Confused about my situation

VerityBlake

Hi
I'm hoping someone can lend a hand please?
I am currently a single mum, working full time, earning £18850 pa with an 11 yr old child, next week I will be moving house (privately renting) and at the same time moving in with my partner of almost 5 years. He is currently a full time carer for his mum and lives at her address where he gets income support and carers allowance.
We have made arrangements for her to be cared for after he moves out and he will be going back regularly to visit/sort anything that needs doing (repairs etc) however I assume he will no longer be eligible for IS/CA at this point. To this end he has been looking for work but obviously no one is looking to hire someone who has, ostensibly, been sitting at home doing not very much for 7 or 8 years now (he works hard, but I think this is how they view him!) he is wanting to do warehouse type work and we have several places near us but no joy on the job front yet.
I am concerned that my wages will not cover his expenses as well as mine and my daughters but am happy to attempt to tighten my belt until he gets employment somewhere, however in the meantime is there anything that either he or both of us might be entitled to? Pretty sure we wouldn't be entitled to housing benefit or if we were it would be a tiny amount so probably not worth it but could he get something like jsa? Even though I work?

Really could do with some help on this so any thoughts/suggestions appreciated

[Deleted User]

If had been still caring for his mum 35 hrs a week he would have still got carers as that's based on his income not yours.

Darksparkle

Do you not currently claim tax credits?

If so, your single claim will be ended and you'll be sent a new form to apply as a couple.

pmlindyloo

VerityBlake wrote: »

Hi
I'm hoping someone can lend a hand please?
I am currently a single mum, working full time, earning £18850 pa with an 11 yr old child, next week I will be moving house (privately renting) and at the same time moving in with my partner of almost 5 years. He is currently a full time carer for his mum and lives at her address where he gets income support and carers allowance.
We have made arrangements for her to be cared for after he moves out and he will be going back regularly to visit/sort anything that needs doing (repairs etc) however I assume he will no longer be eligible for IS/CA at this point. To this end he has been looking for work but obviously no one is looking to hire someone who has, ostensibly, been sitting at home doing not very much for 7 or 8 years now (he works hard, but I think this is how they view him!) he is wanting to do warehouse type work and we have several places near us but no joy on the job front yet.
I am concerned that my wages will not cover his expenses as well as mine and my daughters but am happy to attempt to tighten my belt until he gets employment somewhere, however in the meantime is there anything that either he or both of us might be entitled to? Pretty sure we wouldn't be entitled to housing benefit or if we were it would be a tiny amount so probably not worth it but could he get something like jsa? Even though I work?

Really could do with some help on this so any thoughts/suggestions appreciated

So, since you have made arrangement for your partner's mother care and he is looking for a job then we will assume that he ends his claim for Carer's Allowance and Income Support when he moves in with you.

As soon as he moves in with you anything thing you claim will be a joint claim.

You are right that he will not be eligible for JSA as his NI credits from his CA only go towards his pension.

However, since you will be now classed as a couple then the 'goal posts have moved' as regards claims for tax credits, housing benefit and CT reduction.

My advice would be to apply for all as a joint claim and see what they say.

Would normally advise to use a benefit calculator but suspect the tax credits would have to be worked out before the result would be accurate.

Just make sure that when your partner gets a job you inform all benefit departments so you don't get an overpayment.

VerityBlake

Apologies for any confusion

To clear a few things up, yes my single claim will end and we will then be placing a joint claim - I do currently receive CTC but not WTC as I earn too much.

He will cease claiming CA and IC when he moves in and to be honest this is the reason for my enquiry as we will both be 'losing' money whilst he looks for work so I was wondering if there was something to tide us over.

Many years ago I was made redundant whilst my previous partner was still in work and I was able to claim contribution based jsa but I'm guessing my partner would not be able to claim this as lindyloo mentioned.

From the looks of things I will just need to be extremely frugal over the next few months until he becomes employed

Darksparkle

pmlindyloo wrote: »

So, since you have made arrangement for your partner's mother care and he is looking for a job then we will assume that he ends his claim for Carer's Allowance and Income Support when he moves in with you.

As soon as he moves in with you anything thing you claim will be a joint claim.

You are right that he will not be eligible for JSA as his NI credits from his CA only go towards his pension.

However, since you will be now classed as a couple then the 'goal posts have moved' as regards claims for tax credits, housing benefit and CT reduction.

My advice would be to apply for all as a joint claim and see what they say.

Would normally advise to use a benefit calculator but suspect the tax credits would have to be worked out before the result would be accurate.

Just make sure that when your partner gets a job you inform all benefit departments so you don't get an overpayment.

Gov site says carers allowance pays Class 1 NIC rather than Class 3 so doesn't that contribute towards other state benefits eg JSA CB?

dippy3103

Just wanted to wish you luck for the future, sounds as if it's big changes all round x

TELLIT01

Darksparkle wrote: »

Gov site says carers allowance pays Class 1 NIC rather than Class 3 so doesn't that contribute towards other state benefits eg JSA CB?

No, it only goes towards state pension entitlement.
I'm not sure if the partner will be entitled to an 8 week runon for the Carers Allowance when he ceases to care. Certainly worth checking.

Darksparkle

TELLIT01 wrote: »

No, it only goes towards state pension entitlement.
I'm not sure if the partner will be entitled to an 8 week runon for the Carers Allowance when he ceases to care. Certainly worth checking.

So what's the difference between it being class 1 and class 3?

Class 3 only goes towards pension/bereavement but class 1 NIC should be treated the same way as an employee paying class 1.

jetplane

^ To qualify for JSA he would have needed to actually pay some of the NI and not only have been credited with them. Hope that helps

Darksparkle

jetplane wrote: »

^ To qualify for JSA he would have needed to actually pay some of the NI and not only have been credited with them. Hope that helps

Entitledto says that DWP will count any credits for carers as actual NI payments.