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Fostering and Carers Allowance.

moshermum
Posts: 10 Forumite
We are about to go before a panel to be approved as Foster Carers for our Local Authority.
I look after my disabled mother and am in receipt of carers allowance, just less than sixty pounds per week.
My question is; will I stop receiving this if and when we are approved as foster carers and have placements?
I know I can earn up to one hundred pounds per week but is the fostering allowance counted as earnings?
Thank you in anticipation of any replies.:D
I look after my disabled mother and am in receipt of carers allowance, just less than sixty pounds per week.
My question is; will I stop receiving this if and when we are approved as foster carers and have placements?
I know I can earn up to one hundred pounds per week but is the fostering allowance counted as earnings?
Thank you in anticipation of any replies.:D
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Comments
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We are about to go before a panel to be approved as Foster Carers for our Local Authority.
I look after my disabled mother and am in receipt of carers allowance, just less than sixty pounds per week.
My question is; will I stop receiving this if and when we are approved as foster carers and have placements?
I know I can earn up to one hundred pounds per week but is the fostering allowance counted as earnings?
Thank you in anticipation of any replies.:D
Ignore the above poster, who is having a bad day.
You can find most of the information you need here.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/foster-carers.htm
You need to know whether you'll just be receiving the basic child fostering allowance for maintenance or whether you'll be taking more challenging children where you receive the professional fostering payments.
Good luck.0 -
You need to ask your fostering service for a breakdown of your payments. In my LA, we pay foster carers an allowance for the child's maintennce (ie. food, clothing, proportion of household services used, leisure activities etc) and an additional fee for the carers. This fee is the carers income, for tax, NI and benefit purposes.
You need to know firstly what payments you will receive, and how these are made up to be able to inform the DWP. You only need to inform them about your income/ fee element, ie. not the element that is paid for the child's needs. You will also need to know whether you are only paid when a child is in placement (as this may not be continuous, depending on your approval basis) and whether the income allowed for the Carers Allowance is per week as is, or can be averaged out over a year.
I always recomend that potential carers check the effect upon any benefit income long before they get to the point of panel, as they need to be aware of whether they can afford to foster (not everybody can, sad as it may be) before they have gone through the long assessment process and invested so much in emotionally and time wise etc. Give your local CAB or council welfare rights service a ring for advice.
I hope you find panel a positive experience and not too nerve-wracking- try to remember that they are on your side, and do want to approve new carers for the children they have responsibility but need to ensure that they are approving the right carers. Good luck.Halifax Credit Card: [STRIKE]£4915[/STRIKE] NEXT Directory: [STRIKE]£1980[/STRIKE]JD Williams: [STRIKE]£1984[/STRIKE] British Gas: [STRIKE]£394[/STRIKE] First Direct [STRIKE]£2985[/STRIKE]Debt-free for over 2 years now!!! :j0 -
Many thanks for all your help and advice.
I was assuming that I would have to stop receiving carers allowance if and when we are approved as foster carers, so if we are still able to then all well and good.
Megc thank you for your comments, we are prepared for panel but we will be nervous I'm sure.
Pollycat thank you for your good wishes.
Anubis, thank you too, your reply is much appreciated.0 -
Many thanks for all your help and advice.
I was assuming that I would have to stop receiving carers allowance if and when we are approved as foster carers, so if we are still able to then all well and good.
Megc thank you for your comments, we are prepared for panel but we will be nervous I'm sure.
Pollycat thank you for your good wishes.
Anubis, thank you too, your reply is much appreciated.
Going by http://egfl.net/fostering/more-info-allowances.html as an example of fees, it does seem probable you'll be earning more than £100 per week - so you'll likely have to give up your CA.0 -
Payments to a foster carer are classed as nil earnings. Even a professional fee. You will not have any tax liability, and you also qualify for tax credits. Carers allowance is classed as income for tax credits though.0
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Payments to a foster carer are classed as nil earnings. Even a professional fee. You will not have any tax liability, and you also qualify for tax credits. Carers allowance is classed as income for tax credits though.
That isn't actually the case as you'll see from the link I gave earlier.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/foster-carers.htm
A large amount of the payments is exempt from tax but it isn't the case that foster carers have nil tax liability.0 -
That isn't actually the case as you'll see from the link I gave earlier.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/foster-carers.htm
A large amount of the payments is exempt from tax but it isn't the case that foster carers have nil tax liability.0 -
That link & information is from 2008. I am a foster carer, who is paid a professional fee for all placements. All payments are classed as nil earnings, and this is what we put on our tax returns, as advised by HMRC. It's also the case for working tax credits, the income is put down as nil, by HMRC.
Dunroamin is right: it's not ALL monies.
Here are last year's figures:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/hs236.pdf
OP: sorry; I wasn't aware of this relief and it does seem as though you will likely be able to retain CA.
£10k per year PLUS £200 or £250 per week depending on the age of the child is given as a tax relief.0 -
That link & information is from 2008. I am a foster carer, who is paid a professional fee for all placements. All payments are classed as nil earnings, and this is what we put on our tax returns, as advised by HMRC. It's also the case for working tax credits, the income is put down as nil, by HMRC.
Apologies for the out of date link but the basic facts haven't changed.
ETA
From http://www.fostercarers-allowances.co.uk/
"Tax position
Foster carers are treated by H M Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as carrying on a business for tax purposes. This means that:
You will be treated as a self-employed person
You may be required to prepare and file with HMRC a self-assessment tax return, and
You may be liable to pay income tax and National Insurance contributions.
As a foster carer, you have a choice as to how you are taxed. In order to calculate your taxable fostering income, there are two methods: the profit method and the simple method. The latter is usually the more beneficial method.
The introduction of tax relief in 2003 means that foster carers in the UK do not pay tax on their income from fostering, up to a maximum of £10,000 plus allowances."0 -
All your advice is being taken onboard and I am studying all the websites and links you have forwarded.
I would like to thank you all for your time.0
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