Carers Allowance WTF

You’re having a laugh. My DH was laid up in bed with 6 broken vertebrae due to his cancer. His care should have been 2 carers and a hoist.

it was me. Just me. There were no carers available through the council, we’d have had to use private carers which we couldn’t bloody afford because I had to give up my job to care for him.

When you become a pensioner you lose it altogether- you still get to care for the person though.

The loved one appreciates it that's for sure

That does not always follow. Some become verbally, emotonally and or physically abusive even if they were lovely or placid prior to needing care.

Being unwell and having to rely upon or being relied upon is an incredibly difficult place to occupy, it completely changes your relationship with each other and not often for the better.

A bit like pensions they should be at least the minimum wage , ideally the living wage . But the government doesn’t care about disabled and sick people at all

Yep. Carers save the tax payer a fortune but carers allowance has a punitive effect on some other benefits.

Nonsense. I was claiming carers allowance for my son but not entitled to Universal credit. I don’t know anyone getting CA and eligible for UC !

I agree it's completely inadequate for anyone to live on but they know that and they know family members will step up. The loved one appreciates it that's for sure

And if the person you care for gets housing benefit it will be reduced.

Yep
On here if you care for elderly parents its because you are after the inheritance.
But if you dont its because you are lazy and cant be bothered.

So what happens when your parent needs care around the clock? Can’t be left alone during the day? How do you provide that and continue to work?

You just give up your job? And then what, scrape by on the very minimal UC that’s handed out?

That’s an extremely big responsibility to take on with huge personal sacrifice, and it saves the state lots of money.

Lots of people are happy to help look after their parents if it just means popping in after work or cleaning once a week. But when your parent requires more significant care, it really is a huge task that upends your life.

That is true. A whole £1.30 an hour pay, gosh more gratitude to be had.

Most people with children have the opportunity to work especially as they get older. How do you expect those of us with children that have high needs, can’t attend childcare settings or after school care, to earn a living/pay towards the household to support them whilst also doing the job of support workers for 1% of the wage?

As for caring for parents, you cannot win on this site - one minute people are complaining that people aren’t looking after their parents like they used to (because they’re usually working full time and social circumstances have changed), then complain that when people do give up everything to care for parents because you can’t rely on said social care to meet needs, they need a source of income to do so. Apparently familial carers should live in gratitude and fresh air…

Lucky you that you never had to give to work to care for a severely disabled relative. Your post is so immensely ignorant, I don't know where to start.

You clearly have no idea what caring for someone with a severe disability is like, or how much it costs. Carers at home take the strain off social services care and save the taxpayer millions as a result. I don’t think a paltry £83 a week is too much to ask when you’re caring for someone for at least 35 hours a week. Or £2.38 an hour.

You forgot that the carers allowance is replaced on UC by a carer premium. Worth about £46 a week.

YANBU I have been my husband’s carer for 10 years, I don’t do any other work and I agree carers allowance is absolutely ridiculous, if someone else had had to care for him, they would get a proper wage.

It's not just a random child though. It's a recognition of their having needs beyond a typical child which affects your ability to work full time

I always thought carers allowance was if you looked after a random neighbour or stranger, never drempt you got it for looking after your own child or parent I thought that was just what you did. Also those with no savings also get universal credit, housing etc if applicable.

I care for three people who live in my home, including DM who has cerebral palsy and is also now developing dementia. DP collapsed with a neurological disorder three years ago so I suppose technically I'm his carer too, although he's not on PIP yet, just LCWRA. If I include DP, that makes four people with disabilities I'm caring for.

The reason I am still awake at 5am is because this is when I work. I am self-employed and I work around my caring responsibilities.

I don't get anything extra for caring for more than one person, or for running myself into the ground desperately trying to earn an income to keep us afloat while still taking care of everyone. I provide way more than 35 hours of care for each person, every week. Thank the actual fuck that there are some things that overlap and I can do for them at once, like laundry or cooking, because otherwise it would be impossible.

I also don't get the bountiful Carer's Allowance of £81 per week because they deduct every penny of it from my Universal Credit.

Carers are studiously ignored by every government because they know we save them bloody BILLIONS and they treat us abysmally. And no, in answer to a PP, it's not "our job" to be carers for family members. We choose to do it out of love, but also because in many cases there's literally no other option.

Just take cash for the yoga part of your business like everyone else does? also hats off to you for taking up this role.

It’s yet another stupid government policy where they don’t look at the bigger picture. It would cost a shit load more than £81 per week to get carers in for your dm, that’s if you can find the carers at all, and capping your earnings, which if at a reasonable level would be taxable, is just shooting themselves in the foot.

Carers allowance absolutely is for ‘x’ amount of care hours. The minimum is 35 hours per week. It works out at £2.38 an hour. The earnings threshold in April will be £196 per week after tax, NI, certain other allowable deductions and half of any pension contributions.

If you work and claim carers allowance, the earnings threshold is applied after any private pension contributions.

Don't really understand OooLarLar.
If you are being asked to be available for 35 hours a week and being paid £2 an hour by the government who insist of a new minimum wage of £12 + an hour then surely that is wrong.
Doesn't matter what you earn in other employment, for all you know I earn £200 K or £20 k but if I am being ordered to commit to those hours why shouldn't I, or anyone, be paid paid the minimum wage ?

Surely its basically just another mechanism for accessing state pension.