Carers allowance breaches modern slavery laws surely

It's a weird echo of childcare in a way. I know people who go to work which then is eaten up by carers. And people who can't go to work because of caring duties ...

My dh has been assessed as needing 24 hour care. He is in receipt of both PIP and ESA and we have well under the savings limit. Our local council have told us that they simply do not have enough funds to pay for 24 hour care for him and the best they can do is to provide respite care. This idea that he would get full time carers provided free of charge is an absolute load of rubbish.

And then sit on edge if the earn £1

I’d agree with you and the reality is if the caring were properly assessed often it’d be a minimum of a two person job. People are often up in arms about the cost of residential placements but I totted up that if a person needed 2:1 care 24 hours a day then to cover you’d need 8 and a bit carers working 40 hour weeks ( 10 to account for holidays). At minimum wage this would cost about a quarter of a million pounds a year.

Despite saving the government masses of cash, family carers should slog their guts out literally doing the work of ten for a paltry £5k a year.

I do wonder if family carers were properly supported in terms of money and respite if they’d be able to keep going longer and actually save money in the long run.

I know 4 people on carers allowance, all who had to give up full time, very well paid jobs to care for their relative.

The person requiring care will be in receipt of PIP, ESA, UC. If you don't have savings and carers are required then they would be provided.

And the person who gave up their job to care for them ?

It's like child benefit. Child benefit isnt supposed to pay for full time child care, it is an added benefit to other household income be it salary, UC or whatever. Same with CA. It isn't a salary.

The person requiring care will be in receipt of PIP, ESA, UC. If you don't have savings and carers are required then they would be provided.

I know many people who would only work part time or not at all even without a relative requiring care so the extra £320 a month is actually a bonus.

I'm in exactly the same situation. I gave up my job to be full time carer for dh. Without me, he'd have to go into some kind of residential home or have full time care provided by social services who only provide respite care at the moment. I just wonder what will happen if the changes to PIP go ahead and there will suddenly be a lot of carers who are no longer eligible for any carers allowance at all.

Agreed.

I completely agree with you, it’s a disgrace. And what is even more insulting is that the carers allowance is LESS than job seekers allowance.