Forum Home → Discussion → Other benefit issues → Thread
DWP want to know why people claim carer’s allowance but not carer element!
I have just received an email from the DWP to say -
We have been approached by the User Research Team for Universal Credit who would like your assistance in a project that they are currently working on.
They are currently researching why people claim Carers Allowance but not the Carers element. They would be keen to speak with charities that work with our claimants to understand why.
We would really appreciate your insight to improve this current process.
If you feel like this is something you would like to assist with please email our Inbox and we will pass on your details to the User Research team for them to get in touch.
You would have thought that if someone was claiming carer’s allowance it would trigger the carer element to be paid but perhaps not…
If any of you would like to feed into this research just email or DM me and I’ll pass on your details
Hi Daphne
I think a lot of it comes down to people’s IT skills/assumption because CA is being deducted off the claim that UC know that they’re a carer. Ditto with a phone claim, they’d need to know to call up and specifically report that they’re a carer.
Reporting the carer requires people to physically go in and report that they’re a carer following the steps, not just getting CA or writing on the journal. Unless it’s in place at the start of the claim, I think a lot of people miss it and don’t know to go back to it.
There also doesn’t seem to be an internal flag when CA is in payment so no one at the case management end picks it up unless it’s pointed out to them.
imho, this enquiry by DWP is absolutely staggeringly disingenuous ....albeit indicative of a very real and systemic problem with UC, and generally.
...I have come across countless UC payment statements which set out that CA is being deducted from the claimant’s UC payment amount but then do not include the CE…even though - by definition - CA could not be deducted without CA being in payment, and CA of course cannot be paid to either the UC claimant or to the joint claimant without them meeting the conditions for CA entitlement and thus - simultaneously - for the CE on their UC.
I have won several MRs retrospectively arguing this very simple point, and have wondered under what circumstances this could ever be a justified position by UC…...in each case UC has tried to initially argue that because the fact of CA being paid was not “reported” to UC they can only pay CE from the AP when it was reported (usually of course in the AP when we identify it as an issue) ......but when pointing out that the customer shouldn’t need to report a circumstance of which the department is clearly already aware, UC has eventually folded and paid the CE and backdated any CE arrears because of these “special” circs.
Never had to appeal, so it has always read like they are doing us a favour in folding on this
There will of course be some claimants in receipt of CA who are not entitled to receive the carer element because they are already getting the LCWRA element (although that clearly isn’t what the question is addressing). I agree with Peter that the question shouldn’t arise because UC should simply address it when they become aware that CA is in payment.
We want to do some research on why Universal Credit systematically fails to pay people claiming it the proper amounts of money, even though we already know the information necessary to pay them the proper elements without them needing to do anything at all…..
You would have thought that if someone was claiming carer’s allowance it would trigger the carer element to be paid but perhaps not…
Someone has already said “staggering” haven’t they?
I’ve seen a few where CA is being deducted but no CE. It’s a classic case of the build not understanding, or it’s designers not adequately anticipating, what might happen or claimant expectations; I’ve claimed this so they must know… right?
This was a while ago but I don’t think it has changed, which is why people need to report CA on home page and declare that they are a carer. No limit on arrears if supersession requested.
DWP have stated:
‘… the UC service recognises Carers Allowance as an income but is not currently able to interpret what that means to a claimant’s circumstances. This is why we ask the claimant to declare their caring activity within their Universal Credit account. By ensuring their account holds accurate information, they are also ensuring that they receive the correct amount of allowance and are placed in the correct work group.’
Also the mess when CA is backdated, and arrears paid in full, resulting in overpaid UC.
With legacy they would withhold the CA arrears and pay what was due, when offset against legacy, and not be overpaid.
I wonder how many UC claimants have overpayments that they are repaying because of this, as not many will appreciate that the arrears will equal an overpayment and have spent some, if not all, by time realised been overpaid.
“[T]here is a key question about the digitisation of the welfare system: are the benefits of digital being shared equally with the public? Currently, the answer appears to be no. [...] DWP’s focus on automation prioritises its efficiencies over those of the public. There are huge opportunities to use the data that DWP holds to reduce administrative burden, speed up payments and improve how it communicates with claimants, but these have not been prioritised.”
https://pt2.works/reports/universal-credit-digital-welfare
“[T]here is a key question about the digitisation of the welfare system: are the benefits of digital being shared equally with the public? Currently, the answer appears to be no. [...] DWP’s focus on automation prioritises its efficiencies over those of the public. There are huge opportunities to use the data that DWP holds to reduce administrative burden, speed up payments and improve how it communicates with claimants, but these have not been prioritised.”
https://pt2.works/reports/universal-credit-digital-welfare
The above is a question that needs to be asked again and again and again.
Perhaps you could feed them back their question in plain English: “why don’t people know what we won’t tell them about?”
UC regs obviously say nothing about the claimant having to make an expressly stated claim for a specific element in order to be entitled to it…
They are currently researching why people claim Carers Allowance but not the Carers element. They would be keen to speak with charities that work with our claimants to understand why.
This is because the system is too complex. We, professional advisers, are often confused and need this discussion board to seek help. What about a lay person! Overwhelmed, perhaps with language barrier, etc etc. They may not only not know that they can be entitled to both, CA and CE, but also may have been poorly advised by DWP untrained staff. Only yesterday I had a client telling me that her work coach advised her that she can’t claim Child Benefit because she is getting child responsibility element of UC and Child Benefit is a legacy benefit….
I leave alone the audacity of asking such question by the department that administers both benefits.
Also the mess when CA is backdated, and arrears paid in full, resulting in overpaid UC.
yes this is so frustrating! agree in that many of my clients who are carers and would qualify for CE are already entitled (or should be, post-MR/appeal etc) to LCWRA instead.
Just have a new client with this issue. I only spoke to him on phone so far & have not seen their journal yet & their English is poor. But it looks like his wife is not getting the Carers Element on their joint UC claim, they did not even know what it was. But they have overpayment deductions which they think has something to do with wife receiving Carers Allowance.
One of the post above quotes a DWP statement
‘… the UC service recognises Carers Allowance as an income but is not currently able to interpret what that means to a claimant’s circumstances. This is why we ask the claimant to declare their caring activity within their Universal Credit account. By ensuring their account holds accurate information, they are also ensuring that they receive the correct amount of allowance and are placed in the correct work group.’
Would it be really that difficult to make UC staff put a note about declaring caring responsibilities at the time they discover CA is in payment, instead of expecting client to provide this information on their own initiative, as part of claimant’s general duty to provide accurate information?
Driven by an expectation that claimants are somehow supposed to understand how the benefits works whereas it would be reasonable to expect the DWP to be able to join the dots up.
The very question implies that some claimants would deliberately deprive themselves of income by not claiming the carer element in these circumstances - which is patently absurd.
DWP now wanting to speak to carers in receipt of CA -
Our User Researcher colleagues are looking to speak to Carers who are ideally in receipt of Carers Allowance for a project in UNIVERSAL CREDIT that is making improvements to the service. They would be really grateful for 30 minutes (max) of their time on Thursday 6th October. They will be running sessions between 10am and 2pm that can be done via Teams or face to face in the Manchester office (2 St Peters Square).
As a thank you for their time they will receive a £30 love2shop digital voucher for online or a £40 digital love2shop voucher for face to face. If you have Service users that are interested please can you let us know with all available times.
If any of you have clients who might be interested, please email/DM me and I can pass details on