Carers Allowance - The Awful Limit on Earnings

Howdy all,

The one thing that seems to confuse most people who saw my original post is the earnings limit of £139 a week. It's true, let's break it down. Imagine caring for your family member was in a job category. Which it essentially is, as its hard work. To even get paid for this job, you have to do a minimum of 35 hours a week. Any less, you don't get paid. Also, if you do more than 35 hours a week (which a lot of carers do), you don't get paid more. It sounds weird, backwards even, but that's how the government decided it works. Should there be a tiered system? Possibly, but it would be hard for the government to prove what times you are working so they've gone with this method instead. One that is basic, but I get why, from a practical and societal belief stand point. I will continue from an anecdotal stand point but I'm sure you can apply general logic to it. Any money at all is appreciated, but with the cost of living crisis, inflation and so on, £79 a week doesn't really go too far. So I've tried incredibly hard to get a second/third job in what I love (being creative) and have admittedly failed. All the while knowing that if I get that job, I will then have to declare this to the carers allowance unit, and then lose £79 a week (this means I will then be doing 35 hours of unpaid work on top of the new amount of hours my second/third job will require me to do). It all isn't very fair, but again, them's the rules. So how many hours would I have to work say, a minimum wage job, to be over £139 a week? Minimum wage is £10.32 an hour, so I would only work 14 hours (£144.48) a week to lose my carers allowance.

So why don't carers ditch carers allowance and go get a normal job? A lot of them don't have that luxury. The person they care for may need constant care, so any idea of getting a regular office job is out of question. You also have to remember, even if they do get a normal office job, they will still have to come home and care for the person for free. They would be doing 35 hours + worth of work, on top of their office job, for free.

Proposition I propose an increase to the weekly limit. £300 a week at least. If somebody is prepared to work while also doing 35 hours of caring, they shouldn't be punished for it. They can still provide for society while also providing for the person they love. And if that isn't possible, carers should at least get discounts, food stamps and so on to lessen the cost of things while being in a position where they are unable to earn more money. What do you think? If you would like to support articles like these, as well as my general life as a carer and creative, please consider donating to my patreon! You'll be getting an incredible amount of content from $1.