Read more Universal Credit for young people in educationRead more about the rules around claiming Universal Credit in education.read more
Universal Credit for young people in educationRead more about the rules around claiming Universal Credit in education.read more
More about the extra amounts you might receive Disabled child addition for families with a disabled child You’ll receive a disabled child addition for each dependent child in your family who gets either: DLA. PIP. The Scottish Child Disability Payment or the Scottish Adult Disability Payment. The disabled child addition is paid at one of two rates. You’ll receive the higher rate of £487.58 per month for a child who either: Is registered blind. Gets the care component of DLA or Child Disability Payment at the highest rate. Gets the daily living component of PIP or Adult Disability Payment at the enhanced rate. All other children on one of the disability benefits mentioned above will qualify for the lower rate of the addition. This will only be £156.11 per month. If your child receives a new disability benefit award, or has an existing award increased to the highest rate of the DLA care component or of the PIP enhanced daily living component, make sure you tell Universal Credit as quickly as you can. Getting the disabled child addition backdated Unlike tax credits, the disabled child addition in Universal Credit can usually be backdated in full. This remains the case even if there was a delay in telling Universal Credit about your child’s disability benefit award. Arrears should be automatically backdated to whichever is the most recent of either: The date your Universal Credit claim started. The date your child’s qualifying disability benefit started. If the Universal Credit office tries to argue that they can’t backdate this payment in full, read our advice page on this issue. Child element You get an extra amount known as a child element for each dependent child in your family. This may be paid at a higher rate for your eldest child. You will not receive a child element for a third or subsequent child born on or after 6 April 2017. There are some exceptions to this “two child policy”. You can continue to receive child elements (and a disabled child addition) for your son or daughter until the 31 August after their 19th birthday so long as they remain in full-time non advanced education, Payments will end sooner if they leave full time non advanced education or if they start claiming Universal Credit in their own right as a young adult. Carer element You’ll receive this if you are eligible for Carer’s Allowance or if the only thing that stops you from qualifying for Carer’s Allowance is that your earnings are too high. You do not actually need to have claimed Carer’s Allowance. It is sufficient that you meet the normal Carer’s Allowance rules, other than the earnings limit. What this means in practice is that you should qualify for a carer element if you meet all of the following rules: You are aged 16 or above. You care for someone on a ‘qualifying disability benefit’ such as the care component of DLA at the middle or highest rate, the daily living component of PIP at any rate or their Scottish equivalents. You provide at least 35 hours a week care to that disabled person. You are not in full-time education. You meet certain tests linked to your immigration status and length of stay in the UK. You do not already receive a limited capability for work related activity component in your Universal Credit award. No one else is already claiming as a carer for the same disabled child/young person. If you think you may be eligible for a carer element, inform the DWP via your online Universal Credit account. Where you and your partner care for different people, you may be able to get two carer elements. If the person you look after lives independently, getting a carer element could affect their benefits. Seek further advice from our helpline. Getting the carer element backdated It’s possible to get the carer element backdated to the date that your child was awarded a qualifying disability benefit. This should happen so long as you met all the above rules during the period since the qualifying disability award started AND your child’s award started after your Universal Credit. In these circumstances, the carer element should be backdated, even if there was a delay in telling Universal Credit about the fact that you were a carer. If the Universal Credit office tries to argue that they can’t backdate the carer element in full, read our advice page on this issue. Limited capability for work element If, because of health problems, you or a partner are not only unfit to work but also unfit to undertake any work-related activity, you can receive an extra element. This is known as the limited capability for work and work-related activity element. The same person cannot qualify for both a limited capability for work and work-related activity element and a carer element at the same time. If this applies to you, you will only get the higher of the two amounts. Childcare element If you work and pay for registered childcare costs, you could receive an extra allowance covering 85 per cent of your childcare costs. To qualify, you (and your partner if you have one) must normally work. Any number of hours of work will do. You may also qualify if you work and your partner is unable to provide childcare, either because they are incapable of work, or because they provide regular and substantial care to a disabled person (and they are eligible for Carer’s Allowance). The childcare element can cover 85% of childcare costs. This is up to a maximum of £1014.63 per month for one child and £1,739.37 for two or more children. Housing element This includes help towards rent and some service charges.
