Claiming Carers Allowance while registered self employed

Benefits, finances and funding
1

Hello

I am new to this so please accept my appologies if I sound a little confused.

I am registered as self employed but I am not earning and have zero income and I live at home with my parents and I an using my self employment status with HMRC to be able to voluntery pay my national insurance class 2 voluntary each year with my self assessment to go towards my state pension. I am caring full time for my brother who is disabled and he has just been awarded PIP after a long time of being disabled and this includes the daily living compenent so this would enable me to claim carers allowance as his full time carer. I am looking to end my self employment because I want to be his full time carer and I will not need to voluntary pay my class 2 national insurance on my self assessment returns because Carers Allowance pay Class 1 national insurance.

When I sign up for carers allowance I would still be registered and classed as self employed even though I am not earning any money. My question is how do I show that I have not been earning an income from my self employment status. I do not have an accountant or a business account only a standard current bank account.

I do not have any business accounts because I have not been working or earning.

I have looked on the Paper application form for carers allowance and it says do not send tax return as proof.

Would it be adviseable to end my self employment before I start my carers allowance claim or after because I would need to inform them after I have been acceptetd that I have stopped my self employment if I end it after my application and acceptance.

I have thought about ending my self employment status then applying for Carers Allowance and not back dating it to the start of his claim (November 2023) but that would mean I would miss out on alot of money that I was entitled to because I was not earning any income in that time and I was caring for him 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Also I am concerned about ending my self employment status before making a claim for Carers Allowance might affect my national insurance contrabutions.

I am a little confused what to do. I have contacted Carers Allowance and I have had zero help from them other than fill in the form and see what the descision maker thinks.

Thank you in advance

2

Hi Hammy - welcome to the Forum.

My situation is that I was self-employed for years and filed a Return (via Accountant) annually. When my husband suffered a stroke we had to close our business very suddenly. My final date for self-employment was, technically, the end of the tax year, but I did not advise HMRC immediately as I did not know what our overall situation would be. We claimed AA for Graham when it was clear his condition was not going to improve sufficiently that I could leave him for long enough to go back to work in any capacity and as soon as it was awarded I claimed CA. I have a very small pension from a previous job and that is my only income. He gets his state pension and AA.

I filed Self Assessment Returns for each of us at the end of the tax year last year and within two weeks we each had letters confirming we do not need to file any further S.A. Returns unless there is a change in circumstances.

I do not think you need to advise HMRC of change from Self Employed before you get CA awarded as you can inform them ‘in retrospect’. Hopefully there will not be too long a delay in your case being considered and you being awarded CA - in my case it took just four weeks.

I don’t know if this is of any help, and others may be able to give more advice. I know getting through is difficult, but HMRC helpline may be able to assist.

If you need more help, you might find that the CarersUK helpline (or email) can give more particular advice. Check the main website for the link.

For general support, you’ll find us a friendly group and there is a “Roll Call” thread which starts anew each month where we have a general chat/gossip/moan/bleat and give each other encouragement and catch up on what our ‘Forum Friends’ have been up to, so it might be worth having a snoop around and drop in to say ‘Hi’. We don’t bite and its a wonderful place to get some support when you feel down.

Best wishes

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