- You are ‘regularly and substantially engaged in caring for another person’, who has claimed Attendance Allowance, or Disability Living Allowance, or Personal Independence Payment, but hasn’t yet had a decision on their claim. This applies for up to 26 weeks.
- You are ‘regularly and substantially engaged in caring for another person’ who gets Attendance Allowance, or the middle or higher rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance, or either rate of the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment. You might notice that these are the same as one of the tests for Carer’s Allowance, so why not just claim Carer’s Allowance anyway? The important point here is that the other rules for Carer’s Allowance don’t apply here, so if you think you can argue that you are ‘regularly and substantially engaged in caring’ it won’t necessarily matter if you are caring for less than 35 hours per week.
- You are looking after a member of your family (your partner or one of your children) who is ‘temporarily ill’. This is only going to help you for a fairly short time but might get you through an immediate emergency.
The good news is that because you are classed as a carer, you are not expected to look for work, and therefore don’t have to be on Jobseeker's Allowance. In fact it is quite hard to get Jobseeker's Allowance if you’re also saying that you’re caring for someone, as this doesn’t fit with being available for and actively seeking work!
Now let’s look at each of the possible benefits…
Income Support
- You have the right to claim Income Support as a carer
- However, you will still not be entitled to Income Support if you are actually working 16 hours or more per week (but this doesn’t apply to you!)
- The amount you get will be reduced if you have other income (although some income is ignored, including the things further down this page) or if you have too much savings or other capital
- The maximum amount you can get each week if you have no other income will usually be £73.10, or £57.90 if you are under 25. These figures may be higher if you are disabled yourself.
- You can claim Income Support by phoning the Jobcentre Plus on 0800 055 6688.
 If
you are currently getting income based Employment and Support
Allowance because you are unfit for work yourself think twice
before ending this and claiming Income Support. This is because
you are likely to be entitled to more Employment and Support
Allowance than Income Support (this could be £29.05, £36.20, or
even £51.95, depending on circumstances). The only main circumstance
in which you will probably be better off
moving to Income Support is if your partner claimed ESA on or after
3rd April 2017 and is in the work-related activity group, in which case they will
not get any addition to the basic ESA rate.You should still tell the Jobcentre Plus that you are now caring for someone, though, because you are obliged to tell them about any changes. |
Housing Benefit
- If you rent your home, getting Income Support should entitle you to full Housing Benefit as well. Bear in mind, though, being entitled to full Housing Benefit is not the same as getting all your rent paid.
- If you want more information about Housing Benefit, click here
| If
you were getting Housing Benefit before for some other reason (for
example, getting Jobseeker's Allowance, or working and being on
low income) you should tell the local authority (council) that
your circumstances have changed, otherwise you will be getting
Housing Benefit for the wrong reason, and may end up being asked
to pay back an overpayment |
Council Tax Support
- If you rent your home, getting Income Support should entitle you to full Council Tax Support as well. Bear in mind, though, being entitled to full Council Tax Support is not the same as getting all your council tax paid.
- Depending on your local authority (council) you might find that you are entitled to more Council Tax Support than you were before.
- If you want more information about Council Tax Support, click here
| If
you were getting Council Tax Support before for some other reason
(for example, getting Jobseeker's Allowance, or working and being
on low income) you should tell the local authority (council) that
your circumstances have changed, otherwise you will be getting
Council Tax Support for the wrong reason, and may end up being
asked to pay back an overpayment |