How many hours to qualify for working tax credits as a Carer?

girlneedshelp

How many hours do you need to work if you have children and your spouse is receiving Carers Allowance for a severely disabled child? I thought it was a minimum of 16 hours still under that circumstance. The HRMC page says that you still qualify for working tax credits if:

"One of you works at least 16 hours a week and the other person is entitled to Carer's Allowance - even if they don't get any payments because they receive other benefits instead."

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/start/who-qualifies/workingtaxcredit/work.htm

My friend and I have tried both Entitledto.org and the Directgov benefits advisor and both of them indicate that in that situation where one works for 16 hours and the other is a carer, you are not entitled to Working Tax Credits. Is the HMRC information wrong or outdated, or are both sites not up to date with their information? Does anyone know? :A

p.s. I should have entitled this question "How many hours to qualify for working tax credits if your spouse is a Carer."

Icequeen99

The HMRC site is correct in this case. There is an exception to the 24 hr requirement for couples with children, if one partner is a carer (entitled to Carer's Allowance) the other only needs to work at least 16 hours.

IQ

girlneedshelp

Icequeen99 wrote: »

The HMRC site is correct in this case. There is an exception to the 24 hr requirement for couples with children, if one partner is a carer (entitled to Carer's Allowance) the other only needs to work at least 16 hours.

IQ

Thanks so much for clarifying that for me! When I read the rules, I thought my reading of it must be right, but when both the official government benefits calculator and entitledto site give you a different result, you begin to question yourself. Appreciated! :A