Carer's Allowance (CA) is a benefit for people who regularly spend at least 35 hours a week caring for a severely disabled person. You don't have to be related to, or live with, the disabled person. You can get CA if you also get Attendance Allowance (AA) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA), but you must be caring for another person who gets AA or DLA care component at the middle or highest rate.

If you are paid CA, a carer premium of £27.75 will be included in your applicable amount for income support, income-based job­seeker's allowance, housing benefit and/or council tax benefit. If you have claimed CA and would have been paid it but for the fact that it overlaps with state pension or another benefit, you also get the carer premium. An equivalent addition to the carer premium is included in the calculation of pension credit. If you are paid CA, the person you are caring for cannot get the severe disability premium included in their applicable amount for means-tested benefits.

CA is not means tested and does not depend on past National Insurance (NI) contributions, but it is taxable. CA gives you Class 1 NI contribution credits and helps you qualify for additional state pension.

DO YOU QUALIFY?

You must regularly spend at least 35 hours a week (see below) caring for a person who receives either:

• DLA care component (at the middle or highest rate only); or
• AA at either rate; or
• Constant attendance allowance (of £54.80 or more) paid with the Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes.

You must be aged 16 or over.

You must pass the UK residence and presence tests, and must not be subject to immigration control.

You must not be in full-time education. You are treated as being in full-time education if you attend a course for 21 hours or more a week. The 21 hours is the time spent in supervised study. It does not include breaks but can include coursework or homework set by the tutor.

If you work, you must not earn more than £95 a week once allowable expenses are deducted.

CA can continue for up to 8 weeks after the person you look after dies. You must continue to satisfy all the rules other than those related to the care of a disabled person or that person's receipt of a qualifying benefit.

You can only get one award of CA, even if you care for more than one person.

If you are caring for more than one person, you can't add together the time you spend caring for each of them. You have to show that for at least 35 hours each week you are caring for one person. If you meet the 35-hours test during part of the year (e.g. in school holidays) you may qualify for CA during that period.

CARERS ALLOWANCE PER WEEK

For yourself £50.55
For an adult dependant £30.20

HOW DO YOU CLAIM?

Claim on form DS700(SP) if you get a State Pension. You can get this, and a free stamped envelope, from a Jobcentre Plus office or by ringing the DWP freephone advice line for disabled people and carers (0800 882200). You can also claim online at www.direct.gov.uk.

Backdating - If you were entitled to CA prior to claiming it, CA will be backdated for up to 3 months.

If the person you care for has claimed DLA or AA but is still waiting for the decision, don't delay claiming CA. AA and DLA are difficult claims to administer and regularly take several months to process. You may need to make two claims for CA to safeguard your entitlement. Your first claim will be refused if no decision has been made on the DLA or AA claim. Once the DLA or AA decision is made, you have 3 months in which to re-claim CA. If you do so, you will be paid from the date of your first claim for CA or the date the DLA or AA award begins if that is later.

HOW DO EARNINGS AFFECT CA?

You cannot get CA if your net earnings are more than £95 a week (i.e. after taking off tax, National Insurance (NI) contributions, half of any contribution you make towards an occupational or personal pension, and any other allowable deductions). This earnings limit increases every year in April.

The rules for calculating earnings are the same as those for incapacity benefit dependants' additions, except that for CA there is a more generous disregard for care costs:

• If you pay someone other than a 'close relative' to look after the person you care for or to look after a child aged under 16, these payments are deducted from your earnings. A maximum of half your net earnings can be ignored in this way. A 'close relative' is the parent, son, daughter, brother, sister or partner of either yourself or the person you care for.
• If your partner earns more than £30.20, the adult dependant's addition will not be paid.
• Occupational and personal pensions count as earnings for adult and child dependants' additions, but not for the basic rate of CA.
• If you earn over £95 a week and get a means-tested benefit, that benefit may continue even though entitlement to CA (and the carer premium) stops. On the other hand, earnings of £95 a week or less do not affect your CA but any means-tested benefit you receive may be reduced.

HOW DO OTHER BENEFITS AFFECT CA?

You cannot be paid CA while you are receiving the same amount or more from the following benefits:

• State pension
• Maternity allowance
• Incapacity benefit
• Unemployability supplement
• Contribution-based jobseeker's allowance
• Widows' benefits and bereavement benefits
• State training allowance.

This is known as the overlapping benefits rule.

If you get less than the basic rate of CA from one of the benefits above, that benefit is paid and topped up with CA to the amount you would get from CA alone. Only the basic rate of these benefits overlap with CA. CA can be paid in addition to any earnings-related or age-related addition to the other benefit.

If your partner receives a dependency addition for you with one of these benefits, the addition cannot be paid if you get the same amount or more from CA. If CA is less than the addition, you receive CA and your partner gets the difference be­tween CA and the standard rate of the dependency addition.

You can get CA at the same time as disability living allowance (DLA) or attendance allowance (AA).

If the person you look after gets the severe disability premium included in the calculation of a means-tested benefit, this will stop once you get CA. If you cannot be paid CA because of the overlapping benefit rules, the person you care for won't lose the severe disability premium - even if you get a carer premium.

The addition to your CA for an adult dependant won't be paid if your dependant gets an overlapping benefit of £30.20 a week or more.

Severe disablement allowance (SDA)

SDA and CA also overlap. Normally CA is paid in full, topped up with any balance of SDA. You can write and ask for your SDA to be paid in full, if your SDA is the same amount or more than CA. The person you care for is then not excluded from the severe disability premium and you can still claim a carer premium.

WHY CLAIM CA?

Your household income might not be greater after claiming CA, since it overlaps with other benefits, but there are advantages to claiming. If you are entitled to CA, even if it can't be paid because of other benefits, you might get:

• A carer premium included in your income support, income-based jobseeker's allow­ance (JSA), housing benefit, council tax benefit or NHS benefits. The premium is included if you get CA or have an underlying entitlement to CA but receive an overlapping benefit instead. An addition equivalent to the carer premium can be included in the calculation of pension credit.
• National Insurance (NI) contribution credits or help towards satisfying the NI contribution conditions for incapacity benefit and JSA.
• Help to qualify for additional state pension.
• A £10 Christmas bonus.

TIME OFF FROM CARING

The CA rules allow breaks in care of up to 12 weeks within any 26-week period without affecting payment of benefit. CA is payable for the entire 12 weeks if you or the person you look after goes into hospital (but see below). Up to 4 of the 12 weeks can be for other temporary breaks in care, such as a holiday or a short-term stay in a care home for the person you look after.

If you have had more than the above number of weeks off in the past 26 weeks, you cannot be paid CA for any week in which you do not provide care for at least 35 hours.

GOING INTO HOSPITAL

If you are in hospital, your CA will stop after 12 weeks. It may stop sooner if you have been in hospital or had a break in care within the last 26 weeks.

If the person you look after goes into hospital, the 12-weeks-off rule still applies, but in practice your CA may stop sooner.

Your CA depends on the disabled person receiving attendance allowance (AA) or disability living allowance (DLA) care component. If they go into hospital and the stay is arranged by the NHS, payment of AA and DLA stops after 4 weeks if they are aged 16 or over, or after 12 weeks for children under 16. Your CA will stop when their AA or DLA stops. If the disabled person is able to arrange a pattern of respite care in hospital or a care home that allows them to keep their AA or DLA, CA may continue to be paid.

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