Carers allowance waiting time 2015 - See mod note in post 1

njs030

wiilow74 wrote: »

Thanks so much , I wasn't sure when to send things in so I suppose I can shortly send the DA application in what with XMas and New Year hols ect , do the SW send the med form automatically to you to get filled in for the CA review or do I request it before his 16th from them ? Thanks again for the help

I would definitely send the DA form soon to be on the safe side.
Carers allowance will send the form out to you a couple of months before his birthday. When I got mine there was a return envelope enclosed with it and it was addressed to one of the deciding officers by name. I assume that's to make sure it gets dealt with quickly by the right person...though I wrote her name down in case I needed to call them!
No problem, glad to help.

wiilow74

Thanks so much , it's so much easier when you know what to do and can ask someone who has been through the process

Noisin

Hi there I have a question. The means test for the carer's allowance assessing both my income and my husbands, €665 of our combined gross weekly income is disreregarded. We are over that, he is on €84.80 job seekers benefit and I'm working and combined we are over €665 a week gross. He is in college 2 days on a springboard course, 2 days a week and the other days he minds my dad while I go to work, the days he is in college I would take a days leave or get someone to check on him for me, He is over 80 moved in with us last September as he got seriously with the big C but thankfully made a recovery. We have no kids.
Can you claim for carer's allowance when you are on job seekers benefit?
What is the cut off point of income allowed earn that they consider giving the carers allowance? The disregard the first 665 of a combined income, how do they assess the rest. Not sure if I am making sense.
Is there much point in us applying. Can you get the respite grant without being eligible for carers allowance?

Noisin

Noisin wrote: »

Hi there I have a question.

Is there much point in us applying. Can you get the respite grant without being eligible for carers allowance?

You will find all the info you need here
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/carers/carers_allowance.html
To be entitled to a Carer's Allowance you must:
Be living with, or in a position to provide full-time care and attention to a person in need of care who does not normally live in an institution. However, you may continue to be regarded as providing full-time care and attention, if you or the person being cared for is undergoing medical or other treatment in a hospital or other institution for a period not longer than 13 weeks.
Be habitually resident in the State.
Not live in a hospital, convalescent home or other similar institution.
Be at least 18 years old and
Not be engaged in employment, self-employment, training or education courses outside the home for more than 15 hours a week. During your absence, adequate care for the person requiring full-time care and attention must be arranged.
The person you are caring for must be:
Over the age of 16 and so incapacitated as to require full-time care and attention or
Aged under 16 and getting a Domiciliary Care Allowance.
The person receiving care is regarded as requiring full-time care and attention where He or she is so incapacitated as to require continuous supervision in order to avoid danger to him or herself or continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the day in connection with normal bodily functions, and
He or she is so incapacitated as to be likely to require full-time care and attention for a period of at least 12 months.

njs030

Noisin what would your income be if your husband gave up jobseekers allowance? Would it bring you below the threshold? If so maybe he could be the official carer.
You mentioned he's at college 2 days a week but that must be under the 15 hours allowed.

You can't claim jobseekers and carers allowances together as you need to be available and looking for work for the former, but it might be worth your while thinking about my suggestion above.

Noisin

Hi Mary Anne 84 thanks for that.
I have all that printed out , however it doesn't answer my question re my combined income gross exceeding 665, what's the max income allowed earn.
. His college contact hours doesn't exceed 15 hours a week, close to it though.
He is on job seekers benefit so that will rule him out I think, is that correct? I think he had to be on job seekers to get the spring board course. Could you explain job seekers and job allowance. Can you get carers on job allowance, hop I'm using the correct term. Well carers allowance or not I am juggling everything I can not to let him go into a nursing home, which would cost the state a lot more money as he should get the fair deal scheme. thanks in advance mary anne 84 any break down is welcome, it's confusing interpreting to the info to my own situation.

