You can claim online at the direct.gov website.
You can obtain an application form from the Carers' Allowance Unit who can also provide forms in Welsh, Braille, large print or audio formats.
The Unit's address is Carers' Allowance Unit, Palatine House, Lancaster Road, Preston, PR1 1HB. Telephone: 01253 856123. Textphone: 01772 562202.
The telephone lines are open between 9am and 5pm Mon - Thurs and 9am and 4.30pm on Friday.
The Unit also provides an interpreter service for those claimants whose first language is not English.
The Benefit Enquiry Line can provide a claim form and advice on how to fill it in. Telephone 0800 882200. Textphone 0800 243355.
The Benefit Enquiry Line is open between 8.30am-6.30pm Monday to Friday and between 9am and 1pm on Saturdays.
You can obtain a claim form from any Jobcentre Plus office or Pension Centre.
You can download a form in pdf format fron the DWP web site.
The application form is divided into 15 sections-
- About you - the carer. This section asks about your name, date of birth, address, phone number, National Insurance number and nationality.
- About the date you want to claim Carers' Allowance from.
- About previous claims for Carers' Allowance that you may have made. You are asked to enter the date of your last application and to indicate
whether or not you were successful.
- About your partner (if you have one). This section asks for your partner's name, nationality, date of birth, address and National Insurance
number.
- About the care you provide. This section asks for the details of the person you are
caring for. You are also asked whether or not this person is a relative. You are asked whether someone has paid you to look after this person and whether
someone has claimed Carers' Allowance for this person before. You are asked to confirm that you provide care to this person for at least 35 hours per week
and to specify any breaks in care since the date you want to claim from and in the 26 weeks before the date you want to claim from. The person that you care
for is required to sign this section and to verify that he or she is receiving care for at least thirty five hours per week. There is also space for
someone else to sign on their behalf if the person being cared for is unable to do so.
- About any time you have spent abroad. This asks about any time spent abroad with the person you look after for more than four weeks since the date
from which you wish to claim. You are also asked to provide details of any trips abroad that you may have taken if you were out of Great Britain for more
than 26 weeks in the last twelve months.
- About education. You are asked whether you have been on a course of full-time education since the date you want to claim from. If so, you are asked
to specify the type of course, the school, college or university together with its address, telephone number, fax number, your student number and your
tutor's name.
- About work for an employer. You are asked to detail any work done for an employer in the 6 months before the date you wish to claim from. You are asked
to give your employer's details and to provide details of your last pay. You are asked to indicate how many hours a week you work.
- About expenses to do with work. This asks about any pension schemes that you may pay into and whether you pay for anything else necessary to do your
job.
- About property rented out. This section asks whether you have rented out or sub-let property since the week before the date you want to claim from and
also whether you have paid Class 2 National Insurance contributions since the week before the date you want to claim from.
- About self-employed work. This section asks about whether or not you are self-employed. If so you are asked to provide details of this work together
with your accountant's details. You are also asked asked if you paid anyone to provide childcare or to look after the person you normally care for. You
are asked to detail any monies paid towards a personal or stkeholder pension scheme.
- About other money. you are asked to give details of any benefit, allowance, pension or entitlement that you or your partner have claimed since the
date you want to claim from. You are aslo asked if anyone else has had any extra money for you added to a benefit, allowance, pension or entitlement
since the date you want to claim from. You are asked if you have had and Statutory Sick Pay, Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay,
or Statutory Adoption Pay since the date you want to claim from.
- Making payments to you. This section asks you to specify how you would like to be paid (either weekly or every four weeks) and to detail the
account into which your money should be paid.
- Other information. This section provides space for you to write anything else that you feel the DWP need to know about your claim.
- Declaration. This is where you sign to indicate that the information that you have given is correct and complete.
The application form is long and can appear quite daunting. It is best to tackle each section at a time (some won't apply to you) and remember to
keep your answers concise but factually correct.
