To think the disgrace that is Carers' Allowance should be a national scandal

[FoxyTheFox]

Carers' Allowance is paid to someone over the age of 16 who provides a minimum of 35hrs p/wk of care to a disabled person who is in receipt of a qualifying benefit.

The current weekly rate of Carers' Allowance is £67.25 p/wk, taken over 35hr this is the equivalent of £1.92 an hour. Over 24hrs, seven a days a week - the reality for many carers - it is only 39p an hour.

You can only claim Carers' Allowance once, meaning if you care for multiple people - e.g., if you have two disabled children - you still only get £67.25 a week.

There is an earnings cap of £128, so working just 15hrs a week at minimum wage is enough to stop your Carers' Allowance.

Carers' Allowance is a taxable benefit so can reduce the amount of other benefits you claim, it can also reduce the amount of benefits claimed by the person you care for. Unlike other state benefits, Carers' Allowance does not entitle you to free prescriptions or help with other healthcare costs such as dentistry or eye tests. Caring has a detrimental effect on physical and mental health but there are no specific support services for carers other than those set up by external agencies (e.g., Carers UK).

When you reach state pension age you are no longer allowed to claim Carers' Allowance even if you are still providing care.

These carers save the government an estimated £132bn each year in health and social care costs - enough to fund a second NHS. If these carers were to suddenly decide to step back and no longer provide the care needed, the social care system would collapse.

Universal Credit was temporarily increased by £20 a week to support people during the increased financial difficulties associated with the pandemic. No such increase was extended to carers in the majority of the UK, however Scotland offered a one off additional payment to carers to recognise the additional work and additional costs borne by them during the pandemic.

I've written to my MP, who does not give a shit and sent me a generic reply about how caring is hard and the government is grateful to those who care but did not actually address any of my questions or my request that he raise the issue in Parliament.

novaramedia.com/2020/11/16/the-government-has-abandoned-carers-during-covid-19-now-its-being-taken-to-court/?fbclid=IwAR2Fs10I04h0fUNMRtDTYf0hs_ieA63dVeb5Hux8Os4IQttTBD95eGemCRA

www.carersuk.org/news-and-campaigns/news/research-the-forgotten-families-in-lockdown-unpaid-carers-close-to-burnout-during-covid-19-crisis

I am lucky that I have wonderful parents because there is no support offered at all.

I did look into some of the holiday scheme things that are offered but they where either rediculous locations/session times or couldn’t cater for his needs at all.

Then of course when they aren’t used because of being unsuitable for most parents the council then uses that as an excuse to cut them further rather than making them work!

@Sirzy I had the same experience with respite. I got offered 8hrs paid at about £5.40 an hour, which equates to about 4hrs of actual wages SN childcare if not less.

Then there was only ONE lady in the area who could actually take DS and she was too full to fit him in more than once every 3 weeks. I wasn't allowed to spend the allowance on anything else but I couldn't actually spend it because the respite was hardly ever available. Then when the amount I'd been paid exceeded a certain amount I was told to give them the money back because I wasn't spending it 🙄😡

In non COViD times my son goes to a SEN play scheme for a day a week in the school holidays ,it's only £10 and I provide his lunch and they do look after him lots of other children from his special school also go this is our only respite however and he hasn't been since march .

We had never had any respite for ds. We have been offered direct payments but there is no one to do it. He is also seen as too complex for overnight respite. Families in our position are told that if they feel they can no longer cope with the 24/7 caring, they should ask for a section 20 residential placement because that is the only place/people that could support his needs.

It is horrendous out there and the only people who do not know that are those who have no experience of it. Lucky them.

Just another one I've just discovered after preschool rang this morning.

I'm a single parent on carers allowance. If I had a working partner at home then we could have 30 hours childcare for DS. As a single parent I'm not eligible. The whole system is bonkers

@Ivybutterfly

There is minuscule support for carers. These people give up their entire lives and then some people even have the audacity and heartlessness to judge them. The vast majority of carers are unpaid.

If you are stupid enough to care for someone without thinking of yourself you pretty much deserve everything you get.

That's verbatim what my local Tory councillor said, when he thought he was talking to another Tory (not all lefties wear hand knitted jumpers with lentil stains).

And people vote for him because he thinks that and they think that makes it OK.

@Mumofsend

Just another one I've just discovered after preschool rang this morning.

I'm a single parent on carers allowance. If I had a working partner at home then we could have 30 hours childcare for DS. As a single parent I'm not eligible. The whole system is bonkers

No. It's designed to punish you for being (a) single and (b) poor.

It's working perfectly, Which is why it won't be changed.

The Government knows exactly what unpaid carers save them and they couldn't afford to pay it!
My DD used to go to a Children's Hospice for 18 nights a year - for which we were extremely grateful - all funded by the charitable sector. When she turned 18, we had to look at alternative provision in the private sector. The only suitable provision we could find for the level of care she needed cost £350 PER NIGHT! Thankfully that was funded by Continuing Health Care but it gives some idea of the costs involved in caring for the most disabled in our society - a job which I did 24/7 for most of the year for the paltry offering they call Carers Allowance (not to mention what it has cost me in loss of earnings over the 22 years I did it for)

£350 a night but that right there shows the difference in how much care costs and how much carers are paid.

Our local (Labour) MP has been trying to help fight for carers rights. I have just received a letter of her with a copy of a letter she had received on the issue which is basically just a load of bullshit about how carers are appreciated etc etc - safe to say she isn’t happy. But sadly one of two fighting won’t change things.

Just leaving this here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_campaigns/4099194-Please-could-MNHQ-consider-a-campaign-around-Carers-Allowance?

Thank you @Womantheonlykind