LIVE CARERS BENEFITS Q&A QUESTION 2: Im currently on maternity leave and get just over £125 a week for this. I care for my son all week and he receives Disability Living Allowance (DLA) middle rate for care and high for mobility so at the moment I dont qualify (and I didnt prior to maternity leave as I was working). After 39 weeks of maternity leave I will receive £0 a week as it changes to additional maternity leave which you get no money for. Am I able to claim Carer’s Allowance between weeks 40 and 52 of this part of my maternity leave? Obviously if I go back to work I would no longer qualify as my earnings would then go back up over the weekly amount. ANSWER 2: There is an earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance of £100 per week after deductions. This will be increasing to £102 per week (after deductions) from 20 May 2014. I assume that you are referring to Statutory Maternity Pay. Statutory Maternity Pay counts as earnings for the purposes of Carer’s Allowance, so if you are above the threshold (as you are at the moment at £125 per week), then you are not able to get Carer’s Allowance. However, when you drop to the earnings threshold or below (eg. which you will when you are on £0 per week), then you will be able to claim Carer’s Allowance, provided you meet the other conditions, which include that: • You look after someone who gets a qualifying disability benefit (your son’s Disability Living Allowance at either middle rate care component will count for this) • You look after that person for at least 35 hours a week • You are aged 16 or over • You are not in full-time education • You satisfy UK presence and residence conditions If you get Maternity Allowance then this benefit overlaps with Carer’s Allowance, which means that you cannot claim Carers Allowance unless your Maternity Allowance is less than £61.35 per week. If your Maternity Allowance is less than £61.35 per week, then this can be topped up with an amount of Carer’s Allowance to give you a combined total of £61.35 per week. If you would like to discuss this in more detail with an adviser please do contact the Carers UK Adviceline – you can reach us on 0808 808 7777 (Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm) or email us at [email protected]
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 12:25:53 +0000
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