Carers allowance advice please

[mumof22004]

I am a community support worker. I am on a 0 hour contract. I am going to be supporting my mum when she returns home after her stroke and at present I am juggling work and caring for my dad also.
I earn more than £116 a week so cannot claim carers allowance.
Once Mum is home I plan to cut my hours so that I do earn under £116 a week.
Can someone tell me the following-

I get paid 4 weekly so will they look at my wage per week or split the 4 weeks pay into 4 weeks and see if it is less than £116?
I will be working every other weekend but will ensure I don't go £464 every 4 weeks. Will that be ok?
Iyswm

Also I will be caring for both Mum and Dad so I won't be spending 35 hours as such with just one person. It will be both. I know I won't get double carers allowance but will that qualify me to get it?

I hope this makes sense 😬

Another question do you have to submit all wage slips to prove the wage is below £116 per week?

Not sure on that one OP! Sorry, I usually try to help on these ones. I would suggest finding your local carers network and giving them a call. Our one is fab, and made sure dad was getting all the benefits he was entitled to when declared fit for work, but caring for mum full time. If you google "your area + carers" see if it brings up a support network.

Your first question gets different answers depending on who you speak to at the Carers Allowance unit but in theory they should take an average,

It says this on Carers UK.

If you are in employment and are paid monthly, your monthly earnings are normally multiplied by 12 months to get a yearly figure and then divided by 52 weeks to get a weekly figure.

If you are in employment and have fluctuating earnings it is possible for your earnings to be averaged out over a recognisable cycle of work or over five weeks .

If you are in self-employment your average weekly earnings are normally calculated by looking at a specific trading period, which is normally a year. However if you have only recently started your self-employment, or if there has been a change in your circumstances, then a different period more

Ring Carers Allowance unit to make sure you don't accidentally get counted wrongly.

Your second question is no. You can only get CA for caring for one person so all 35 hours need to be caring for one of your parents. But don't forget caring doesn't just mean hands on washing and dressing. It can be just being around to keep an eye on them. You don't even necessarily need to be in the same house for that 35 hours if you are popping in and out and on the end of a phone for much of the time.

@mumof22004

Yeah, thanks for the info?

Sorry.

Thank you everyone for your advice.
I have cut my hours at work which will then create a wage slip stating I earn no more than £116 a week.

OP, you don't need to cut your hours esp if it pushes you below 16h. You can deduct 50% of your pension contribution from you gross pay. So if you are not paying into a pension scheme, join one and if you are already doing so, increase your pension contributions so you fall under the magic £116/week mark.

I do pay into a pension. Thanks. I'll look into that

just increase it. Win win...you pay more into the pension and you get CA