No allowances

AFTER watching TV shows about benefit claimants suffering from conditions affecting their everyday life, my wife applied for Carer’s Allowance as she looks after me 24 hours a day.

Four weeks later, she was told she had met all the conditions for entitlement and had been awarded the allowance, but as she is getting the state pension, she can’t also be paid for being a carer.

However, as she has been registered as being in receipt of this allowance, she must notify the Department for Work and Pensions if she spends fewer than 35 hours a week caring for me (which happens when I am admitted to hospital), so they can amend a benefit she doesn’t receive. How much does this bureaucracy cost? So much for a lifetime of paying National Insurance!

ALAN JONES, Lowton, Lancs.