Hi all

On the scrounge for some advice as I am struggling to get my head around the following situation -

Yesterday I saw a couple I have been advising for a while now. Mr X is in receipt of IB and DLA at MRC/HRM. Mrs X, who is under 60yrs, claims CA for husband and is paid the benefit. They receive Guarantee Credit and have the carers premium added to their applicable amount.

Mrs X also has health problems and we have helped her claim DLA. Yesterday she let me know she has been awarded HRC and HRM ((result!). I advised that Mr X can now claim CA for her; he will not receive the benefit as it "overlaps" with his IB but he will establish an underlying entitlement which will allow couple to have an additional carers premium added to their PGC calculation, so they should receive more PGC.

Now where I am getting stuck is whether clients can also claim the SDP, either for one or both of them. Reading Disability Rights Handbook it seems to me that they could have 1 SDP added for Mrs X, in addition to the 2 carers premiums, as Mr X is entitled to CA but will not be paid it because of overlapping benefit rules. I don't think SDP can be added for Mr X because his carer, Mrs X, is receiving the benefit. Or I could just be totally wrong as the more I think about this the more confused I become. Any advice/opinions would be gratefully received...

Thanks all
Sarah

Your right!

1 SDP & 2 Carers Premiums

They can claim SDP at the lower rate as

Mrs X is receiving "paid" CA in respect of Mr X.
Mr X has underlying entitlement "not paid"

So therefore SDP is payable for Mrs X but Mr X cannot receive it as CA is in payment in respect of care for him.

An additional amount for the severely disabled may not be applicable if someone is receiving CA in respect of caring for the claimant or partner. But CA has to actually be in payment before it affects entitlement to this additional amount.

SPC Regs, Sch I, para 1(1)

They will be better off if she stops claiming the Carers Allowance because then he can get the SDP, which is worth more than her carers premium.

Try convincing the clients of that though!

If she stopped claiming Carers Allowance to get the higher rate SDP it would be likely that the Carers would be taken into account as notional income and they would be worse off. Claimants are treated as receiving income that they have deprived themselves of for the purpose of gaining entitlement to or increasing the amount of SPC payable...

1 SPC Regs, reg 18(6)

What if the person she cared for asked her to stop claiming the Carers Allowance so that the cared for could claim their SDP? She would have to stop claiming it then, I don't think anyone would argue that was deprivation.

Or alternatively she might discover that she was only providing 34 and a half hours of care per week.

It can if the carer is the claimant's partner as the income of the partner is treated as that of the claimant (s136(1) of the SSC&B Act). It is not the act of deprivation, which is important, but the intention behind it.

However, the carer could always claim that they don't provide 35 hours per week care any more but the veracity of that claim is always open to be tested.

There was a thorough discussion of the issues below.

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

Sorry you are right re the deprivation, as they are a couple - I was too quick to post and didn't think it through!

In practice though I would still advise to withdraw the Carers Allowance claim. I have never had any problems with doing this.

Hi everyone

Just to say thank you for the advice and help. Sorry for delayed reply but am only in the office/online for a day a week.

Anyway, advice much appeciated and I have just seen my clients and we have completed CA application for Mr X. We did discuss withdrawing Mrs X's CA too and having the 2nd SDP but she decided she prefers to have some "running away money" thats paid directly to her

Thanks again
Sarah

Fair enough - I can see her point....