Carer’s Benefit

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dotcom

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I have a question in relation to Carer’s Leave & Carer’s Benefit. I have been on Carer’s Leave from work for the last 5 days. I’m taking the leave to look after my mother who has terminal cancer. Unfortunately we’ve just been told that my mother has merely days to live. I haven’t completed and signed the confirmation document with my employers (as I received it only 2 days ago and I have been spending time with my mother). Neither have I received confirmation of my application for Carer’s Benefit (this, I’m told, could take quite a while). I’m not sure where I stand now. I believe that Carer’s Leave is for a minimum of 13 weeks and that when you’re in receipt of Carer’s Benefit, you can receive it up to 6 weeks after the death of the person being cared for. Has anyone any idea where I stand?

Thanks in advance
 
dotcom said:
I have a question in relation to Carer’s Leave & Carer’s Benefit. I have been on Carer’s Leave from work for the last 5 days. I’m taking the leave to look after my mother who has terminal cancer. Unfortunately we’ve just been told that my mother has merely days to live. I haven’t completed and signed the confirmation document with my employers (as I received it only 2 days ago and I have been spending time with my mother). Neither have I received confirmation of my application for Carer’s Benefit (this, I’m told, could take quite a while). I’m not sure where I stand now. I believe that Carer’s Leave is for a minimum of 13 weeks and that when you’re in receipt of Carer’s Benefit, you can receive it up to 6 weeks after the death of the person being cared for. Has anyone any idea where I stand?

Thanks in advance
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What an awful situation. I would go ahead and sign up for carer's benefit as you do not know what will happen for your mother. It can easily take 3-6 months for the leave to be approved. A neighbour and friend applied earlier this year and the letter finally approving the leave from social welfare arrived the morning after her father had died, about 4 months after she had applied. She wasn't able to take the leave for him, as due to shift rotas she had to continue working part-time, but has gone ahead with it after a big think, as her mother also requires care. I was lucky, as in 2016 I was working for Apple, who completed their end of things in a mere fortnight, and at that stage there weren't the massive social welfare delays so I was able to go on carer's leave in less than one month from applying.

What bereavement leave do your work offer? It's not just the grief process, there is a BUNCH of admin to be done after a death, and you may well find yourself floored by the whole thing. I do not think what's needed would take less than a month. My Dad had Alzheimer's and multiple physical health issues. With my siblings we cared for him for 7 years including my carer's benefit two years. I brought him back to Ireland at the beginning of lockdown, by which time he was a palliative patient, and then cared for him with my partner 24x7 at home for 10 months until his death. It took a good four months to be in any way back to "normal" after that but very glad that we did it.

Do you have any holiday left/can you apply for any other leave, have a chat to HR if you are worried about taking carer's benefit for any reason? But I'd just sign on the dotted line after checking/talking to HR unless there are other factors at play?
 
Thanks Hooverfish. Sadly my mother passed away on Sunday 16th. My carer’s leave started on Monday 10th. I signed the HR agreement re: Carer’s Leave but though I applied for Carer’s Benefit on the 16th September, I haven’t yet heard anything back.

As I said above, it’s my understanding that Carer’s Leave lasts until 6 weeks after the death of the person being cared for. I will be informing SW that my mother has died. Will they then cancel the Carer’s Benefit application? Or if they approve it, will I be paid for the the time I cared for my mother (on paper it’s one week but I’ve been caring for her a lot longer) and then an additional 6 weeks?

The reason I ask is that I’m not ready to return to work and I could really do with the 6 weeks off work. I need to sort all my mother’s affairs not to mind attempt to get over her loss.

Thanks for reading.
 
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‘My carer’s benefit started on Monday 10th’

Sorry I meant to say that my Carer’s Leave started on the 10th.
 
dotcom, my sincere condolences and hope you have heard from Carers Benefit at this stage.
Carers Leave is not restricted to a min of 13 weeks once your employer agrees.
Carers benefit can be taken for shorter periods than 13 weeks, there is no minimum.
If you have not heard you can ring them to ensure application was received / is being processed.
It will be back dated once approved.
My circumstances are different and I take 8 weeks CB yearly as have a child with a disability.
 
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