Question re. work and carers

JonathanStewart

If a person who is a carer has been working, paid, at a rate of about 400 a week for 2 months on a temporary contract and has forgotten to inform DWP and has therefore been receiving carers allowance up until the point the temporary contract ends, will this cause him problems when trying to make a new JSA claim?

PippaGirl_2

That person has been fradulently claiming carers allowance and should contact the DWP to inform them of this asap and to arrange repayment of the overpayment.

JonathanStewart

PippaGirl wrote: »

That person has been fradulently claiming carers allowance and should contact the DWP to inform them of this asap and to arrange repayment of the overpayment.

Thanks for the blindingly obvious answer.

Once this action has taken place, is there a limit to what a person can earn in a year, or is it purely frozen for the period you are in employment?

benefitbaby

Hi Jonathan

A past period of work (wages) and/or benefit claims are not taken as income for a forward period. The only exception to this rule is claims for CA (which we are not talking about here).

If you are over 25 and single then JSA is £71 per week. Of this £5 is disregarded when you earn - so you can effectively earn up to £76 a week before JSA stops.

So there is nothing to stop you claiming JSA as long as any earnings you make are below the relevant threshold in a benefit week e.g.
- week 1 no earnings = JSA paid in full
- week 2 earnings (4 hours at £6 an hour: £24) you keep £5 and JSA is reduced by £19 making £52 JSA payable.

You can work UP TO 16 hours a week and keep JSA as long as your earnings do not exceed the threshold (JSA plus £5 disregard).

Hope this helps.

Face1992

Fraudently claiming=stealing.

They should be barred from claiming ANYTHING for at least 6 months.

benefitbaby

Face1992 wrote: »

Fraudently claiming=stealing.

They should be barred from claiming ANYTHING for at least 6 months.

Sorry to nit-pick but fraud requires intent, this poster mentioned it was an oversight and so this is an overpayment not fraud.

Face1992

benefitbaby wrote: »

Sorry to nit-pick but fraud requires intent, this poster mentioned it was an oversight and so this is an overpayment not fraud.

When you sign the form to apply for carer's allowance there is a section on it saying you don't earn more than £100 a week isn't there?

Claiming forgetting to mention that they are earning 4 times as much as their limt for 8 weeks is a bit of a micky take isn't it?

How can someone earning £400 a week be providing ANY decent amount of care in the first place with what was likely full time employment?

benefitbaby

You are absolutely correct that when a claim is granted the awarding letter tells you to notify the DWP if earnings exceed £100 p/w but for all we know the OP has been getting CA for a long while and honestly forgot. If this is the case then the law (s111A and 112 Social Security Act) is clear that this is not benefit fraud.

I do not know the OPs hourly wage that led to the earnings described but it is not impossible to provide 35 hours of care a week and work.

The OP has not suggested he is trying to get out of repaying money he appears to be seeking reassurance that now he is no longer working he will not be left without any benefit support.
If he is out of work he can claim JSA now and the DWP will recover the overpayment (maximum deduction of £10.65 per week) until the CA is repaid.

JonathanStewart

Thanks for taking the rational view benefitbaby.

On a related note, I dont think I'm eligble for any JSA payment - I last worked prior to this 3 month period (Jul-Sept 2012) in April 2011. From April 2011 I claimed JSA for 6 months until my contribution based claim ran out. I then became a carer for a relative and claimed CA until I started work in July. My wife who lives with me works. Am I right in thinking I'm not eligible for JSA and if not, when would I become eligible for some kind of payment if I claimed CA - would it be April 2013 as its a new tax year?

rogerblack

JonathanStewart wrote: »

when would I become eligible for some kind of payment if I claimed CA - would it be April 2013 as its a new tax year?

You are eligible for CA any week you meet the conditions.
Under 100 pounds earnings (after expenses), caring >35 hours, ...

As others have said - you need to repay the overpayment, but it should in principle be possible to claim again.

Your eligibility to JSA will depend on your earnings in the complete two tax years before january in the year of claim.

So, in this case, 2009/10 and 2010/11. (april-april)
you need to have worked significantly in both of these years in general in order to be eligible for JSA.

Your JSA claim in 2011 may not have been relevant, if it was relying on work done in 2008/9 for the relevant benefit year.

In short - it's unclear on what you say if you're entitled to JSA(C).

And if you have not informed them that you were overpaid CA - do this immediately, and inclose a cheque for full payment if at all possible!

benefitbaby

As noted in previous post JSA and the contributions conditions are a bit tricky. A benefit year runs from January to January, but a tax/NI year runs from April to April. It is the contributions made in the 2 tax years immediately preceding the benefit year you want to claim that count.

e.g. if you claimed in December 2012 the relevant tax years are 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, however if you claim JSA in January 2013 then the relevant tax years are 2010-2011 and 2011-12.

Contributions can come from earnings (Class1) and from self-employment and benefit credits (Class 2). You are credited during JSA and CA claims and you have worked so you will have some contributions the issue is whether you have enough of the right sort?

You can ask HMRC for a copy of your NI records for 2009-now. Then it will be a check to see if these are sufficient.