Will getting a job make me better or worse financially?

RockDiva · July 2017

I am a carer for my husband and daughter. They both have Autism, Anxiety, Depression, Social Phobia and hubby also has ADHD.
We have been to crisis point and things are smoothing out. Hubby has accepted his limitations and is on ESA, PIP (after fighting tribunal).
Daughter is at an autism school and is doing a lot better. She gets DLA (about to change to PIP). I get child tax credit, child benefit, carers allowence, housing benefit, council tax benefit.
Will I be better or worse financially if I get a job? Will it be better to volunteer?
Thanks.

Markmywords · July 2017

Hi, well it depends on what your earnings potential is.

Geoark · July 2017

I am sure one of the benefit advisors will get back to you on Monday.

As @Markmywords says it will depend on what you are earning, as well as the number of hours you work. You will need to get a back to work assessment on your finances and benefit entitlement. With all the different benefit rules having one affected could potentially affect another. For example the number of hours worked could affect your carers allowance.

I know when our daughter got DLA and I informed the tax office we got an additional allowance on one of the other benefits, I think it was child tax credit but not 100% sure. So potentially when your daughter moves to PIP if you have this additional allowance this could stop as well.

So as I mentioned you should get a back to work financial assessment so you can make an informed decision. Normally to do this they do need to know how many hours you plan to work and what your income will be.

BenefitsTrainingCo · July 2017

Hi RockDiva,

Unfortunately that is not an easy question to answer and you'll probably need face to face advice. As Geoark says, it depends on your hours and your income. You would need to work at least 16 hours a week to get Working Tax Credit (WTC), which wouldn't be a new claim, just something you'd add to your tax credit claim.

Your tax credits are initially based on the previous tax year's income, so would be quite high to begin with, but could go down over time depending on your earnings - this really complicates things.

Housing benefit and council tax reduction take into account tax credits and so the higher your tax credits, the less help you get with rent and council tax.

Carer's allowance stops if you earn more than £116 a week. It sounds as if you and your hubby are claiming income-related ESA (not income support)? Income-related ESA has to stop once you work 24 hours or more a week, but might stop before that depending on income.

So there are lots of variables. One option is to try a free benefits calculator, like Turn2Us, and put in different hours of work and earnings. But remember that the calculator doesn't look ahead into future tax years. I'd consider getting face to face advice - for example, there might be a local organisation that supports carers and can help you with this. And it also depends whether you are doing it for extra money, or because things are feeling more manageable and you want to do something separate to your caring role, which could be volunteering or paid work.

Will

Will getting a job make me better or worse financially?

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