Work and Pensions written question – answered at on 19 December 2005.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he takes to ascertain whether persons claiming carers' allowance (a) as live-in carers are carers or cohabitees and (b) are capable of and competent to act as carers, and are acting as such.
The administration of carer's allowance is a matter for the chief executive of the Disability and Carers Service, Mr. Terry Moran. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Terry Moran, dated
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he takes to ascertain whether persons claiming carers allowance (a) as live-in carers are carers or cohabitees and (b) are capable of and competent to act as carers and are acting as such.
The Minister for Disabled People, Anne McGuire MP, promised you a substantive reply from the Chief Executive of the Disability and Carers Service.
To be entitled to Carer's Allowance (CA) a customer must be regularly and substantially" caring for a severely disabled person for at least 35 hours a week. All customers who claim CA are required to sign a statement confirming that they do that.
The conditions of entitlement for CA do not specify that the carer must live with the disabled person therefore no checks are carried out on this when claims for CA are received.
From 5th December 2005, CA claim packs contain a statement that allows the disabled person, or someone acting on their behalf, to acknowledge that someone is claiming CA for caring for them, to confirm whether 35 hours caring is taking place, to acknowledge that their benefits may be affected by the CA claim, and to understand that their Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance records will be checked in order to process the CA claim.
The disabled person, or someone acting on their behalf, must sign the statement before the claim to CA is processed.
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