Carers’ allowance and temporary work

[FromTheFirstOldFashionedWeWereCursed]

DH gets carers’ allowance for our 11yo who has significant SEN and needs a parent at home with him when he’s not at school - he can’t access wraparound care or clubs etc. He has previously had school-hours work but had to leave when DS was ill this time last year and hasn’t been able to find something with similar hours yet.

A friend has offered DH some temporary remote admin work for his business - it’s an ongoing project so if DH does some of it, it’ll be finished sooner. I’d imagine it will be paid at minimum wage.

DH is very keen to take the work as it is compatible with being at home for DS and he would rather be working than not, but we need to know if it’s financially viable especially as it’s temporary.

We’re trying to work out how many hours a week at minimum wage DH would need to be working, for it to be better for us financially than carers’ allowance once his wage is taxed.

Can anyone help? It’s not our forte and I don’t want to get it wrong.

You can earn £196 per week after tax, NI and some other expenses (such as 50% of pension contributions) before CA stops. So there isn’t one set number of hours at NMW. So, for example, if DH worked 16 hours per week ant NMW and paid e.g. £20 into a pension, he would still qualify. He could work a couple more hours if he paid more into his pension or had other allowable expenses.