Carers Allowance Earnings Cap

jinty271

Hi

A quick question for my neighbour please ( who is currently on holiday , so can't access the Carer's Line to find out for themselves, hence my post).

They are in the process of claiming for Carer's Allowance, and will be backdating their claim 4 weeks, in accordance with the advice they received from the office.

Their job contract ended this week, so they will claim until they find another job which will probably exclude them due to the earnings cap ( they do provide much more than the minimum 35 hours per week care for their severely disabled child)


The question is based on the final 3 weeks wages from their newly finished contract.

Week 1 - wages were £96 and pennies
Week 2 - wages were £60 approx
Week 3 ( final wage) - wages have been finalised at £100.78.

Will this 78p mean they are disqualifed from CA for that week, or will an average be taken over the most recent wages?

The person was weekly paid, if this makes a difference.

No other Benefits are in payment as the neighbour's partner earns over any thresholds. JSA will not be claimed as due to the child's health issues, neighbour could not commit to a JS agreement.

Thanks in advance for any info

rogerblack

1p over will disqualify you, as I understand it.
As I understand it, the carers allowance weeks may not match the work weeks.
If are paid Friday, but your CA week begins Wednesday, then your earnings for CA purposes in that week would be (as I understand it) Wed+thu+fri of week 1, and Mon+Tue of week 2.
This means that your earnings might be 3/5ths of week one, plus 2/5ths of week 2.

If the person has a personal pension - and they pay £2 into it during the week they earned the income - that will reduce the earnings for CA purposes.