Hi was wondering if anyone had any experience of claiming carers allowance.
Someone I care for is in receipt of PIP and I have been advised by their Social Worker to claim carers allowance.
I have 1 property and looking on line it says when it comes to claiming carers allowance rent is not counted as it is unearned income. Has anyone any knowledge around this?
Thanks in advance.
bit unclear so I may have missed the point⌠are you talking about for the purposes of reporting income self-assessment?
Is there any connection between the person you care for and the property you state you âhaveâ which I assume you are LL of.
âunearned incomeâ may be a red herring. As far as HMRC are concerned, whether you âearnâ the income or not is irrelevant in all but a very few exceptional cases (e.g. foster care/adoption allowance).
Yes, sorry for being unclear, I rent out a property.
I am a foster carer too!
The young person I care for has been awarded PIP and Iâve been told to claim carers allowance as a top up to the foster care payments.
As the rent is my only income( other than the fostering income which is not classed as a wage and is not taxed) Iâm not sure if I can claim the carers allowance or not.
When you look on line itâs a bit unclear, on one site it says as rent is unearned it is not an income and only money you âworkâ for is counted.
Seems strange because I would think rent is an income?
Gov UK website states:-
âyour earnings are ÂŁ151 or less a week after tax, National Insurance and expensesâ.
I would suggest you apply for the allowance, as long as you answer the questions honestly, they will confirm if you are eligible or not.
TBH, as an ex-foster carer, Iâm surprised you can also claim carerâs allowance in addition to your fostering payments⌠but that wouldnât be the first time social workers have failed to tell me something we were eligible for and didnât get 
I agree with Martin41. Apply, answer the questions honestly and see what the outcome is.
However, in light of the issues surrounding carerâs allowances, I have one further suggestion. Get the social worker to put the recommendation to apply in writing if you havenât got it already. That way, if you do get it but then they challenge it and want you to repay it, youâve got a professionalâs recommendation to fall back on as a justification for thinking you were eligible.
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The carers allowance comes from the young person having disabilities,so extra needs are not covered by the ânormalâ fostering allowance. you are right though, child has been with me 10 years and Iâve only just been told about it!( thatâs for another forum thoughâ:roll_eyes:
)
I think Iâll just give them a ring, I thought if anyone else had experienced the situation,they may be able to offer advice.
From my experience, youâre very much in a grey area. Took me ages phoning several agencies, HMRC, etc to actually find out youâre not taxed on adoption allowance. Thereâs generally a very low level of awareness about this stuff even among social workers dealing with it, hence the reason for me suggesting you get their recommendation to apply for it in writing. Our LA paid extra if the foster child had additional needs so it seems unusual for me to hear a foster carer having to claim separately for that. Not saying itâs wrong, just that it wasnât our experience. But the whole thing is a bit of a lottery it seems. Good luck!
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