UC as a carer

Apologies if this has been asked before but I couldn’t find the answer.

My client has just claimed DLA for his son who has an ABI. I would normally advise him to claim Income Support as a carer under reg 4 of schedule 1b. However, his office is full UC and he has been told by the helpline line that he needs to get a decision on DLA and then on CA before he claim UC. Is this correct? A quick look at the UC regs didn’t resolve it for me.

Client can claim UC now.

The issue will be that until the DLA application is decided, and assuming child is over 5 then the client will be in the full conditionality group.

However, if client explains his extra caring responsibilities then the DWP should under reg 88 to reduce hours of worksearch to that considered reasonable given the circs.

Further, may be able to waive work search altogether under reg 99(5)(b) due to “other temporary circumstances”.

(regs are the UC Regs).

Why on earth did they tell him to wait to make a claim…...? I’d suggest a complaint. OK, I always do, but…..

Thank you for the very helpful response Martin. Andrew, I have already advised him to make a complaint.

This is the sort of thing that demonstrates the need for backdating on the grounds of misadvice by DWP. In the absence of that as client has suffered an actual financial loss by following DWP advice he should seek Financial Redress for Maladministration

Just to add to Martin’s post, may not be relevant in this case, but always worth checking as in some cases could be worse off on UC, especially families with disabled children if not awarded highest care DLA. For example someone currently on CTC/JSA/HB could claim CA and stay on these benefits with carer premium in JSA, as long as meets JSA basic conditions and available for work at least 16 hours a week (CPAG handbook p1042). The disabled child element in CTC is twice as much as the lower disabled child element in UC. 

Mark

Thanks Mark, worth remembering. In this case he was working full time and not in receipt of any tax credits/bens. UCFS area. He’s had to give up his job to look after his son following the ABI.

I have just run some dummy calculations: single parent, carer, one child age 14 on middle rate care DLA. I have excluded rent and CT costs.

As far as I can see, there are very few situations in which the claimant is better off on UC when compared to legacy benefits.

Not working- they are better off on IS than on UC by £31.35 a week.

If the claimant works – @ £112.50 a week (15 hrs a week at minimum wage) they are only £0.84 better off on UC.

If they earn more than this (say £115.50 per week) they are about £1 a week worse off on UC.

If the same person worked 25 hours a week (£187.50 gross)  - they are worse off on UC by £66.22 a week

At 35 hours a week (£262.50 gross) they are worse off on UC by £87.31 a week

If the child received high-rate DLA care:
Not working - UC would be £0.75 more than IS
At 15 hours a week work as above, UC would be £32.95 a week more than IS
At 25 hours a week, UC would be £34.12 LESS than WTC/CTC
At 35 hours a week, UC would be £55.25 LESS than WTC/CTC

I’m happy to be corrected, but this looks even worse for carers than I had thought.