Beneficial to work?

paulcornwall

I was made bankrupt in Dec 2011 and my partner done a DRO in January of this year. I'm a full time carer for my mother and my partner is a full time Mum. We have 2 children aged 1 and another of 5 years. We are in receipt of income support, carers allowance, and child tax credit. Money is very tight and was wondering how best to increase our income once my bankruptcy has come to an end. If my partner done 16 hours work a week how would this effect our benefits?. I've come to beleive money is given with one hand but taken by another
The second scenario is I do £100 worth of work per week (the maximum without effecting CA I beleive) and my partner 16 hours, how would this effect the other benefits?

Any suggestions on how we can increase our income would be appreciated.

thorsoak

Is there a specific reason for not looking for full-time work, paying a decent wage?

PippaGirl_2

Have you declared the £100 a week wages to the DWP wrt your Income Support? They need to know. They also need to know about your partners 16 hours.

PippaGirl_2

thorsoak wrote: »

Is there a specific reason for not looking for full-time work, paying a decent wage?

yes, his mother needs caring for and he is a full time carer.

FBaby

How about you look after your mum AND the 1 year old whilst the oldest is at school and your partner works full-time and supports her family? Why would she be looking for only 16 hours?

PippaGirl_2

PaulCornwall, you MUST inform the DWP that you are working and what your income is. You are breaking the law if you don't.

Cpt.Scarlet

PippaGirl wrote: »

PaulCornwall, you MUST inform the DWP that you are working and what your income is. You are breaking the law if you don't.

If you read the OP you'll see they are talking of working, not actually doing it at the moment.

PippaGirl_2

Cpt.Scarlet wrote: »

If you read the OP you'll see they are talking of working, not actually doing it at the moment.

Oh yes sorry, misread that. That's good then, I thought there'd be a fraud case!

Paul, any income/wages will affect your Income Support.

sulkisu

PippaGirl wrote: »

yes, his mother needs caring for and he is a full time carer.

But in his first post OP suggests 'doing £100 worth of work' so that it won't affect his benefits - no mention of not being able to work full-time because of his caring responsibilities. I think thoroak's question/suggestion is that he try to find a job which will pay enough to support his family instead of limiting his potential earnings to £100 so that his benefits are unaffected.

PippaGirl_2

His mother needs caring for, he claims Carers allowance so cares for her a minimum of 35 hours a week, I assume providing care in the day/evening/weekends. It's difficult to work full time, and care for as many hours as his mother needs care for and be a father to his children. This is why the Government has created such benefits as Carers allowance and allow it to be backed by Income support, because they want to support family members providing care for relatives. It's all perfectly legal, no need to hound the OP for doing so.

princessdon

PippaGirl wrote: »

His mother needs caring for, he claims Carers allowance so cares for her a minimum of 35 hours a week, I assume providing care in the day/evening/weekends. It's difficult to work full time, and care for as many hours as his mother needs care for and be a father to his children. This is why the Government has created such benefits as Carers allowance and allow it to be backed by Income support, because they want to support family members providing care for relatives. It's all perfectly legal, no need to hound the OP for doing so.

hmm - so he can work 16 hours a week or so, but not look after his 1 year old so his wife can work?

Sorry can't see the logic in that one, then again I am the mug that works, looks after a relative and children and seems to manage.