Help please deductions for pension.

dizzybee

hi,
need some urgent advice please, I currently work 20 hours a week my take home pay is £130. per week, i am currently receiving carers allowance and from what i have read my take home pay should not go over £100 per week, so i should put the other £30 into my works pension.
this is were my problems start i have asked my works pension to put £30 a week into my pension but they replied with the following
Based on your contract ours of 20 your gross wage is £130.00 a week. Your pension contribution is deducted as a percentage on earnings over £111.00 which in your case would be based on £19.00.

You are currently contributing 20% of these earnings which is approx £3.80. The percentage you pay must be decided by yourself, if your gross earnings are more you will contribute more for example when you do some unsocial hours your gross is £132.44 minus £111.00 leaving £21.44 to deduct your 20% from so your pension contribution is £4.29.

Can you let us know the percentage you wish to pay and we will amend our records accordingly.
can any one help with what percentage i should be paying in i dont want to be in trouble with carers allowance.
Thanks for any help.

lld01

Carers allowance only disregard 50% of what you pay into your pension so based on gross pay of £130 you'd need to pay in over £60 per week!

When did you start work and do carers allowance know about it?

xylophone

http://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/financial-support/help-with-benefits/carers-allowance

"You earn £102 a week (after deductions) or less.

If you are in paid work (including self-employment) you cannot get CA if you earn more than £102 a week.

The following amounts are deducted from your gross weekly earnings before your earnings are taken into account for CA:

Income Tax
National Insurance
half your contributions towards an occupational/personal pension*
*For example, if you earn £110 per week (after tax and national insurance) you will not be entitled to Carer's Allowance. However, if you put £20 per week into a pension, half of the £20 can be deducted from your earnings. Your earnings for Carer's Allowance would therefore be £110 - £10 = £100 per week. As this is under the earnings limit you could claim Carer’s Allowance."

You could consider contributing to a stakeholder pension over and above your occupational pension?

http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-and-personal-pensions/friends-provident/

dizzybee

hi,
i went back to work five weeks ago when i filled in the forms for carers allowance i told them i was working 20 hours at £6.50 p/hour =£130,the reason i was going to pay £30 into a pension was because i had read that if you earn over the £102 a week then it would be better to pay this extra into a pension.

rogerblack

dizzybee wrote: »

hi,
i went back to work five weeks ago when i filled in the forms for carers allowance i told them i was working 20 hours at £6.50 p/hour =£130,the reason i was going to pay £30 into a pension was because i had read that if you earn over the £102 a week then it would be better to pay this extra into a pension.

As outlined above - that's only partially correct.
If you pay in 30 pounds a week, CA will only disregard half that - 15.
Other costs can be taken into account sometimes for CA.

kittykat17

dizzybee wrote: »

hi,
i went back to work five weeks ago when i filled in the forms for carers allowance i told them i was working 20 hours at £6.50 p/hour =£130,the reason i was going to pay £30 into a pension was because i had read that if you earn over the £102 a week then it would be better to pay this extra into a pension.

Apart from your pension contribution have you any other deductions? ie, NI? Or is the £130 after all your deductions?

dizzybee

the £130. is after deductions ie,tax and NI.

dizzybee

Hi,
just popping to say a big thank you for the advice, i contacted carers allowance today and explained the situation, they advised that in order to carry on claiming i would need to pay 100% into a pension.I have spoken to my employer and they have agreed to pay 100% into my pension.
Thank you to you all.

xylophone

But based on what you said in your first post, 100% would be £19 a week - only half of this would be set against your £130 a week so that your earnings for CA purpose would still be over £102 per week?


http://www.turn2us.org.uk/information__resources/benefits/caring_for_someone/carers_allowance.aspx
indicates that the £102 will be increased to £110 from 6 4 2015.

This https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/eligibility

indicates that as well as deducting half the value of the pension payments,

"care costs while you’re at work" may also be deducted. Do you have any of these?

Should you be having a word with a Benefits Adviser at the CAB?

dizzybee

Thanks guys, totally slip my mine about carers only taking half into consideration,
will pop into CAB and see what they have to say,
would it maybe a good idea to look into a private pension for the the little left over has i know i wouldn't be allowed to put it into long term savings.
makes you realize what a mine field the system is.
I don't have any child care cost my daughter is 20.

lld01

I assume your still providing 35+ hours of care per week on top of your work?

The most obivous choices seems to be either cutting your work hours, or just take the hit and lose your CA.

Does the person your caring for recieve any income-based benefits? As they may be entitled to a disability premium on top of that if/when your carers allowace ends.