Switching from Carers Allowance to JSA ?

dads_carer

Hello all,
I'm new here and looking for some advice to increase my income.

I gave up work earlier this year to care for my elderly father.
As savings dwindle, I'm going to look for part time work that I can fit around my caring responsibilities.

I believe I can earn £100 per week without affecting my Carer's Allowance.

My question is, should I claim JSA now that I've decided to look for work ? The short term benefit here would be I get my share of the Council Tax paid, plus JSA is around £10 p/w more than Carers Allowance.

What will this do to my Carer's Allowance ? What are the pros and cons / alternatives ?

Thanks in advance.

rubys_mummy

you're entitled to claim income support when you're a carer, if you have savings less than 6000

however, i think if you went onto JSA you would probably lose the carer's allowance as they would say you're not able to care for someone for the minimum 35hrs a week if you're going to be working

can you not claim I.S along with the carer's allowance and then look for a part time job? then if you find a job, you can come off the I.S and as long as you're still earning less than 100 p/wk, you'd still get your carers allowance?

dads_carer

Thanks for the quick reply - that makes sense.

I didn't feel comfortable with the JSA application.