AIBU to think carer's allowance is abysmal!!

[Fizzielove]

Simply that!!

All the work, save the government thousands and the carer's allowance is shit!!

Eligible for an assessment. Not necessarily eligible for any help.

eligible for WHAT?

Every carers situation is different. Sadly for some, it is a short role.
If your partner is diagnosed with a terminal illness, chances are you will end up being a carer, but potentially for a short time.

My 8 year old is 'eligible' for a full-time education that meets his needs and potential.......

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

To those asking what should be cut from the care budget...

Well we should be giving enough money for carers to live on before we're giving even wealthy warm pensioners free TV licence and £250 every winter. That's an unpopular opinion though.

But the help you're thinking of is funded services. There is a lot of 'help' that falls outside that and so whilst officially not eligible you still are assisted. Good old local government grey areas!

Assisted how, exactly?
4 hours' respite that we pay for?
School places (as per statutory responsibility)?

YANBU and if the family receives tax credits it is treated as earned income and taxed at over 40%. Also the carer may only be in a caring role for a limited period of time during which they will have sacrificed current earnings and any prospect of a future career. There are also restrictions on what study can be undertaken when caring.

I read an article by Norman Tebbit a few years back in which he was very frank. He estimated it took a pretax salary of at least £80k to afford the sort of care his wife required to replace him while he was at work.

That depends on what's available in your area and what support you're asking for I suppose. Some people may just need simple signposting to support groups others may need the person being cared for to be assessed and recieve support in order to alleviate the stress on the carer. It's about looking at the whole situation.

I have literally no break from caring for my 2 dcs with SNs, and no local support whatsoever. I asked social services what support I might be able to access and was told none, basically. So now I have insisted on a carer's assessment, to see what support may come from that. I've been told I'm on a waiting list for the carer's assessment - not sure how long it will be.

But how does someone decide what a family needs? And who does it? Either there is criteria or there isn't?

And surely the assistance should be according to what the family needs, not what a local authority makes available?

Why not fund it by making those tax dodging corporations pay up? Or how about scrapping Trident?

How could they scrap Trident. There was a clear manifesto commitment by the Tories to keep Trident, and, although the MN massive may not like it, far more people voted conservative than voted for any other single party.

I wasn't one of them, but that's what happened.

I can't find the criteria

Out of interest those saying assistance is there - have you been through the process?

I did. My local Authority won't help. We have 3 disabled kids. I have disabilities. Both me and DH are becoming ill from the strain.

Here you go March

TTWK, they back out/u-turn on plenty of other things so why not that? Oh wait! I know. It's because they all stand to make money from it. Silly me.

Many thanks! ( sorry if I come across a fool, infection and painkillers is my excuse )

I think it should be means tested, along with other non means tested payments for both pensioners and the disabled. But firstly means tested at a decent level, not just above breadline, and not to save money, in order to give more money to those that don't have a significant other income and/or savings and provide all carers with a decent standard of living for what they do. Ditto with the standard of living for those with disabilities and pensioners

That's OK. My whole life is spent on painkillers so I know the fuzziness they cause

Sorry, if I wasn't clear; eligible for services e.g. carer's Direct Payment in our area.

I came close to being unable to care for ds1 anymore. The LA realised they were a whisker away from having to find half a million a year & suddenly the support he needed was magically available.

It shouldn't have got to that stage - I had been banging on for about ten months by then, saying he wasn't coping & it was ignored until we hit crisis.

Oh & I don't get carers allowance, because I work around my son. Still do the same amount of caring I always have. I have really struggled with work this year & holding it together during DS1's crisis but we need the money. I couldn't sign off sick as I am self employed (no employer would have me given my ds1 induced unreliability).

I gave up a promising career to become a carer for my husband at the age of 22. Of my Carers Allowance, £33 is stopped as my husband also receives ESA Income Related.

Respite places have all closed, support workers are only available for a 6 week stretch and then only for an hour once a week. The reality is there is no help. If the powers that be know there is a carer involved then they offer even fewer services, certainly in Mental Health anyway.

The care act looks like wishy-washy unenforcable drivel, I think. For example, the much-trumpetted 'right to a carer's assessment' right is usually the 'right' to fill in an online form via the Council website. Not really what Joe Public would think a social services assessment might be!

Eg, from scie website

(I've put the obvious bits permitting evasion of duties in italics)
The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to ensure that any adult with an appearance of care and support needs,
and any carer with an appearance of support needs,
receives an appropriate and proportionate assessment
to identify the extent of their need.

Appropriate: local authorities may conduct an assessment using a variety of methods (e.g. supported self-assessment, joint assessment).

Proportionate: a proportionate assessment will be
as extensive as required to establish the extent of a person?s needs, will always be person-centred and based on their individual circumstances.

Needs may well differ in their breadth and depth;
additional exploration of underlying needs may be required,
or an individual may have needs only within some aspects of their lives.