carers allowance means test

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dub8/10

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Hi I am a single guy and I have reduced my hours in work to 15 hours per week to look after both my parents ... I have put in an application for carers allowance which is means tested. can you anyone advise when this is means tested do they take into account your outgoings such as your mortgage payments and bills that come out of your monthly income? As I see that when i was previously assessed they just assesed me on how much i have earned so far this year and divided it by the current number of weeks without taking into account my outgoings or that my hours are now reduced to 15 hours but my mortgage still has to be paid .
 
It would appear that mortgage payments are not taken into consideration but the first €332.50 of your earnings are not taken into account either. PRSI, Union dues, Superannuation and also deducted for assessment purposes.
 
but they seem to assess it for means on what you have earned so far for the year rather than the current 15hrs that i am on now so i am not really earning the amount which i was that they are assessing it on as they seem to be taking it at my gross pay to date and then dividing that by the current insurable week to date which does not make sense as I for say the last 26 weeks i was working full time but for say the last 6 weeks i have reduced my hours down to 15 hours but yet they are dividing my current gross pay to date by the 32 weeks which will always calculate that the means is nearly double the €332.50 if that makes sense ....
 
the logic of calculating it over a longer period is to stop people reducing their salary for a few weeks purely for the means test and then going back when the test is done.
 
that does not make sense coz then I will not be able to afford to reduce my working hours to look after my parents as they will be assessing it on what i was earning for the last year rather then the current wage i have been reduced down to ... so i cant afford to give up work to look after my parents and they will need to get someone in to care for my parents when i am not there
 
Letter from employer stating you are and will be working just 15 hours from now on?
 
Would Carers Benefit be a better option as you are reducing your hours to become a carer and your job would be protected while you are caring.
 
To be eligible for carer's benefit you have to be an "insured person" which usually means you worked fulltime for the past two years and paid your PRSI. Carer's allowance is to cover people who don't qualify for carer's benefit eg part time worker or does not have 2 years employment. However there is an option to explain a change in circumstances to the adjudicating officer in an accompanying letter in relation to carer's allowance. Didn't work for me though.
 
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