Can I afford to give up work to be a carer?

Natalie6999

My husband is at present in hospital after a severe Multiple sclerocis attack that has left him in a wheelchair.

I currently work 22 hours a week term time as we have a 6 year old son, but as I am having to have increasing amounts of time off to care for my husband am considering giving up work to be a full time carer, but don't know how we could manage money wise.

I know I can claim carers allowance, but what else can we get to replace my wages?

hugger38

First of all I would speak to your local Job Centre branch and ask for advice from them in person - arrange a meeting or go down there one day. See how helpful they are, if not a visit to the uk gov website will be in order. See what extra benefits you may be entitled to.

In order to suppliment your income, you could consider a couple of work from home jobs. Maybe sign up to one of the many content providers on the web as a freelance writer if you are confident in your writing skills. Workplacelikehome is a good website with these sorts of jobs and oppurtunities, perhaps someone there will be able to advise you well

seven-day-weekend

How about a job such as a lollipop lady? You are not out of the house too much and it will pay you a small wage although of course you work as the schools are going in and out so someone else would have to take your son to and from school. You could also claim Carers' Allowance as this job would be within the wages limit.

I did it for about nine years when my son was small and the first 'pitch' I had was right outside his school so I could take him to and from school. He just had to wait in the school playground morning and afternoon.

Tehya

Hello, (((((hugs)))))

This is similar what has happened to me and my husband. I've just given up my job (last week) in a school where I was working part time. Also to care for my husband although he suffers with Psoriatic Arthritis which is crippling him.

Being entitled to Carer's Allowance all depends on what you earn (you need to earn under £95) and what your husband already claims as he'll need to be in receipt of DLA Care at either the middle or higher rate, the rate of the mobility is not taken into account.

If you husband is already on IB or ESA he'll be able to just put in a change or circumstances letter with the benefits office and they should adjust your benefit to the level they say a couple need to live on each week.

As my husband already claimed ESA (Income Related) and is in the support group because of how severe his disabilities are were award £151.50 which was then reduced to £41 because of my wages.

Since giving up work and claiming ESA without my wage we are given the full £151.50 but then on top we'll get a Carer's Premium (£29.50) instead of Carer's Allowance as they have an overlapping benefit rule which means you can not get two of these benefits at the same time. This means we get the total of £180 per week plus his DLA which we already got.

It's funny because we are actually better off by £16 per week with me NOT working plus we're now saving the expense of getting to work, lunch etc and me running myself into the ground trying to cope this all makes a mockery of this governments attempt to help support carer's to stay in work.

As you have a child you'll also still get your CB and CTC (although I'm not sure if the CTC will go up). We have a son but he's 18 and now lives away from home so I can't really help much there.

I hope this helps at least a little,

Take care, Tehya

Indie_Kid

Tehya wrote: »

As you have a child you'll also still get your CB and CTC (although I'm not sure if the CTC will go up). We have a son but he's 18 and now lives away from home so I can't really help much there.

But the OP would lose WTC if they reduced work hours to under 16.

Tehya

But the OP would lose WTC if they reduced work hours to under 16.

You're right I didn't think about WTC as it's something I haven't claimed for a long time.

Hubby's been on ESA for ages now so we don't qualify for tax credits also I worked less than 30 hours so aren't entitled for that reason either.

There was another thing I forgot to mention before that if you get an income based benefit like ESA or income support you should qualify for full rent and council tax benefit.

Tehya

Aputsiaq

You would not be better off finishing work. At work you can do overtime, work more hours elsewhere etc.
As carer, you will get £53 a week and thats it and any benefit your partner gets for you now will go down.
Noone is ever better off not working.

Indie_Kid

Aputsiaq wrote: »

As carer, you will get £53 a week and thats it.

Actually, it's not:

The OP can claim income support and the carer premium. And possibly council tax benefit and loccal housing allowance.

Aputsiaq

sh1305 wrote: »

Actually, it's not:

The OP can claim income support and the carer premium. And possibly council tax benefit and loccal housing allowance.

Since when can anyone just give up work and start claiming Income Support?
Presumably her partner already claiims some sort of benefit anyway? So IS would be out of the window.

Indie_Kid

Aputsiaq wrote: »

Since when can anyone just give up work and start claiming Income Support?
Presumably her partner already claiims some sort of benefit anyway? So IS would be out of the window.

I suggest you look up the rules for income support. It's not just a case of giving up work - it's giving up work in order to care for a disabled person.

Tehya

sh1305 wrote: »

I suggest you look up the rules for income support. It's not just a case of giving up work - it's giving up work in order to care for a disabled person.

Hiya, you're right.

We we're told we could claim IS as long as the claim was in my name as the carer. To claim ESA also with the Carer Premium my hubby has to have that claim in his name as he's the ill person but it's been left to us which way we wanted to claim.

Aputsiaq you said you can never be better off on benefits please read my other post carefully as I'm better off by £16 per week claiming ESA and Carer's than we we're claiming ESA and my wages, plus I'm saving my own health and sanity because caring for a loved one maybe rewarding but it's also exhausting, expensive and emotionally draining.


How I'd have worked overtime to make up my money I'd love to know when my caree needs me at home especially as I have my own disabilities, which I've worked with for 20 years, as do many other carer's I know. I think most people lack the knowledge of what life as a carer is like.

Tehya