There was some good news recently for the million people who get Carer’s Allowance for looking after a severely disabled person at least 35 hours a week. They can now earn more before their allowance is stopped. Before 7 April the limit was £151 a week, which was about 13 hours on the adult minimum wage (called the National Living Wage). But from April the limit rose by a record amount, to £196 a week – which is equivalent to 16 hours’ work at the new wage rate of £12.21 an hour. In future the threshold will be pegged to the rise in minimum wages.

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The charity carers UK has welcomed the change, but says the rule is still a very harsh one. If the carer earns a penny more than the threshold their allowance stops completely. People in part-time work, perhaps on variable hours or earning slightly more than minimum wages, often struggle to keep track of earnings week by week to ensure they are below the limit. It also means they cannot take advantage of opportunities for a bit of extra work to help them manage.

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Carer’s Allowance itself is only £83.30 a week – equal to just £2.38 an hour for the 35 hours they must work to get it, and most carers spend a lot longer caring than that. Variable wages can be averaged out over five weeks, or longer in some cases, but that may not be done automatically – or correctly – by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Carers can also deduct certain amounts to meet the limit, including income tax and half of any pension contributions they make.

The latest DWP figures show that around 144,000 carers were being pursued for allowances overpaid due to earning too much – and that total is growing by 1,000 a month. They owe an average £1,740 each; a total of £251 million. Those debts mount up because the department often leaves a long gap between being informed of earnings and stopping the allowance. An independent review into these overpayments is examining how they happened, what should be changed and how the DWP can support people owing large amounts. It will report in the “early summer”, but it seems unlikely to recommend writing off those historic debts.

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QUESTIONS? Send any questions to Paul.Lewis@radiotimes.com. I cannot answer you personally, but I will reflect them in this column.

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