Need a bit of advice selfemployed , UC and carers allowance.

[mb135]

Hi,

I am self employed on very low income  and presently receiving WTC. I just filled in my self employed tax return each year and renewed tax credits up til now.

My wife is 14 years older than me and is receiving state pension and middle rate DLA. I spend alot of my week looking after my wife but havent as yet claimed Carers allowance.

Ive been told we have to migrate to UC. Now there is no way i would be able to meet the so called Minimum Income floor due to caring responsibilities.  Should i apply for carers allowance and carrying on in my self employment as i have been doing for years ?

Does this mean i would still have to go over to UC ,as the amount of working tax credit i get is about the same as a carers allowance payment would be.

We have been able to manage financially up to now as we have no mortgage /rent to pay , dont have a car ,etc... but have been receiving full council tax reduction.

Just looking for some advice.

Thankyou

[mb135]

Anyone?? ¬A correction to the above my wife receives attendance allowance NOT DLA.

[honeybee13]

Hi.

Not everybody knows about this kind of stuff, I'm afraid. I'll flag this for @unclebulgaria67 who's very knowledgeable on benefits stuff. Please bear with us for a bit longer.

HB

[mb135]

thanks HB

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes you have to claim UC.

When you claim UC, you and your wife will  need to claim UC, linking the claims to form a couple claim.  Where one person is of state pension age and the other below state pension age, this is known as mixed age couple claim.

I would advise that you claim first and as part of the process, you will be given a linking code. When your wife claims, as part of the process she will asked to enter the linking code that you give her from your claim to link the two claims into a couple claim.

When you complete the claim information, you will be asked whether you have any caring responsibilities and whether the person you care for is in receipt of a disability benefit. You will of course answer yes.

You can be considered a carer for your wife, if she is in receipt of the care element for DLA and there is no other carer noted.  You do not need to claim Carers Allowance.  UC as part of the new claim process will check available records to see if they can verify you as a carer.

  If you are verified as carer, you will be entered into a 'no work related requirements' category.  And if you are entered into the category, you cannot be considered gainfully self employed and therefore the minimum income floor would not be applied.  You will still need to report self employment income and expenses, but only your net profit would be used to calculate UC awards.

As your wife is of state pension age, she would also be in 'no work related requirements' so would not have regular job centre appointments and nor will you. But you may both need to attend to verify information at the start of the claims.

[mb135]

Hi, Thanks for the reply. But i did correct the first post in that she receives Attendance Allowance NOT DLA.  I am not down officially anywhere as a carer for my wife .

Is there any reason why i cant just claim carers allowance  and seize claiming Tax credits due to reduced self employed hours , thereby taking UC out of the picture. We could still probably manage financially with my wife`s state pension, her attendance allowance , carers allowance (if i can get it) and my earnings from self employment (i work from home anyway)  ???

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes you could do that, just claim Carers Allowance.

For a UC claim, with deductions for pension, I am doubtful you would be entitled to much anyway.

Carers Allowance would need information about employment hours and earnings, as this may affect how much you would receive.

 

[mb135]

Thanks , we will  decide what to do

[tomtom256]

Under UC there is no actual need to claim carers allowance, as long as you declare that you are caring for X for 35 hours per week and confirm they are in receipt of AA on the claim, they will verify you as a carer and you will then not be subject to the MIF, but will stil need to decalre your income and expenses each assessment period. This is because as a care, you are not expected to be available to work or have to look for work.