Giving up work to be a carer

niandsa

I am shortly giving up work to care for my wife full time. She claims IB and DLA middle care and lower mobility. I believe that I will be entitled to claim carers allowance.

We are trying to work out what money we will have coming in and are confused by the tax credits. Will we be entitled to them if neither of us is working? We have 2 children aged 9 and 6. We also have an income of £10k a year from rental property.

Our savings are above the threshold so we won't be entitled to any means tested benefits. If someone could answer the tax credit query that would be great. Hopefully my wife will soon improve and I can return to work in the New Year

merlin68

You probably won't be entitled to carers allowance then as you can't earn more than
£100 a week and your rental income exceeds this.
Tax credits you should get about £108 a week.

BrettMorganxD

merlin68 wrote: »

You probably won't be entitled to carers allowance then as you can't earn more than
£100 a week and your rental income exceeds this.
Tax credits you should get about £108 a week.

But to get tax credits, don't you need to be working?

richard9991

BrettMorganxD wrote: »

But to get tax credits, don't you need to be working?

no you get child tax credits even if not working

kingfisherblue

Rather than giving up work for just a few weeks, and then possibly finding it difficult to get another job, could you consider asking your employer to give you unpaid leave or reduced hours until after Christmas?

sleepless_saver

merlin68 wrote: »

You probably won't be entitled to carers allowance then as you can't earn more than
£100 a week and your rental income exceeds this.

The £100 limit is for earnings from employment and may not apply to rental income. Some sorts of income are disregarded for carers allowance e.g occupational and private pensions - I don't know about rental income.

OP, have you tried running your figures through a benefits checker.?

niandsa

Thanks for the replies. I have just run our details through the checker and it does seem that we will be entitled to just over £100 a week in tax credits.

The property income comes from a piece of land that my wife owns a share of. We do not manage it in any way and receive a cheque for the rent quarterly. We have been advised that this income does not affect my wife's IB claim as it is not income from working. Surely it can't affect my claim for carer's allowance?

merlin68

It it's in your wifes name then no. Don't you pay tax on it though as next door pays tax on her rental income. I thought IB was a taxable benefit same as carers allowance.

niandsa

Yes, my wife completes a tax return each year and declares the rental income along with her IB. The IB is roughly the same as her personal tax allowance so she ends up paying 20% tax on all the rental income.

I have had a look at the CA form online and there is a question about income from property in your own or your partners name. I will declare it but hopefully it won't be taken into account!