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foster carers - couple and income support
I am working with a couple who have had 2 children, under 5 placed with them by the local authority. they are in the process of applying for Special Guardianship. I advised them to apply for Income support as carers. A decision has been made that they are not entitled to IS as they are not single parents. I thought that there was a rule for foster carers? they then applied for JSA but have been told they have to adhere to 40 hour rule. I thought as carers it must be at least 16 hours? they have responsibility to take child for contact, hospital appts etc. only one drives.
Any advice gratefully received.
I believe that is correct. Para 2 of Schedule 1B to the Income Support regs says that a foster carer must be either a single person or a lone parent to qualify for IS.
Foster carers are often regarded as self-employed - they register with HMRC, but have a high disregard for their income. Same with HB - their fostering allowance is disregarded. This means they are entitled to maximum WTC (but not CTC) on top of the fostering allowances, but are able to claim HB with only the WTC being taken into account. Ruth
Thank you. Ruth, if the couple apply for WTC as self-employed, they are unable to claim for JSA is this correct?
thank you
Anita
Off the top of my head one could claim WTC (30 hours) and therefore the other could not claim Income based JSA. even though I think the fostering allowance would be disregarded. It would also be disregarded for HB purposes so they would end up with full HB. No CTC or child benefit. But they do need to register as self-employed and get a unique personal number - they will have a disregard which means in practice no tax. CPAG has a good leaflet on this. It was published by CPAG Scotland but applies through the UK Also my own LA (Liverpool) exempts approved foster carers from council tax but I am not sure if this applies elsewhere. Ruth
Off the top of my head one could claim WTC (30 hours) and therefore the other could not claim Income based JSA. even though I think the fostering allowance would be disregarded. It would also be disregarded for HB purposes so they would end up with full HB. No CTC or child benefit. But they do need to register as self-employed and get a unique personal number - they will have a disregard which means in practice no tax. CPAG has a good leaflet on this. It was published by CPAG Scotland but applies through the UK Also my own LA (Liverpool) exempts approved foster carers from council tax but I am not sure if this applies elsewhere. Ruth
Is this the one you mean Ruth?
Yes, that’s right Paul
Thank you all for your help and advice.
I have downloaded the leaflet for future reference too.