Advice Column – Nov 2025
A genuine case from Sudbury and South Suffolk Citizens Advice
A client came in with a query about her mother (in her 90s) who, although in receipt of a disability benefit, lived on her own with no outside assistance. Recently, the mother’s disability benefit had been reduced, which surprised the adviser as disability benefits are usually protected.
The adviser asked if any benefit circumstances had recently occurred. The daughter replied that she had claimed a carer’s allowance for the visits and care she gave to her mother.
The adviser was immediately supplied with the answer. In addition to the mother being in receipt of a disability benefit, she also received a premium almost equal to the value of the disability benefit for demonstrating her independence by caring for herself. With the daughter claiming a carer’s allowance, that independence had been removed and the premium was no longer an entitlement for the mother, but instead formed the daughter’s carer’s allowance. It wasn’t the disability benefit that had been reduced but the independence premium which had been forfeited.
The solution was simple. The mother could continue to claim the premium, but the daughter would have to forfeit the carer’s allowance. It was one or the other but not both.
Food for thought.
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