The cost of living crisis is making everyday life more expensive - but, with Christmas on the horizon, many carers may be entitled to Government cash they aren't getting.
If you're a carer, you may be able to get monthly payments as well as a Christmas bonus.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) can award carers an additional £69.70 a week - equal to £278 a month, or over £3,000 a year.
In order to qualify for Carer's Allowance, the claimant must be at least 16 years of age and spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone.
Furthermore, the claimant must also live in England, Scotland, or Wales and have earnings of £132 a week or less after tax, National Insurance and expenses.
Despite this, Carer's Allowance is not dependent on National Insurance contributions and is therefore not means-tested, which means it is not based on a claimant's personal income or savings.
However, at the same time, Carer's Allowance is a taxable payment and can therefore affect other benefits you may be claiming or planning to claim. The person being cared for must also claim at least one of the following for their carer to receive the payment:
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Disability Living Allowance
- Attendance Allowance
- Disablement Benefit Armed Forces Independence Payment
- Child/Adult Disability Payment.
If a person shares caring duties with someone else, only one of the carers can claim the Allowance. Additionally, Carer's Allowance can only be claimed once, even if the claimant is caring for more than one person.
The government will also provide a Christmas bonus to those claiming Carer's Allowance. As a one-off payment, recipients will receive £10 - the bonus will also not affect any other benefits.
However, the DWP is yet to confirm the exact date when the payment will be made, but it generally lands in peoples' bank accounts in the first week of December.
In order to apply for Carer's Allowance, you should head to the GOV.UK website or phone the Carer's Allowance Unit for a claim form on 0800 731 0297.
Rocketing living costs are making life even harder for disabled people because their state benefits rose by just 3.1% in April, while the Bank of England now expects inflation to hit 13.3% in the autumn.
The Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Attendance Allowance will all shrink in real terms.
Disability equality charity Scope is warning the average claimant will see the value of their payments fall by £367 a year, and it could be more.
If inflation sticks at 13.3% to April, it would mean a real-terms cut of as much as £67 a month for disabled people on the highest rate of PIP.
These losses will dwarf the £150 disability payment, and Scope executive director James Taylor says millions have had a devastating real-terms drop in financial support.
“We have been inundated with calls from disabled people who have been cutting back for months and have nothing left to cut back.”
James says life costs more when you are disabled, as many use energy to charge vital equipment and keep warm, and called on the Government to double its support package.
