Supplementary Allowance/ Carers Allowance Query

ESligo

Hi guys,

I'm looking for some advice on behalf of a friend.

She applied for carers allowance for one of her parents back in July last year, her parent has a neurodegenerative disease.

She had lost her job shortly before this and had applied for Jobseekers Allowance.
She was told that while she was waiting for her carers allowance application to process (which seems to take forever)she could not be on jobseekers and would have to be on supplementary welfare.

This had been going fine up until the start of this year.

For the entire month of January she has only received one payment of 144 euro (25 year old). When the first payment in January was not in the post office she called and was told that someone simply forgot about it, she got payment the next week, nothing backdated from the forgotten week.

This happened again the following week, and the person dealing with her case in Supplementary Welfare now wants her to get in touch with carers to see what's going on and will not pay her at all until then.

She has been calling multiple times daily and emailing and has not been able to get through yet.

I was hoping someone could tell me why her case officer would be refusing to give her any payments all of a sudden? She has not received any correspondence this year from Carers saying that the application has been rejected or anything like that, so I don't see why this officer seems to think she's shouldn't be entitled to supplementary welfare anymore.

I don't know about you, but I certainly wouldn't be able to pay a months worth of bills on a mere 144 euro, especially just after Christmas. Any advice I could pass on would be really appreciated guys!

Thanks.

Balagan

There are currently some delays in processing Carer's Allowance payments and it may take some time for your application to be processed. You may qualify for Supplementary Welfare Allowance while you are waiting for your claim to be processed. http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/carers/carers_allowance.html

If your friend qualified for Supplementary Welfare then that payment should continue until a decision is made on her Carers Allowance application and, if the latter is successful, the Supplementary Welfare payments would be deducted from the back payment.

She should continue to call the Carers Allowance section to check on the status of her application
Tel:(043) 334 0000
Locall:1890 92 77 70
Email: carersallowance@welfare.ie
If there is a family carers organization where she lives, they might make the phone call enquiry for her or at least let her use their phone. Family Carers Ireland has a Careline 1800 240724 and they may be able to help and advise.

In the meantime she needs to contact a TD in her area and ask him/her to make representations on her behalf asap. In case of emergency need for food/heating, she should contact the local St. Vincent de Paul.

ESligo

Thank you for the reply and information.

We just have no idea why all of a sudden this case officer won't pay her, and hasn't even mentioned any alternative means of payment options, she must think people can live off air.

Thanks again.