More about the extra amounts you might receive Disabled child addition for families with a disabled child You’ll receive a disabled child addition for each dependent child in your family who gets either: DLA. PIP. The Scottish Child Disability Payment or the Scottish Adult Disability Payment. The disabled child addition is paid at one of two rates. You’ll receive the higher rate of £487.58 per month for a child who either: Is registered blind. Gets the care component of DLA or Child Disability Payment at the highest rate. Gets the daily living component of PIP or Adult Disability Payment at the enhanced rate. All other children on one of the disability benefits mentioned above will qualify for the lower rate of the addition. This will only be £156.11 per month. If your child receives a new disability benefit award, or has an existing award increased to the highest rate of the DLA care component or of the PIP enhanced daily living component, make sure you tell Universal Credit as quickly as you can. Getting the disabled child addition backdated Unlike tax credits, the disabled child addition in Universal Credit can usually be backdated in full. This remains the case even if there was a delay in telling Universal Credit about your child’s disability benefit award. Arrears should be automatically backdated to whichever is the most recent of either: The date your Universal Credit claim started. The date your child’s qualifying disability benefit started. If the Universal Credit office tries to argue that they can’t backdate this payment in full, read our advice page on this issue. Child element You get an extra amount known as a child element for each dependent child in your family. This may be paid at a higher rate for your eldest child. You will not receive a child element for a third or subsequent child born on or after 6 April 2017. There are some exceptions to this “two child policy”. You can continue to receive child elements (and a disabled child addition) for your son or daughter until the 31 August after their 19th birthday so long as they remain in full-time non advanced education, Payments will end sooner if they leave full time non advanced education or if they start claiming Universal Credit in their own right as a young adult. Carer element You’ll receive this if you are eligible for Carer’s Allowance or if the only thing that stops you from qualifying for Carer’s Allowance is that your earnings are too high. You do not actually need to have claimed Carer’s Allowance. It is sufficient that you meet the normal Carer’s Allowance rules, other than the earnings limit. What this means in practice is that you should qualify for a carer element if you meet all of the following rules: You are aged 16 or above. You care for someone on a ‘qualifying disability benefit’ such as the care component of DLA at the middle or highest rate, the daily living component of PIP at any rate or their Scottish equivalents. You provide at least 35 hours a week care to that disabled person. You are not in full-time education. You meet certain tests linked to your immigration status and length of stay in the UK. You do not already receive a limited capability for work related activity component in your Universal Credit award. No one else is already claiming as a carer for the same disabled child/young person. If you think you may be eligible for a carer element, inform the DWP via your online Universal Credit account. Where you and your partner care for different people, you may be able to get two carer elements. If the person you look after lives independently, getting a carer element could affect their benefits. Seek further advice from our helpline. Getting the carer element backdated It’s possible to get the carer element backdated to the date that your child was awarded a qualifying disability benefit. This should happen so long as you met all the above rules during the period since the qualifying disability award started AND your child’s award started after your Universal Credit. In these circumstances, the carer element should be backdated, even if there was a delay in telling Universal Credit about the fact that you were a carer. If the Universal Credit office tries to argue that they can’t backdate the carer element in full, read our advice page on this issue. Limited capability for work element If, because of health problems, you or a partner are not only unfit to work but also unfit to undertake any work-related activity, you can receive an extra element. This is known as the limited capability for work and work-related activity element. The same person cannot qualify for both a limited capability for work and work-related activity element and a carer element at the same time. If this applies to you, you will only get the higher of the two amounts. Childcare element If you work and pay for registered childcare costs, you could receive an extra allowance covering 85 per cent of your childcare costs. To qualify, you (and your partner if you have one) must normally work. Any number of hours of work will do. You may also qualify if you work and your partner is unable to provide childcare, either because they are incapable of work, or because they provide regular and substantial care to a disabled person (and they are eligible for Carer’s Allowance). The childcare element can cover 85% of childcare costs. This is up to a maximum of £1014.63 per month for one child and £1,739.37 for two or more children. Housing element This includes help towards rent and some service charges.
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