a warm tuesday afternoon hello fellow benefit pop-pickers
and i do hope my note finds everybody wrapped up warm on a very chill afternoon ?
anyway ...

... i'm advising two clients, one of whom has been awarded high rate mob. d.l.a / mid rate care, and the other has been awarded low rate care / mob.

however i also feel that the person who has been awarded low rate care / mob. should also receive mid. rate care and i have lodged an appeal, awaiting a decision.

my q. is, should i advise the person who has been awarded low rate care / mob. to claim c.a (carer premium) for their partner, and if i do, if they are then awarded mid. rate care can they stop claiming c.a and claim two lots of severe disability premium which gives them a much higher income ?

hmmmmm, i hope this has made sense and any ideas or thoughts greatly appreciated.

enjoy the rest of your week and ...

pete

Hi Pete

I'm assuming that your clients live in the same house, in which case they can't claim two SDPs because they are non dependants - you can't get SDP if there is a non dep living with you. So yes, advise the lrc one to claim CA/CP for the other, and then should the appeal be succesful, the original mrc partner can put in a claim for CA/CP for the other. re-reading that, I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I think you get my drift.

It's all changed from when I first started in this job you know (said grandma). About 70% of my clients are gay men, and before the civil partnership act the DWP refused to recognise same sex couples, so you could have two male partners living together, both getting the SDP and both claiming CA/CP for one another.

Much sunniness in Glasgow

Ali

Assuming, as Ali does, they are not partners, then they are not classed as non-deps if they both get middle rate care, and, neither does it matter if they are partners (paragraph 13 (3) of schedule 2 IS Regs)..

There is nothing in law to stop him doing that but he needs to be careful. Have a look at the following discussion regarding notional income issues. Some of my observations might be over cautious but they raise valid points for consideration nevertheless. All angles should be considered now matter how unlikely.

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=100&topic_id=3149&mode=full

Sorry - completely mixed up what I was saying there, and it really doesn't make sense! Go with more sane advice from Nevip please!

well, cheers for that folks, and yes, the people in question are cohabiting but i'll have a read of your thread paul, and if i have any further queries i shall no doubt return to grill your noggins once more ...

once more, cheers, and enjoy the rest of your weeks.

pete

What other benefits do they recieve Pete?

Are they on IB/ESA or anything else?

Nicky

hi bensup !

sorry for the delay in getting back, but they are in receipt of i.s as a couple, and obviously h.b / c.t.b.

i may be being silly on this one, tell me if i am ? but i feel because they are a couple they can both qualify for sdp (drh pgs 17 - 19) if cl. partner awarded mid. rate care also, and that this is the best option for them financially ... but my concern is that if cl. not awarded mid. rate care on appeal and she doesn't claim c.a within 3 months of cl. mid. rate care being awarded she could lose out on benefit ?

any feed back, again greatly appreciated ...

pete

If they are both getting middle rate care DLA, yes you are right in saying that they would both be eligible for the SDP if there is no one else living with them. If your client is not getting a benefit that overlaps with Carers Allowance and went ahead and made a claim then her partner would not be eligable for the SDP. If the client then decided to relinquish his/her CA, then as far as I can make out from the regulations it will be treated as notional income.