Any ideas on this situation:

My client is part of a married couple. Her husband is 67 and my client is 56. Husband gets PC, couple rate. Client gets Carers Allowance - don't know what DLA rate husband gets. They also get full housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Client wants to register as a childminder. She would earn £120 a week before deductions. She wants to know how the childminding pay would affect the money her and her husband currently receive. She was informed by the Pension Service that apart from a £20 earnings disregard the rest of her earnings from childminding would be taken into consideration for the purposes of Pension Credit. I have checked the regulations and only 1/3 of childminding earnings are taken into consideration for the purposes of Pension Credit. Am i correct in thinking that, with the earnings disregard, £20 of my client's earnings would be taken into consideration for the purposes of Pension Credit. Leaving them with the pension credit they are currently receiving -£20 and still entitled to full HB/CTB?

I am unsure about whether the Carers Allowance would continue to be paid if my client earned £120 each week, or would she be ineligible for this?

I would be grateful for any help.

I suggest you point out to the Pension Service the Computation of Income Regulations which as you rightly say treat 1/3 of child minding income as gross profit from self employment, and are applied in respect of self employed earnings for Pension Credit purposes.

The same rule appears to apply to carer's allowance. So that her net income of £40.00 per week would be well within the allowable earnings

Thanks for the message.

Could you point me in the direction of the rules applying to carer's allowance and childminding earnings.

Reg 13(10) Social Security Benefit (Computation of Earnings) Regs 1996