Noisin

Thanks notjustsweets. If he gave up the 80.84 a week, yes we are over the 665 gross combined a week, out of that I pay tax, prsi, the pension levy sect etc like we all do.
I think he is on the job seekers because he is on a springboard course. I'll check with him. Sorry I don't mean to sound stupid but is the €€665 the threshold, so if our combined gross is over that are we ruled out anyways.
I don't want to apply for it when there is no chance anyways that's why I am researching it.
If I apply I will have to say he lives here I guess and change his address to here for the doctor, medical card, ha pension payment, lose the living lone payment. Lose the package for his home house, after my husband gets him up he drives home to his own house for a couple of hours turns on the heat, makes tea reads the paper comes back to us for dinner. He was never meant to stay here long term, he can't climb stays in his own house, it was a battle to get him here he's safer here anyways but that's the way it is rolling. I don't mind a bit grateful for the recovery. Sorry to read all the people with sick kids and trying hard to get this. So yeah would love to know before I go collecting all their requirements does it mean if combined gross income is over €665 which it is are we ruled out anyways. Thanks for any advice

Noisin

Noisin wrote: »

Hi Mary Anne 84 thanks for that.
I have all that printed out , however it doesn't answer my question re my combined income gross exceeding 665, what's the max income allowed earn.
. His college contact hours doesn't exceed 15 hours a week, close to it though.
He is on job seekers benefit so that will rule him out I think, is that correct? I think he had to be on job seekers to get the spring board course. Could you explain job seekers and job allowance. Can you get carers on job allowance, hop I'm using the correct term. Well carers allowance or not I am juggling everything I can not to let him go into a nursing home, which would cost the state a lot more money as he should get the fair deal scheme. thanks in advance mary anne 84 any break down is welcome, it's confusing interpreting to the info to my own situation.

He can still do springboard on Carers Allowance. Your best bet would be to contact your local Carers Association or contact them here http://www.carersireland.com/

Nelly 21

Noisin wrote: »

Hi Mary Anne 84 thanks for that.
I have all that printed out , however it doesn't answer my question re my combined income gross exceeding 665, what's the max income allowed earn.
. His college contact hours doesn't exceed 15 hours a week, close to it though.
He is on job seekers benefit so that will rule him out I think, is that correct? I think he had to be on job seekers to get the spring board course. Could you explain job seekers and job allowance. Can you get carers on job allowance, hop I'm using the correct term. Well carers allowance or not I am juggling everything I can not to let him go into a nursing home, which would cost the state a lot more money as he should get the fair deal scheme. thanks in advance mary anne 84 any break down is welcome, it's confusing interpreting to the info to my own situation.

Hi it sounds like you're a little bit stressed, please dont be! I know its easy for me to say! First of all your husband cant claim carers and job seekers. They will look at your income when assessing, not his as he isnt working . If your wages are higher than E665, then (if your claim is sucessful) they will give your husband a tapered down amount. Its isnt that if you earn over the 665 then you are not entitled to carers so he should be entitled to something.

If he is successful he will only be able to claim carers allowance

As far as I know he can claim jobseekers for now while he is waiting for his claim to be assessed. They will just minus his jobseekers from his carers if ye are entitled to it.

Have you applied? If not, do so straight away, its a long process

Feel free to ask me questions, if I can help at all I will

njs030

Prsi,pension contributions and travel expenses are deducted. Whatever is left is usually deducted from the payment- fir example if you end up €50 over the €665 the payment could be €154 rather than €204. I'm not 100% sure on that but a call to citizens advice will clear that up for you.

Yes you have to be living with the person you are caring for, yes he would have to give up payments but remember carers allowance is for people who need constant care and attention so couldn't live alone anyway.
His doctor will have to fill in a form stating what his need for a full time carer is.

notjustsweet

notjustsweet wrote: »

Prsi,pension contributions and travel expenses are deducted. Whatever is left is usually deducted from the payment- fir example if you end up €50 over the €665 the payment could be €154 rather than €204. I'm not 100% sure on that but a call to citizens advice will clear that up for you.

Yes you have to be living with the person you are caring for, yes he would have to give up payments but remember carers allowance is for people who need constant care and attention so couldn't live alone anyway.
His doctor will have to fill in a form stating what his need for a full time carer is.

Not so. The carer needs only be contactable and within a reasonable distance from the person they are caring for.

njs030

Nelly 21 wrote: »

First of all your husband cant claim carers and job seekers. They will look at your income when assessing, not his as he isnt working .

