance
• Pension Credit.

you could be financially better off by claiming Carer’s Allowance. You will not be worse off.

Claiming Carer’s Allowance

Claim on form DS700. You can get this from your local Jobcentre Plus office or by phoning the Benefits Enquiry Line on 0800 88 22 00.

The claim forms can also be downloaded from the Directgov website.

If the person you are looking after is waiting for a decision about their DLA or Attendance Allowance, you can wait until the decision is made before you make a claim for CA. You should claim it within three months of the date of the decision about the disabled person's benefit. Your entitlement to CA will then start from the same date as their entitlement to DLA middle / highest rate care component, or Attendance Allowance.

If you were entitled to Carer’s Allowance before you actually claimed, and can show that you met all the qualifying conditions, Carer’s Allowance can be backdated for up to three months on request.

Important! Before you (or your own carer, if applicable) claim Carer's Allowance, contact RNIB Welfare Rights Service (brit@rnib.org.uk or 0845 766 9999 / 020 7388 2525) to check that you, or the person you are caring for, will not lose money if you or your carer make a claim.

Qualifying rules for Carer’s Allowance

To claim Carer’s Allowance you must:

1. Be 16 or over.

2. Spend at least 35 hours a week looking after a person who receives either:

• Attendance Allowance (any rate)

or

• The middle or highest rate of Disability Living Allowance care component

or

• Constant Attendance Allowance.

3. Not earn more than £95.00 a week after deductions.

4. Not attend a course involving 21 hours or more per week of supervised study.

Can I receive Carer’s Allowance at the same time as other benefits?

If your income is fairly low, you may also be entitled to

• Income Support, or Pension Credit if you are age 60 or over
• and Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

They can be paid at the same time as Carer’s Allowance.

You cannot normally get Carer’s Allowance at the same time as Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance or State Retirement Pension. However, it may still be worthwhile claiming Carer’s Allowance to establish “underlying entitlement” to the benefit.

You may then be able to get an increased amount of Income Support or Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, even if you don’t actually receive Carer’s Allowance. The increase, called the carer premium, is worth £27.75 per week.

Seek advice if you are not sure whether it is worthwhile claiming Carer’s Allowance.

You can claim Carer’s Allowance for looking after someone else even if you get Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance because you have a disability.

Income Support and Pension Credit

Income Support and Pension Credit for people age 60 and over are benefits that can be paid to top up a low income.

If you think you may be entitled to Income Support, contact your local Jobcentre Plus office and ask for a claim form. If you are aged 60 or over contact the Pension Credit claim line on 0800 99 12 34.

Claiming Income Support, or the guarantee part of Pension Credit, can lead to other assistance, such as help with interest payments on your mortgage, free prescriptions and other NHS charges.

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit

You may be entitled to help with your rent in Housing Benefit and Council Tax through Council Tax Benefit. You must have no more than £16,000 in savings (unless you get guarantee Pension Credit) and you must have a fairly low income. If you are married or living with someone as husband and wife, your partner’s income and savings will also be taken into account.

• RNIB offers advice about care services. If you are finding it difficult to get support from Social Services we can advise you of your rights. Contact our Welfare Rights Service.
• More information about Council Tax Benefit.

This information gives general guidance only and is not an authoritative statement of the law.

Further information

1. Information for carers.

2. Directgov information on Caring for someone.

3. RNIB Helpline
105 Judd Street
London
WC1H 9NE
Call 0303 123 9999
Email helpline@rnib.org.uk

Please note that we can only give advice about benefits for people with sight loss and their carers or dependants.

If you use a language other than English please let us know which language. We will try to arrange a telephone interpreting service.

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Content author: helpline@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 11/05/2009 16:43