Good idea??

[piglettsmummy]

Currently I live with my mum. She had to quit work due to Ill health. She only gets her pension+ pension credit and really struggles financially as we share the bills + rent. I receive income support (not much) carers allowance, dla(for my daughter) cb, ctc and extra money from a family member. I Hve been considering havin my mum take over carers allowance and be main 'medical Carer' for kaitlyn and I go and get a job. I would loose income support which I am aware of but wud gain wtc and wages. I would hope to make more than my ret so i would t be out of pocket. Seems like a good idea to me but also seems to good to be true! Any ideas? :)

You would be better off, but finding a job is easier said than done, so prepare yourself for knock backs and dont take it personally!

Good luck!

Thankyou! Yes ano it's so hard ATM but I would stop any benefits until I confirmed I was hired :)

*wouldn't

Is your mum willing and able to take care of your daughter? I'm guessing she has quite complex needs so is your mum up for it? Are you happy with the inevitable further blurring of your family roles. (you are already living with your mum - if she starts becoming the main carer then will she still agree to your child rearing rules or will she ignore them? Can you cope if she doesn't.)

From a money aspect it seems an obvious choice. But there are other things to think about and the answer very much depends on you and your mum's personalities and relationship.

I have discussed this with my mum already. She does have comped issues, a degenerative condition of her spine. But she is still really active. We both have very similar ideas about child rearing anyway so there wud be no clashes and Infact if I do like to do something differently then she agrees. My daughter starts nursery next September so it wouldn't be full on for a long time and of course I would
Take my dd over when I finish work. I said to her that we could trial it for a few
Months if
It works great, if not then its ok we'll go back to how we are now :) u do worry that dd may get me and my mum confused but shes getting to that age now where she understands and calls us differently so hopefully not x

I believe that if you found a job and it didn't work out because of your caring responsibilities (ie if your Mum could not manage after all) you would not be penalised for stopping.

There are so many other potential benefits I really hope you go for it, if the jobhunt gets tough you might want to have a look at "What Color is your Parachute". Good luck

Thankyou isabeller

You can earn up to £100pw after deductions and continue to get Carer's Allowance, so if you're looking at p/t work it's worth calculating whether you'd still be able to get it (deductions can be for childcare).

Carer's Allowance and Pension Credit are overlapping benefits, so can't be paid at the same time, but your mum could get a carer addition (like the carer premium you get on IS).

Aren't you getting HB and CTB as well? It should be passported if you get IS (your mum would get it on PC too). You'd most likely lose this if you start working. It's definitely worth getting a 'better off' calculation done at a CAB or similar. You need to consider all your costs in working - not just losing IS but also the costs of travelling to work, lunches, work clothes and social activities etc.

Also, if you notify your JC+ when you are looking for work, they may be able to help fund jobsearch costs - office clothes, transport costs to interview etc. There are various 'back to work' bonuses too (up to £60pw for the first year) but not sure if they just apply to lone parents on IS or carers too.

littlefirefly what do you mean by overlapping benefits? I read on the direct gov website that she could get an added amount on pension credit if she received carers for dd?? I am
Hoping to work to earn above £100 ( need it really) but hats why I was hoping to switch the carers to my mum so that it wasn't money lost.