Working part time whilst on carer's allowance?

funguy

Hi everyone,

Im asking this question about my neighbour :

She is a full time carer of her husband who has a long term disabilty (is on higher rate disability benefit). With winter coming in, financially it is very difficult for them....she is aged about 50 i think. they do not have any income from any other sources except a few pounds in interest a year from savings.

Would she be able to take on a part time job of 5 hours a week as a cleaner making £50 a week without it affecting her/her husband's allowance or having to pay extra tax/fill in tax returns etc?
The reason i ask this is because i may be in a position to offer her 5 hours a week cleaning our house/garden etc paying the above. In this case would there be any implications for me? would i need to cover NI contributions or pay anything else myself. this would be the only work she would do and would hopefully have the purpose of helping me and them out.

Any advice and opinions greatfully appreciated....

healy

She is allowed to earn up to £95 per week after certain deductions and still receive Carers Allowance.

[Deleted User]

funguy wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Im asking this question about my neighbour :

She is a full time carer of her husband who has a long term disabilty (is on higher rate disability benefit). With winter coming in, financially it is very difficult for them....she is aged about 50 i think. they do not have any income from any other sources except a few pounds in interest a year from savings.

Would she be able to take on a part time job of 5 hours a week as a cleaner making £50 a week without it affecting her/her husband's allowance or having to pay extra tax/fill in tax returns etc?
The reason i ask this is because i may be in a position to offer her 5 hours a week cleaning our house/garden etc paying the above. In this case would there be any implications for me? would i need to cover NI contributions or pay anything else myself. this would be the only work she would do and would hopefully have the purpose of helping me and them out.

Any advice and opinions greatfully appreciated....

As far as carers allowance is concerned there would be NO problem as she is allowed to earn upto £95 a week whilst claiming CA,one thing that comes to mind though is are they also claiming income support?if so then she would only be allowed to keep the first £20 per week of any income,in some cases less.

funguy

So to clarify, if she is only getting CA then she can earn up to £95 a week on top. If she is on CA and IS then there is really no point in her earning any more.... If she is only on CA, what entitles her to get IS as well - her husbands only income is DLA.

Also, does she need to tell anyone or fill in any forms if she is just on CA and i pay her £50 a week for cleaning??

Do i need to pay anything else or can i just give her a check every week/month?

Kind Regards

cw18

If you are paying her anything for doing work for you, then yes this has to be accounted for.

Assuming things work the same way as when we had a child-carer come into our home during school holidays (about 10-12 years ago!).....

The easiest way is for you to register as an employer, and then all you need to do is issue her pay slips (very basic), and complete forms (and return to IR) on a regular basis detailing who've you've employed and how much tax and NI you've deducted from their pay (which at £50/week will be nil as NI doesn't kick in until £87/week in any one job, and 52 weeks of CA plus 52 weeks of £50 earnings is under the personal tax allowance by about £800!).

funguy

So i need to register as an employer? does everyone who has cleaners, gardeners etc have to register as employers?

[Deleted User]

funguy wrote: »

So to clarify, if she is only getting CA then she can earn up to £95 a week on top. If she is on CA and IS then there is really no point in her earning any more.... If she is only on CA, what entitles her to get IS as well - her husbands only income is DLA.

Also, does she need to tell anyone or fill in any forms if she is just on CA and i pay her £50 a week for cleaning??

Do i need to pay anything else or can i just give her a check every week/month?

Kind Regards

I would assume her husband if under 65 is getting incapacity benefit?if their only income is this and dla plus CA then unless they have in excess of 16k in savings they should be claiming income support...
I know it sounds abit harsh for 5 hours work a week but officially you would be an employer and that brings its own paperwork with it,apart from the tax/benefit issues you`d probably need liability insurance

[Deleted User]

funguy wrote: »

So i need to register as an employer? does everyone who has cleaners, gardeners etc have to register as employers?

I suppose in "theory" they do,i`m dammed sure that in practice they don`t,however someone on benefits earning anything without informing the dept that pays them is asking for serious trouble
Look at it this way this friend of yours maybe only paid £50 per week if she works for you,but could you be 100%certain that someone else wasnt also paying her £50 a week for another job?,thereby taking her over the permitted earnings level for carers allowance?
sorry to be negative(its something i try and avoid)but i`m just trying to think this thru for you:j

londongirl

Surely this isn't the only way? What if the lady who is doing the work registered as self employed herself and then invoiced for the cleaning?
When you hire someone to do your ironing or decorate your house or whatever you don't have to register as an employer yourself to enable them to do this! They invoice you for their services and register as self employed themselves.
Unless i have totally got the wrong information i would imagine that would be a lot easier. As the neighbour would be earning under the personal allowance for tax all she would actually have to do would be register as self employed, get an NI exemption certificate and then do a tax return at the end of the year which would show she had no tax to pay?

Someone correct me please if this is not how it works!

funguy

Yes londongirl - that sounds much easier although im not sure if she would be keen to fill in tax returns and things every year...

I will have a chat to her when i next see her - obviously if she is on IS then it doesnt sound like it would be worthwhile for her. If not, then it seems registering as self employed and then invoicing me would be the way to go....

Thank you for all the above advice...any more would be appreciated.....