mortified that i may have been claiming wrongly......

[nomchange]

I have been claiming carers allowance since Sept 2006 for my son who is autistic. i also get DLa for him hence claiming carers.
I went to work part time in 2009. At this time i rang carers allowance and informed them and also told them that I was only going to be earning during school terms and that would leave me with 12 weeks unpaid a year. They informed me i was able to earn £100 per week and i could split my earnings over 52 weeks and aslong as it was under the limit i would be entitled to claim carers allowance still.

in 2009-2010 (tax year) my income was less than £60 per week averaged out over year. this was the same in 2010 and 2011 tax years.
I have recieved a letter stating that i have claimed falsely but i know I havent.
Carers allowance were aware i was working and my earnings were well below the allowed £5200 per year. I have detailed all this in a letter including my bank statements for sept 2009 till jan 2012 when i gave up work.

Im now panicking that im mistaken. my monthly pay doesnt accurately display my weekly pay as it varied vastly ie some months i was paid for 5 weeks and others only 3 weeks and then there are the weeks i didnt work at all, this is why i checked with carers first and they said the average earning per year had to be less than £100 per week.

[SerialKipper]

DON'T PANIC.

Hope someone comes along with actual legal knowledge, but if you have been accurately informing them of your earnings and they make a mistake, I can't see how it's anything other than their mistake. You might have to pay some back but you haven't done anything wrong. But DWP standard letters seem to start from the basis that everyone applying for benefits is a criminal low-life.

Have you already written back?

It's perfectly reasonable to ask them to explain their accusation and if relevant to tell them that your monthly pay slip represents varying numbers of weeks. You can also say that you submitted claims on their own advice that income should be averaged over 52 weeks, but that if their original advice was false you will of course reimburse them.

Oh, and get everything in writing.

[nomchange]

I have done a detailed breakdown including my bank statements for whole period. Some months I earnt nothing and some months I earnt about £6 over the allowance but as the pay was so press out ie some months was for 5 weeks some for 3 it's difficult to work out actual pay from monthly. I have detailed how many hours I worked and how much per hour I was on so they can see even with the average I was still only on £96 per week when I was working.
I genuinely haven't gone over the allowance I'm just worried I suppose.

[worldgonecrazy]

If you can get hold of copies of your P46 that will give details of your total taxable pay for the previous tax year. That might give an easier breakdown of figures than trying to work out average pay from your bank statements.

[nomchange]

They have said they will write to my employers an get copies of p60 so that should solve it really.

[eve34]

I think also that any pension or child care costs are also deductable from your income..

[worldgonecrazy]

I meant P60! Doh!