Carer’s Allowance is paid to those who are providing at least 35 hours of care a week and is worth £83.30 a week after this crucial benefit went up this month
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has made a major change to Carer’s Allowance rules from this month. This crucial benefit has in terms of cash value by 1.7% and the earnings threshold has also gone up
It means approximately 600,000 more carers are now eligible for Carer’s Allowance, which is worth £83.30 a week, up from £81.90. This adds up to £333.20 every four weeks. Meanwhile, the earning limits – which is how much someone claiming Carer’s Allowance can earn in income – has increase to £196 a week, up from £151 a week.
It comes after several reports revealed how unpaid carers were being forced to repay thousands of pounds in benefits after breaching this earnings rule by just a few pounds. If your earnings go over the limit – even by just £1 – you lose your entitlement to Carer’s Allowance.
For example, supermarket worker Helen Grater was told to pay back almost £6,000 after she took on an extra shift at Sainsbury’s while caring for her seriously unwell partner. Full-time carer and dad-of-three George Henderson was forced to sell his home – or face jail – after he was prosecuted because he was overpaid Carer’s Allowance.
Carers say the rules for how much you earn can be confusing – particularly if your hours change, or your pay fluctuates. If your earnings vary each week, or each month, then your average earnings is used to determine your eligibility for Carer’s Allowance. Carer’s Allowance is paid to those who are providing at least 35 hours of care a week to someone who receives one from a list of qualifying benefits:
- Personal Independence Payment – daily living component
- Disability Living Allowance – the middle or highest care rate
- Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance – the middle or highest care rate
- Attendance Allowance
- Pension Age Disability Payment
- Constant Attendance Allowance at or above the normal maximum rate with an Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
- Constant Attendance Allowance at the basic (full day) rate with a War Disablement Pension
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- Child Disability Payment – the middle or highest care rate
- Adult Disability Payment – daily living component at the standard or enhanced rate