They will look at all money coming into the house, social welfare payments count towards joint income.

Nelly 21 wrote: »

They will just minus his jobseekers from his carers if ye are entitled to it.

As you said above you can't get jobseekers and carers together because you need to be looking for work whilst on the former.
They won't just minus it from the carers allowance they will refuse the claim.

Nelly 21

Yes you dont have to live with the person that you are providing care for, you do need to be close by, within a certain number of miles. Im not sure what that number is but its def less than 10. For a case like yours they will send out an inspector to have a look around, to see for sure where your father lives, make sure that ye are there and ask questions

Noisin

Great thanks for that. He does live with us, but he does drive home most days to check on it and I suppose he prefers hanging out in his own home as we all do or my husbands drive him home, it's only 3/4 miles away and household benefits were just handy to have in his own house as it's a slight help with bills. He wouldn't drive into a town but he drives on a country road. He wasn't keen on living here at all. But he hadn't a choice and he made a far better recovery been here. Thanks so much for all your help. So being over €665 combined gross doesn't completely rule us out it may just mean we get a lesser amount. They put him on the reduced rate for job seekers as he hadn't enough stamps paid.
It is stressful all this, I feel for people with sick kids and having to go through this lengthy process. Thanks again.

Nelly 21

notjustsweet wrote: »

They will look at all money coming into the house, social welfare payments count towards joint income.



As you said above you can't get jobseekers and carers together because you need to be looking for work whilst on the former.
They won't just minus it from the carers allowance they will refuse the claim.

I am on carers at the moment. Before I got the carers I was on jobseekers as they said you are not guaranteed to be successful with the application. When I got my carers backdated they just took the amount that I received from my backdated payment. Then my jobseekers was cancelled. My process was long and drawn out. I was refused and got a review.

njs030

Nelly 21 wrote: »

I am on carers at the moment. Before I got the carers I was on jobseekers as they said you are not guaranteed to be successful with the application. When I got my carers backdated they just took the amount that I received from my backdated payment. Then my jobseekers was cancelled. My process was long and drawn out. I was refused and got a review.

Sorry I misunderstood, I thought you meant when you are awarded carers you will keep the jobseekers and they will minus that amount each week.
My mistake, Sorry Nelly!

Nelly 21

Noisin wrote: »

Great thanks for that. He does live with us, but he does drive home most days to check on it and I suppose he prefers hanging out in his own home as we all do or my husbands drive him home, it's only 3/4 miles away and household benefits were just handy to have in his own house as it's a slight help with bills. He wouldn't drive into a town but he drives on a country road. He wasn't keen on living here at all. But he hadn't a choice and he made a far better recovery been here. Thanks so much for all your help. So being over €665 combined gross doesn't completely rule us out it may just mean we get a lesser amount. They put him on the reduced rate for job seekers as he hadn't enough stamps paid.
It is stressful all this, I feel for people with sick kids and having to go through this lengthy process. Thanks again.

I remember the stress well!! Its also not very nice to feel like you're not believed. Mine was refused and I got the claim reviewed, I got TDs involved and wrote loads of letters outlining what I did day to day. Also you need your das Gp and consultant to write letters, get on top of that as it takes a while!!

Nelly 21

notjustsweet wrote: »

Sorry I misunderstood, I thought you meant when you are awarded carers you will keep the jobseekers and they will minus that amount each week.
My mistake, Sorry Nelly!

No bother!!! Its an awful process!!! One payment you can claim with carers is Illness Benefit if you have enough stamps (and are entitled), then they will give you half rate carers

Nelly 21

Noisin wrote: »

Great thanks for that. He does live with us, but he does drive home most days to check on it and I suppose he prefers hanging out in his own home as we all do or my husbands drive him home, it's only 3/4 miles away and household benefits were just handy to have in his own house as it's a slight help with bills. He wouldn't drive into a town but he drives on a country road. He wasn't keen on living here at all. But he hadn't a choice and he made a far better recovery been here. Thanks so much for all your help. So being over €665 combined gross doesn't completely rule us out it may just mean we get a lesser amount. They put him on the reduced rate for job seekers as he hadn't enough stamps paid.
It is stressful all this, I feel for people with sick kids and having to go through this lengthy process. Thanks again.

