Particular needs or circumstances - carers
Award to include the carer element
30.—(1) An award of universal credit is to include an amount (“the carer element”) specified in the table in regulation 38 where a claimant has regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person, subject to paragraphs (2) to (4) and section 70(7) of the Contributions and Benefits Act (entitlement by different persons to the carer element and to carer’s allowance in respect of the same severely disabled person).
(2) In the case of joint claimants, an award is to include the carer element for both joint claimants if they both qualify for it, but only if they are not caring for the same severely disabled person.
(3) Where two or more persons have regular and substantial caring responsibilities for the same severely disabled person, an award of universal credit may only include the carer element in respect of one of them and that is the one they jointly elect or, in default of election, the one the Department determines.
(4) Where an amount would, apart from this paragraph, be included in an award in relation to a claimant by virtue of paragraphs (1) to (3), and the claimant has limited capability for work or for work and work-related activity, only one out of the carer element, the LCW element and the LCWRA element may be included in respect of the claimant and that element is—
(a)if the claimant has limited capability for work and work-related activity (and in the case of joint claimants, the LCWRA element has not been included in respect of the other claimant), the LCWRA element, or
(b)in any other case, the carer element.
Meaning of “regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person”
31.—(1) For the purposes of Part 2 of the Order and these Regulations, a person has regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person if they satisfy the conditions for entitlement to a carer’s allowance or would do so but for the fact that their earnings have exceeded the limit prescribed for the purposes of that allowance.
(2) Paragraph (1) applies whether or not the person has made a claim for a carer’s allowance.
(3) A person does not have regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person if the person derives earned income from those caring responsibilities.