To want more benefits?

[CheeseAndSprinkles]

I care for 2 of my children but I'm only able to claim one amount of carers allowance. I save the country a lot of money by caring for my children, I wouldn't have it any other way, but the extra money would be extremely helpful. It's a pittance anyway. So am I BU?

YABU. It isn't too compensate you for caring. It's too compensate you for not being able to be gainfully employed. I went back to work in September. My DD1 gets HRC & LRM. I now don't qualify for CA because I work 23 hours per week.

lougle YABVFU to sound so smug about something you can only manage because THREE other adults willingly share the load.

yanbu.

Caring for someone with significant disabilities is an exhausting task, both physically and mentally. Carers allowance is a pittance
Carers shoulder a huge weight and yes, they save the state a significant amount of money. Full time residential nursing care costs a fortune
I'm surprised st the biscuits - in my opinion carers, the sick and disabled should get much more support (and yes I would pay more tax to do this - that's an excellent use of my tax money!)

op. You do an amazing job.

I'm not smug. I'm glad they help me to work. I couldn't get childcare for DD1. But I had to choose between CA or work. I chose work because the biggest benefit is to my mental health.

So why are you telling OP she BU? Maybe she isn't as lucky as you.

(Your use of 'gainfully employed' was a bit crass too TBH)

I can't really understand the relevance of your responses Lougle. Your situation and support network has allowed you to return to work. Many people don't have that, I certainly don't. Are you saying that all carers should be like you?

YANBU OP.

I only have one child who is autistic. Carer's Allowance means I can devote my time to him and don't have to try and do that while holding down a full time job. In fact I did hold down a full time job until it became too difficult.

Carers Allowance is counted as an income for tax credit purposes, I have to declare it. It's around £2350 a year.....Carer's are not exactly coining it. I guess this means you would be no better off even if you could claim additional CA.

This is the first thread that Iv felt the need to actually comment on. The ignorance of some people is disgusting. In order to be eligible for carers allowance the person receiving DLA has to be on either the middle rate of the highest rate of care element, meaning that they have a significant disability that affects most of their day. My daughter is severely disabled and up until
last September I received carers allowance for her. Now Iv decided to go back to university for 9 hours a week this has stopped, which in my opinion is disgusting. Luckily for me my husband works 12 hours a day 6 days a week to make sure that we as a family don't go without but I think carers allowance needs overhauled. My friend who is also a carer is working 16 hours a week at minimum wage and this brings her over the carers allowance threshold (you have to earn less then around £115) by a few pound. So she has to be pay £30 into a private pension just so she can 'keep' her carers allowance. If you have multiple children with significant disabilities of course you should get more carers allowance! There needs and the care they require have already been proven to the DWP in order for them to receive the DLA in the first place! It is an utter disgrace and David Cameron should be throughly
ashamed seeing as he had a disabled child himself. If I couldn't cope and needed respite care for my daughter or placed her into care then it would cost the government a lot more than £62 a week - which I can't claim at the moment anyway as I have been able to fit university into the hours she is at her special needs school in order to make a better life for me and my family!

Don't be a bellend Xenia. This is not the thread.

I'm telling her she is being unreasonable because she's saying that she should get two allowances because she cares for two people. Carers allowance is for the person not for the cared for, so you only get one allowance. Just as even if both parents were home caring for a very severely disabled child, only one can claim CA.

Actually, 'gainfully employed' is not crass. It's the reality. If you earn under £100 per week after allowances, you keep CA. If you earn £101, you lose it. No taper, just a cut off.

It doesn't matter how 'lucky' the OP is our how 'lucky' I am. I mean personally, I'd prefer that my 10 year old could be like other 10 year olds and be gaining her independence, preparing for Secondary school and going out with her friends. But having a brain malformation makes that impossible.

I get what you are saying lougle, I hung on to my job as long as I could for the sake of my mental health. I stopped once the demands of my son meant my health was negatively affected by being in work and trying to burn the candle at all ends plus in the middle. I do understand why work feels good though...I loved my job.

I have nobody else locally who can care for DS as they all work, childcare for him would be out of the question due to the expense, he needs 1-1 support in social and unstructured situations as he doesn't understand them.

Good post, spice.

I don't think you should get double simply because of caring for two children - but I do think carers' allowance should be far far higher. For all carers. And there should be more respite available. Carers do a ridiculously tough job.

lougle, you 'chose' work. great that you had a choice. many carer's don't. but great for you

I haven't had that choice for the last 7 years. I lost my professional registration. I have had to do a course to regain it. My husband and I juggle the children with the help of my parents so that I can work. So I'm truly grateful that I can work, but it wasn't an easy choice under any circumstances. I know some people can't make a way to work.

