The Carer’s Allowance rule change means thousands could get £333 each month, a cash value increase of 1.7%, and the earnings threshold has also risen
As a result, an estimated 600,000 additional carers are now eligible for the payment which is valued at £83.30 a week, up from £81.90, or £333.20 every four weeks. The earnings limit – the maximum income someone claiming Carer’s Allowance can earn – has increased to £196 a week, up from £151 a week.
This change follows numerous reports highlighting how unpaid carers were being compelled to repay thousands in benefits after exceeding this earnings rule by a small margin.
your earnings surpass the limit – even by just £1 – you forfeit your entitlement to Carer’s Allowance.
For instance, supermarket employee Helen Grater was instructed to repay nearly £6,000 after she took on an extra shift at Sainsbury’s while caring for her seriously ill partner.
Full-time carer and father-of-three George Henderson was forced to sell his home – or face imprisonment – after he was prosecuted for receiving an overpayment of Carer’s Allowance, reports the Mirror.
Carers have expressed that the rules regarding earnings can be perplexing – especially when hours fluctuate or pay varies.
If your income changes weekly or monthly, then your average earnings are used to determine your eligibility for Carer’s Allowance.
Carer’s Allowance is granted to those providing at least 35 hours of care per week to someone who receives one of the following qualifying benefits:
- Disability Living Allowance – the middle or highest care rate
- Attendance Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment – daily living component
- Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance – the middle or highest care rate
- Pension Age Disability Payment
- Constant Attendance Allowance at or above the normal maximum rate with an Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- Constant Attendance Allowance at the basic (full day) rate with a War Disablement Pension
- Child Disability Payment – the middle or highest care rate
- Adult Disability Payment – daily living component at the standard or enhanced rate
