Carers Allowance with IS top up or BA?

I have a customer who is claiming CA. She will get the 8 week run on but the person she was caring for was her husband who was in receipt of various other benefits.

We did an IS claim over the phone to top her up for the next 8 weeks and then she will be entitled to Bereavement Allowance/Payment. However she is going to have to attend an interview at the local JCP next week for the IS…..the officer on the phone was quite unsympathetic about it all….I am wondering now if we could just ask for the CA to cease earlier and claim the BA to save her having to go through the upsetting process of attending JCP and being quizzed about looking for work.

Does anyone know if this can be done or is it mandatory the CA is paid?

Thanks in advance.

She can claim Bereavement Allowance without formally cancelling her Carers Allowance claim.  If the Carers Allowance is more than her Bereavement Allowance the DWP will pay the Bereavement Allowance and top it up with the balance of Carers Allowance.

Do you know how much Bereavement Allowance she will get?  If she is under 55, or if her husband had an incomplete National Insurance record, the amount she gets will be reduced.

Depending on how much her Bereavement Allowance is going to be you can estimate how much her Income Support should be.  Remember she will get a Carers Premium even if she only has underlying entitlement to Carers Allowance.  Based on that she can decide whether its worth claiming or not.

Is it likely to be the same person booking the appointments and carrying out the new claim interviews?  I wouldn’t have expected it to be.

Thanks for this Cordelia.

She will get the max of £112.55 BA. Her AA with the carers premium will be £107.70 so this was why I was thinking to just end the CA, not go through with the IS and just get on and claim the BA.

Seems a waste of time to me if she has to carry on getting the 8 week run on. We have completed the BA form and I have told her to take it to her IS appointment anyhow.

Thanks again.

If she’s a householder:
where BA just exceeds her applicable amount, then the carers premium should increase any HB or CTS entitlement. In which case I wouldn’t try to terminate the underlying CA any sooner than you have to.

From what you are saying she could claim BA, leave the CA claim to become an underlying entitlement and abandon the Income Support claim.  This would mean that she gets a carer premium in any HB / CTR claim as well.