Martin Lewis has issued a warning over one Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) benefit which is costing people £20,000. The BBC and ITV star and his Money Saving Expert team says Heather Aylesbury, 56, is suffering because of her DWP Carer's Allowance benefit. The mum of two cared for her 91-year-old mother, who had neuropathy, a condition that causes numbness in her legs.
During the seven years Heather looked after her mum, she also worked as a librarian. Heather claimed Carer's Allowance which you can work alongside it, but you cannot earn over £151 a week after tax, National Insurance, pension contributions, and allowable expenses. Mr Lewis warned: "Unpaid carers are unsung national heroes who save the economy and the NHS billions and provide a national wellbeing boost.
Carer's Allowance is a not particularly generous benefit that those on very low incomes, who care for people in need for over 35 hours a week, can get. READ MORE UK 'faces 10cm of snow per hour' with two parts of England covered "Yet its structure is broken, old-fashioned, unjust and in need of urgent change. Earn £151 a week or less, and those eligible can claim the £81.
90 per week allowance. Yet, earn a penny more – £151.01 – and they get nothing.
This is perverse – most benefits, including Universal Credit , have a taper, so if you go over the threshold, the payment received is gradually reduced. Carer's Allowance only has a cliff-edge, leaving many to plummet off. "Worse, the system seem.
