As you know, we are paying specific attention to carers and their issues at the moment, as such we have had an article written that will be published in the next magazine (due out before Christmas). I know that this is a big issue to Members at the moment though so I thought I would post some of the useful information here for those of you for whom it affects......

Hello, my name is Oliver Mawdsley and I am the Outreach Manager for the Carer's Allowance Unit in Preston. My role is to promote Carer's Allowance within the UK. Although there are 6 million Carers in the UK, only a fraction are Carer's Allowance customers and each year there are millions of pounds of unclaimed benefits. I hope after reading my article you may be encouraged to claim this benefit.

I always point out to people I meet on my travels, that Carer's Allowance is a non means tested benefit, which basically means we will not look in to either yours or your family’s savings or private pensions.

The first thing we check is that the person you care for is receiving a qualifying benefit, which is either Disability Living Allowance at the middle or higher rate of the 'care' component or any rate of Attendance Allowance. When this is place, only then can Carer's Allowance be claimed, as without it your claim cannot be awarded.

If you are working you can earn £100 per week take home pay. Often customers earn over £100 per week but with allowable expenses this adjusts them to the £100, tax, Ni, pension and care costs can be expenses.

Another main part to Carer's Allowance is that you care for someone for 35 hours per week but as there is no definition of care this means you do not have to be with them for all of the 35 hours.

A carer must be at least 16 years old to claim the benefit and if you are in education, you must not be studying full time for more than 21 hours per week, which includes home work.

For each week you are entitled to Carer’s Allowance you are paid £55.55pwk and a National Insurance Credit towards your state pension. Also, if you receive Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance or Pension Credit you may be entitled to a Carer Premium of £31.00 per week.

One thing to be aware of is if the person you care for lives on their own and also receives a Severe Disability Premium, they will lose this when you are paid Carer’s Allowance, this is not the case for underlying entitlement cases. If you are not sure you can always phone the Benefit Enquiry Line for advice: 0800 88 22 00.

If you receive another benefit which is more than £55.55 per week, you may be entitled to Carer's Allowance but it will not be payable. This is called 'Underlying Entitlement', which basically means you have all the entitlement conditions which may entitle you to discount on your Council Tax, Housing Benefit or extra premiums on other benefits.

Carer’s Allowance can be claimed on line at www.direct.gov.co.uk or by phoning Carer’s Allowance 0845 608 4321, we also have a text phone 0845 604 5312.