Timesheet-can I split months up on it?

The_Lambchop

I am a carer so can only earn £520 a month before losing my carer's allowance. I have a steady job which earns me £83.25 a week, and have just got another job as a school invigilator. The invigilating role is only for about 7 weeks of the year. I would obviously like to earn up to the maximum I can whilst the invigilating work is available, and I can apply for more or less hours on it. Both jobs are casual positions, for which I will fill in time-sheets. It would benefit me the most to be able to hold a couple of weeks pay over on my £83.25 a week job, so for instance in June I earnt £166.50 for that job, which allows me to earn up to £353.50 for the invigilating job. I'm hoping that I could then just be a bit delayed in filling in the time-sheets and then put in for 5 weeks in July for instance, when there is no invigilating work. I would have to split the month though, e.g. do a time-sheet for 4th and 11th June, and then put the other two over to the next pay period. This would allow me to earn the max I can for the invigilating work and then put the overdue pay in for when there is no invigilating income. I know this is quite complicated, but it could allow me to earn £200 approx more if I can tweak it. My question is, can I do this?

KatrinaWaves

Sounds fraudulent to me.

Brynsam

Expect to be fired the moment the school realises you are claiming for a month in which you could not have done any work. Honesty is not only the better policy, it's the only one here.

esmy

I do some exam invigilating and our time sheets have to be in by the last day of the month for any work done in that month. If it isn't put in by that date you don't get paid! Could you not limit your hours in the second job so you don't go over the earnings allowance?

jobbingmusician

I wouldn't muck around with the payments from your regular job. Maybe ask the school if it is OK to claim late for your invigiliation, or whether they would pay you a small amount each month after you have worked your peak period? I *expect* (but do not know) that the income is set against your carer's allowance when it is paid, not earnt.

The_Lambchop

Thanks for the responses! How is this fraud and how would it involve getting fired? I am checking what I can do before even doing anything, to confirm that it is ok to do. Honesty is an excellent policy hence my post. I am not claiming for a month in which I have done no work since I work every month in my main job. My main issue is that I want to stay below the thresh-hold for carers allowance, and if I can even out my income on time-sheets on my main job then I can take on some more invigilating hours whilst doing this. I am talking about being slightly behind on doing my time-sheets for my main job so that I can work more hours invigilating when it's available, and then catching up the times worked on the time-sheets for my main job so that that pay falls into a month when I'm not getting paid for invigilating as it's not happening. I only work 1 day a week in my main job so I can't always include every day I work in a month anyway because the cut-off date is the 7th of the month, and I'm not always in work to get it in promptly.

Exodi

I don't like the sentiment of this thread to be honest but the only people that could confirm if they're fine with you submitting your time sheets late would be your employers.

You say this isn't fraud but I wonder what your answer will be when they ask you why you need to submit them late?

KatrinaWaves

The_Lambchop wrote: »

Thanks for the responses! How is this fraud and how would it involve getting fired? I am checking what I can do before even doing anything, to confirm that it is ok to do. Honesty is an excellent policy hence my post. I am not claiming for a month in which I have done no work since I work every month in my main job. My main issue is that I want to stay below the thresh-hold for carers allowance, and if I can even out my income on time-sheets on my main job then I can take on some more invigilating hours whilst doing this. I am talking about being slightly behind on doing my time-sheets for my main job so that I can work more hours invigilating when it's available, and then catching up the times worked on the time-sheets for my main job so that that pay falls into a month when I'm not getting paid for invigilating as it's not happening. I only work 1 day a week in my main job so I can't always include every day I work in a month anyway because the cut-off date is the 7th of the month, and I'm not always in work to get it in promptly.

Its fraud because you are manipulating your pay in order to qualify for benefits you wouldnt otherwise qualify for.

it is not an employment 'problem' you would be committing fraud in terms of the benefit requirements.

Otherwise you could just work full time, ask for all your pay to be paid in one lump sum in December and claim carers the rest of the year round.

of course its fraud. Just accept you wont get paid carers in the weeks you earn too much to qualify.

sparkermarketing

The_Lambchop wrote: »

Thanks for the responses! How is this fraud and how would it involve getting fired? I am checking what I can do before even doing anything, to confirm that it is ok to do. Honesty is an excellent policy hence my post. I am not claiming for a month in which I have done no work since I work every month in my main job. My main issue is that I want to stay below the thresh-hold for carers allowance, and if I can even out my income on time-sheets on my main job then I can take on some more invigilating hours whilst doing this. I am talking about being slightly behind on doing my time-sheets for my main job so that I can work more hours invigilating when it's available, and then catching up the times worked on the time-sheets for my main job so that that pay falls into a month when I'm not getting paid for invigilating as it's not happening. I only work 1 day a week in my main job so I can't always include every day I work in a month anyway because the cut-off date is the 7th of the month, and I'm not always in work to get it in promptly.

Sounds like benefits fraud to me, you would probably get away with it if your employer is happy to pay a late time sheet, but the reality is that you would be knowingly committing fraud by incorrectly declaring your earnings for that period.

The_Lambchop

Thank you for the clarification, I can see what people are saying a little better now. So I guess the answer is that I can make myself available for invigilating for hours up to being paid £520 overall for the month. Worth finding out what the score is. I thought that I could only get paid £480 a month until the advisers on the Carers UK forum clarified for me, so it is worth getting educated on these things. My main job pays £333, so I can earn £187 a month doing the invigilating maximum. Having clarified that I can offer myself for the sessions that would add up to that amount.

General_Grant

The_Lambchop wrote: »

Thank you for the clarification, I can see what people are saying a little better now. So I guess the answer is that I can make myself available for invigilating for hours up to being paid £520 overall for the month. Worth finding out what the score is. I thought that I could only get paid £480 a month until the advisers on the Carers UK forum clarified for me, so it is worth getting educated on these things. My main job pays £333, so I can earn £187 a month doing the invigilating maximum. Having clarified that I can offer myself for the sessions that would add up to that amount.

From https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/financial-support/help-with-benefits/carers-allowance?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6Pzl0avX4AIVSLHtCh2ePgaMEAAYASAAEgKbqvD_BwE

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.

If you are in employment and have fluctuating earnings it is possible for your earnings to be averaged out over a recognisable cycle of work or over five weeks.

. . .

The following amounts are deducted from your gross weekly earnings (if you are in employment) . . . before your earnings are taken into account for Carer’s Allowance:

Income Tax
National Insurance
half of your contributions towards an occupational/personal pension