I should also add if your husband get carers ye can apply for the home tax credit (since the recent budget, its worth E1000 tax relief, assuming he doesnt work/ earns less than E4000)

mand0621

Hi, I applied for carers in July and have an inspector calling this week to go through means, the medical part isn't an issue as someone else has been carer for the person concerned for the last 8 years so it's really a transfer..does anyone have an idea of how long it should take after inspector calls? Have reduced to 12 hours in work in order to be carer and struggling with finances, am I being too optimistic to hope that it's all sorted with arrears backdated in time for Christmas?

wiilow74

notjustsweet wrote: »

I would definitely send the DA form soon to be on the safe side.
Carers allowance will send the form out to you a couple of months before his birthday. When I got mine there was a return envelope enclosed with it and it was addressed to one of the deciding officers by name. I assume that's to make sure it gets dealt with quickly by the right person...though I wrote her name down in case I needed to call them!
No problem, glad to help.

Hi again notjustsweet , I am so grateful for your advice , I got the DA application and filled it in with my son and got the med report and sent it to the proper office in Longford at the end of Oct beginning of Nov , about a week later my son received his first social welfare card . Then just before X-Mas I got that letter from the SW about my DCA being stopped on his 16th and they requested the medical from for the CA to be sent in if I was in receipt of it and wished to continue , it said on the letter that once that was sent in my entitlement to CA would be reviewed , it looked like a generic letter and there was no return envelope with it but it did have a higher executive's officers name on it but the letter came from the DCA dept in Longford not the CA dept , I have gotten the med form back from my doctor today and plan to send it early next week , I presume it's best to send it to the HEO on the letter or just to the CA section do you think ? Also did it take long for them to get back to you in regard to your CA being continued ? Thanks so much & Happy Christmas

wiilow74

notjustsweet wrote: »

I would definitely send the DA form soon to be on the safe side.
Carers allowance will send the form out to you a couple of months before his birthday. When I got mine there was a return envelope enclosed with it and it was addressed to one of the deciding officers by name. I assume that's to make sure it gets dealt with quickly by the right person...though I wrote her name down in case I needed to call them!
No problem, glad to help.

Hi there , I sent of the Medical part CR1 form and a copy of the letter received today , I sent it to the CA section in Longford as I figured it would be dealt with quicker than if I sent it to the officer who sent the letter about the DCA , hope I'm right Any idea how long is the waiting time at the moment and if reviews are dealt with any faster than first time applications ? Tks

20784

I'm awaiting appeal decision on my DA, while my two child got approved for DCA recently. Will it affect my DA appeal or my current BSWA?

20784

I'm awaiting appeal decision on my DA, while my two child got approved for DCA recently. Will it affect my DA appeal or my current BSWA? Is there anything i should do?

stevejb

hi, can anyone tell me how long it takes for a review of carers allowance application, was refused on original application , so got doctors letters and welfare officer for blind council to send back for a review , registered the letter so just waiting now 4 weeks

mand0621

Spoke to someone re this yesterday, they are currently working on reviews from Sept 2015 so the process is taking approx 5 months!

JonDoe

Anyone out there got a current time frame for applications. I applied back in April, got a text saying they'd received my application on 19/04/16 just looking for a ballpark number of weeks.

Thanks

stevejb

we applied initially in oct 15 and got refusal at end of january 16, asked for a review and sent in extra information beginning feb and we are still waiting on word 13 weeks ago we phoned and they said six weeks so dont hold your breath as there does not seem to be any definite time frame ,so good luck i hope you get a good result

Conall Cernach

I was talking to someone in Carers Allowance department about a month ago and was informed that they were still only looking at January 2016 applications then.

JonDoe

JonDoe wrote: »

Anyone out there got a current time frame for applications. I applied back in April, got a text saying they'd received my application on 19/04/16 just looking for a ballpark number of weeks.

Thanks

Got letter in post today 25/07/16 informing me of decision so say 14 weeks from receiving "we have all your documents" text.
Thanks boards