Social Security Minister Judy Martin has lodged a proposition calling for an earnings limit – currently set at £169.61 per week – to be replaced with a maximum number of hours that can be worked in a week in order to be eligible for the home carer’s allowance.
The allowance is for carers who spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone and is designed for people who cannot work full-time, or who have to reduce their working hours, because of their caring commitments.
Deputy Martin, in her proposition, said that the current earnings limit was ‘designed to allow people to maintain contact with the world of work and to take a break from caring’. However, currently the law makes provisions only for the amount earned rather than the number of hours worked.
The minister added: ‘Following requests from carers, the minister wishes to replace this earnings limit with a maximum number of hours that can be worked in a week. A carer would be able to earn any hourly rate. This is intended to support those carers who are professionally qualified or may be capable of earning a higher hourly rate.
‘The minister’s intention is that home carer’s allowance should allow for people to undertake a reasonable amount of part-time work and maintain the social and professional contact available from work. This should be true even for professionally qualified people, some of whom would not be able to work a single shift without exceeding the current earnings limit.’
The home carer’s allowance is currently set at £899.92 and is paid every four weeks.
It is expected that the change, if approved, would lead to additional claims being registered with the Social Security Department totalling about £50,000.
The proposition is due to be debated on Tuesday 23 November. If States Members vote in favour of the proposal, a ministerial order would then be signed setting the maximum number of hours that can be worked before becoming ineligible to claim the allowance.
