Disabled son. UC, carers and work

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JJ841

Hi everyone 

I’m new here and new to the system so apologies if this is in the wrong place 😊

My son has disabilities and I claim DLA and he was awarded middle rate.   I recently lost my job and now claim UC and receive the carers element with them.  

It was suggested to then claim carers allowance but now finding UC deduct £300 from my allowance.  (Although it’s a give in one hand and take from the other, the benefit of carers allowance is the NI contributions I believe) 

I’ve recently been offered a job. It’s essentially a zero hour contact and I can pick up shifts to suit my home life. My son struggles in mainstream school so only attends 2 days a week but we are close to finding better full time provision but until then my working hours are limited.  

Im a single parent.

My questions are:

1) When I go back to work, what happens to carers allowance if I earn over the £132 threshold some weeks and not others?  There will be weeks (school holidays for example) I will not be working at all as my son simply can not attend holiday clubs without 1-2-1 support. Or some weeks my child will be in full meltdown mode and unable to attend school at all. 

2) what will happen to UC carers element if I go back to work? Can working impact this? 

I’m just budgeting ahead. 

Thank you 

calcotti

The carer element of UC will not be affected by you working. There is no earnings limit. Obviously the amount of UC you receive can be reduced due to earnings but as your UC claim includes a child you will have a Work Allowance. This means that the first £335 or the first £557 of your earnings are ignored per month (the lower amount applies if you claim help with rent, the higher amount applies if you don’t). There will be a deduction of 55% of the earnings above the Work Allowance.

For CA you are not entitled to CA if you cross the earnings threshold in the previous week if you paid weekly. If you are paid monthly you are not entitled if you earnings the previous month work out as over the earnings threshold. Alternatively you will have to keep CA informed of any weeks or months when you exceed the threshold - my concern would be that UC may still, due to poor administration, make a deduction as if you have had full CA payments even though you have missed some. 

There is also the possibility of averaging earnings over a period of time when they fluctuate. However I don’t think you can average term time working only over the whole year.

If your earnings will fluctuate across the threshold it may be simpler to close the CA claim. Make clear that the reason is due to the earnings threshold and that you are still caring.