Clegg announces carers’ earnings threshold to be lifted
The earnings threshold for the carers allowance is being lifted to £110 per week, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced.
The £8 increase means more carers can work part time and claim the full £61.35 a week allowance, which is a non-contributory benefit available to people who have given up the opportunity of full-time paid employment to provide substantial care, of at least 35 hours a week, to a severely disabled person.
Mr Clegg said: “Carers are the lifeblood of the welfare system, and are vitally important to British society as a whole.
“It is important that we help people where they have made the choice to concentrate on caring for someone who is severely disabled, and I am delighted to be able to announce some extra help for those who provide such often thankless service.”
Care minister Norman Lamb said: “As the economy begins to recover and we raise the national minimum wage to help families on low incomes, it is right that the support we give carers keeps pace.
“So we have moved to make sure that the support we give to people who carry out valuable work caring for relatives and friends does so. This significant rise in the earnings threshold provides that reassurance.”
The allowance was created because the Government said it recognised many carers would like to combine some paid work with their caring duties.
The earnings figure is calculated net of income tax, national insurance contributions, half of any contributions to an occupational or personal pension, plus a number of other allowable expenses.
In addition, half the earnings figure calculated as above can be allowed towards the cost of alternative care for the disabled person, or for a child aged under 16, while the carer is at work.
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