Carers Allowance & affect on JSA etc

Tigsteroonie

I think I've found the answer to this and it's not good, so I'm hoping that someone will tell me I've got it wrong ......

Currently I get around £120/wk Maternity Allowance, and OH (SAHD) claims all the benefits for our disabled son - which includes around £54/wk Carers Allowance.

MA is due to end shortly, and I will be going onto Income-Based JSA whilst I hunt for a job. Am I right in thinking that I will only get around £80/wk JSA, because of OH receiving the CA? (£80 = standard joint JSA - CA + Carers Prem)

If that's right, we're about to take an income drop of £40/wk. :eek:

miss_spooky

Hi,

Income based JSA for a couple (18 and over) is £102.75. What will happen is that your OH Carer's Allowance will be deducted from your JSA which means you will bring home approx £70pw. I think there will also be a £30.00 disability premium added which will bring this total to the £70.

This is how mine was worked out. We're 2A & 2C 1C disabled & claiming DLA middle care & I'm on CA & OH is on IBJSA.

Just re read your post - so in a nutshell yes you are right. Make sure that the Child Tax Credits know about the disability as there is a Dis prem of approx £2k.

HTH

Tigsteroonie

Thanks for the reply, although it confirmed that the future will be bleaker

We're already getting the increased CTC for disabled child, thanks. So I guess we're not as poorly off as other parents in similar situations.

It's just going to be hard taking that £40/wk cut, we're not extravagant but we only just manage on our current income. On the plus side, our HB will go up by £10/wk, so it's only really £30/wk worse off.

I'm already job-hunting like mad, so I'll just have to keep fingers crossed that I'm successful.