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IS and CA
Going round in circles here. Unless I am reading both DRH and CPAG wrong.
You can claim IS as a carer for up to 26 weeks as long as you are regularly and substantially…..etc and the person you care for has claimed a qualifying benefit.
Claim for PIP and IS made on the same day
Client is on LR DLA at the moment, we have argued a claim for PIP is a claim for a qualifying benefit
IS has refused claim and are adamant over the phone this is correct as she is not on a qualifying benefit. Waiting for call back from processing…
Paragraph 4(iiii) of Schedule 1B of the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 applies.
(iii) the person being cared for has claimed entitlement to a disability living allowance, armed forces independence payment or personal independence payment but only for the period up to the date of determination of that claim, or the period of 26 weeks from the date of that claim, whichever date is the earlier;
DMG suggests this only applies to new claims. Given DLA is already in payment I suspect the application for PIP is being treated as a request to revise the DLA claim which has already been determined.
“Awaiting outcome of claim to AA, DLA, AFIP orPIP
20120 Where DMG 20116 2.2 applies the person can get IS until the earlier of
1. the date the claim for“AA”, DLA, AFIP or PIPis decided or
2. 26 weeks from the date of claim for“AA”, DLA, AFIP or PIP.
Note: Where the person is already in receipt of DLA and applies for another component, this is not a new claim so they could not qualify again under this provision.
1IS(Gen)Regs,Sch1B,para4(a)(ii) &(iii)”
Whether the DMG interpretation is lawfully correct is unclear. The wording of the clause as quoted by Paul does not make this distinction. It is clear that if client was seeking revision of existing award of DLA they would not qualify for the exclusion and therefore not qualify for IS. The ambiguity is introduced because PIP is a replacement benefit for DLA.
Thanks guys. DM called later to say they will accept a claim for IS but only when PIP 2 form has been received and logged on system, this means client will need to make a new claim for IS once we are sure PIP claim has been accepted. They will backdate though, to date of initial phone claim for PIP, so client will not lose out even though there will be a delay.