Carers allowance, earning limit and pensions

Brighty

Hi all

My wife currently receives CA for our son.

We have just relocated back up north and as the kids are now back at school she's looking for part time work.

She visited her old work yesterday, a care home, and was pretty much offered a job on the spot.

Hours and shifts to still be thrashed out, but it's obviously not worth her earning more than the allowed £116 a week as she'd lose CA and be working all those extra hours for nothing.

Hours and shifts could be variable and they often phone up looking to cover extra shifts due to holidays and sickness

She'll be paid monthly, so am i right in thinking that they ignore what she earns in a particular week and just look at her monthly pay slip and average out by multiplying it by 12 and dividing by 52 to get an average weekly wage for that month? So she could earn over £116 one week, so long as the total for that month is under £502?

Secondly, i understand that she can also deduct half of any pension payments from the total. So is it possible to open a stakeholder pension or SIPP and then any month she earns over £502, put double the excess into a pension. Do they take account of pension payments month by month, or by the year?

If anyone does the above, any suggestions of a good pension provider that can be opened with a minimal initial deposit, allows variable monthly payments, preferably online, and also allows a v small compulsory monthly payment for the months where she earns under the limit?

Thanks

Brighty

xylophone

Won't the care home offer a pension scheme to which she could contribute?

https://www.gov.uk/workplace-pensions/joining-a-workplace-pension

She should check the form of tax relief (net pay/relief at source).

https://www.nowpensions.com/help-centre/faqs/administration/whats-the-difference-between-net-pay-and-relief-at-source

Otherwise she could open a SIPP, set a minimum monthly payment and add more when she wished.

http://www.hl.co.uk/partners/search/sipp?theSource=PCHLS&Override=0&adg=G+HLBS+HLS&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0_O5ga6V1gIV1MqyCh1yqgbYEAAYASAAEgJQMfD_BwE

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/stakeholder-pensions

https://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-and-personal-pensions/aviva/

https://www.legalandgeneral.com/pensions-retirement/stakeholder-pensions/

Mojisola

Brighty wrote: »

Hours and shifts to still be thrashed out, but it's obviously not worth her earning more than the allowed £116 a week as she'd lose CA and be working all those extra hours for nothing.

Hours and shifts could be variable and they often phone up looking to cover extra shifts due to holidays and sickness

She'll be paid monthly, so am i right in thinking that they ignore what she earns in a particular week and just look at her monthly pay slip and average out by multiplying it by 12 and dividing by 52 to get an average weekly wage for that month?

AIUI, the earnings limit is applied per week. As the carer is also doing at least 35 hours care to claim CA, there's a practical limit on how many hours they can also work.

Brighty

xylophone wrote: »

Won't the care home offer a pension scheme to which she could contribute?

https://www.gov.uk/workplace-pensions/joining-a-workplace-pension

She should check the form of tax relief (net pay/relief at source).

https://www.nowpensions.com/help-centre/faqs/administration/whats-the-difference-between-net-pay-and-relief-at-source

Otherwise she could open a SIPP, set a minimum monthly payment and add more when she wished.

http://www.hl.co.uk/partners/search/sipp?theSource=PCHLS&Override=0&adg=G+HLBS+HLS&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0_O5ga6V1gIV1MqyCh1yqgbYEAAYASAAEgJQMfD_BwE

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/stakeholder-pensions

https://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-and-personal-pensions/aviva/

https://www.legalandgeneral.com/pensions-retirement/stakeholder-pensions/

The home do offer a pension i'm sure, but wife will probably earn too little to be auto enrolled, even if she was, it would be a set percentage each month, not variable as and when we please to suit the earnings limit. Will prbably make sense to join anyway to take advantage of employers contributions, but would still need to set up our own

Thanks for the pension links, i'll check them out

Brighty

Mojisola wrote: »

AIUI, the earnings limit is applied per week. As the carer is also doing at least 35 hours care to claim CA, there's a practical limit on how many hours they can also work.

But how can they apply it per week when someone is monthly paid? The only evidence of earnings is your payslip, will just states hours worked that month

Found this

"If you are in employment and are paid monthly, your monthly earnings are normally multiplied by 12 months to get a yearly figure and then divided by 52 weeks to get a weekly figure."
http://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/financial-support/help-with-benefits/carers-allowance?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvurs1rSV1gIVYbHtCh06lAgcEAAYASAAEgLu_vD_BwE

She' only looking at working 13-16 hours a week, probably while the kids are at school. It's quite easy for a mother to care for at least 35hrs a week outside of school hours

TELLIT01

Mojisola wrote: »

As the carer is also doing at least 35 hours care to claim CA, there's a practical limit on how many hours they can also work.

Even if working 35 hours per week there is no practical issue with caring 35 hours per week as well. Clearly there would be a problem with claiming CA due to earnings if working 35 hours per week.
If caring for a disabled child, the parent is effectively doing that every hour they aren't at work.

xylophone

If caring for a disabled child, the parent is effectively doing that every hour they aren't at work.

But so are parents of non disabled children?

Brighty

xylophone wrote: »

But so are parents of non disabled children?

Rightly or wrongly, the requirement for carers allowance is that you care for a minimum of 35hrs, not 35hrs over and above a non disabled child.

"Its about helping people get their entitlement! Not about benefits policy!"

BorisThomson

Brighty wrote: »

Rightly or wrongly, the requirement for carers allowance is that you care for a minimum of 35hrs, not 35hrs over and above a non disabled child.

"Its about helping people get their entitlement! Not about benefits policy!"

Carers Allowance continues to be the most abused benefit.

teddysmum

What would happen (re working) in school holidays, when the child also needs care in normal school hours ?

xylophone

"Its about helping people get their entitlement! Not about benefits policy!"

I wasn't aware that I made any comment about benefits policy.