I don't see why my 'choice' to work should change my view on the criteria for CA. Do I feel that I should still be entitled to it, given that I still care for DD1 for over 35 hours per week on top of my work hours? Yes. Do I feel that CA should be higher? Yes. Do I feel that the earnings limit should be higher? Yes. Do I feel that the allowance should taper rather than having a cut off? Yes. Do I feel that one individual should be given two allowances because they care for two people? No, I don't.

Well I disagree about "luck" here. There's always levels of it and although the basis of our situations are similarly tough, some do have it easier than others for example in the form of a decent support network and therefore the ability to work.

Only read the first page.

OP, YANBU. Carers allowance is risible, and downright insulting, tbh.

I have 3 disabled children. I care for them, and could not manage a job around their needs (all at different schools, plus SALT, OT, paed appointments, as well as keeping on top of paperwork, managing statement (now EHCP) applications and reviews, and so on).

I am, to be frank, run ragged. My eldest has been, for a large part of the last year or so, in need of 2:1 care. She gets this at school (because otherwise her teachers/support staff are in danger) but I haven't a hope of getting it at home. That £1.75 an hour isn't going to get me very far in hiring an extra person (at circa £14/hour for someone with the necessary experience), and so I manage. Yay me. And that's before attending to the needs of the other two, or doing any other household task like, ummm, making sure we all have clean clothes or food on the table etc.

As my eldest gets older, if she needs to go into an residential school then she will cost upwards of £200k per year for the placement and 24/7 2:1.

I think, somehow, that the government is getting an extremely good deal out of me. And that double (or triple, potentially, in my case, or even a bloody top up) carers allowance would still work out cost effective

I hear you, OP.
Between us both me and DH care for 3 kids with multiple complex needs but only get CA for two.

I'm disabled too. They don't like disabled people being carers as well (even though I am - still do personal care and keep them safe, meds etc).

Lougle, surely you can see that situations differ.

As I said above, we really need extra help at home - more than we have been assessed as needing, and sometimes overnight. Dd1 alone needs 2:1 a lot of the time, for her and others' safety (damned puberty!) and there are still 2 other children with ASD to sort out in my household. Not at all possible as just one person. Not at all possible to hire extra help using carts allowance (not for enough hours). Not at all possible to have more hours direct payments.

So, what's the answer?

Carers allowance per person being cared for might mean that I would be able to put in place some stuff for dd2 or ds, using their allowance.

I am lucky that I have a very good support network around me that has allowed me to go back to university. If I was a single parent who was a carer I honestly don't know if I could cope. I honestly can't believe some people's attitudes on this thread. In order to receive carers allowance you have to do a minimum of 35 hours of caring for the disabled person. So therefore it is possible to care for two people at the same time- 70
hours a a week. Imagine how exhausted the OP must be. Imagine the outcry if at your job you were forced to double your hours and your boss said "sorry! Your already being paid for your original hours so tough luck! And the wage you were earning was less then £2 an hour!" This is the situation for many carers who are caring for 2 disabled persons or more. It's a complete disgrace and makes me so angry

lougle said a key thing.\lots of people can't work because they don't have outside support.
I never could as there was no family network to step in. the only carers I have know who work are the ones with family support ,or massive respite packages.

I didn't have either.

I think it's fair to say that carers allowance needs to be increased, the reality is that you don't just do 35 hours a week, you are always on call, I can't remember the last time I had an unbroken nights sleep, my three work in shifts to wake me.
I laugh every year about the £10 Christmas bonus, that hasn't changed in at least 18 years.

The argument that carers save the government money is only really applicable if you are a carer to non family. Should the allowance be higher for that, I'm not sure. The carers I know for non family do it as its a way of being a SAHP and having some income or they fit the hours in around their part time work.

It's not meant to be a wage though, no party is ever going to start paying a wage for looking after your own family.

Much fairer to pay DLA per person to cover their extra needs, that's what it's meant for. Carers is meant to compensate for lower earnings not cover the costs of the disability.

Oh yes the Christmas bonus :o mine came at the same time as my invitation to apply for pip
I was so excited, extra money and an invitation! In one day!

The argument that carers save the government money is only really applicable if you are a carer to non family.
No it isn't. We too have the choice to put our family members into care. Sometimes, for various reasons, that happens. How do you think people with additional needs ended up in care? Probably, in the main, a complete lack of support from services.

It's not an argument, it's a FACT. Thirty years ago these children would have been 'sent away'
Some parents put their children with disabilities into care as they decide they won't be able to cope. How much do you think foster care is for a child with complex disabilities?