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’d be interested in how people think caring should be proved? Bonus points if it’s not a method that would cost the public purse more than the small amount of fraud.

It’s already difficult to get since the person you’re caring for has to get through the DLA / PIP process first. You would be horrified to read the stories in DLA groups where severely disabled children are refused - two stories I’ve seen lately include a statement of reasons saying that the child could be locked in their bedroom to reduce risk at night, and the other said it’s perfectly acceptable to leave a child and their bed soaked in urine until the morning.

Some people have absolutely no bloody idea. It took me nearly two years to gather sufficient evidence for my twins to be moved from MRC to HRC which they should have had all along but try getting evidence of night time care needs that doesn’t say “mum reports that...”, which is not evidence, it’s hearsay.

My council told me I was entitled to a council tax reduction due to the fa t I am in receipt of carers allowance (disabled ds on hrc) it took them 4 months and 7 recalculation to finally decide on how much of a discount I am entitled to......£50 for the year! Because it took them 4 months to decide this (which paused any payments) my monthly council tax payments are now far more than I would have been paying with no discount meaning that I am out of pocket every month!

@Circusoflove

No I don’t think they should live in poverty at all. But under the current system carers allowance doesn’t work.

Because you know one person that might be pushing the system?

That means it doesn’t work at all?

Only disability benefits are constantly tailored to the tiny minority

@SinkGirl

I’d be interested in how people think caring should be proved? Bonus points if it’s not a method that would cost the public purse more than the small amount of fraud.

I think it should be automatic if you live in same household If you are a carer living in different household then should keep a record of hours spent with the disabled person.

Exactly @SinkGirl.

In order to get CA, the person (or people) you care for must be in receipt of specific disability benefits. Proof of the level of care they require has already been proven as part of that application process. For example, when applying for DLA for my DC I had to prove they needed a level of care over and above the care needed for a typical child of similar age.

@FoxyTheFox
Thank you for posting the open letter link. I have signed it. :)

Yes. I get DLA for my son. As I'm a full time university student I can't get carers - especially at the moment 'full time' is nothing more than a few hours online each day, whilst he is at school. I was paying for respite care after school so that I could work on my assignments even before we got DLA because it was far too hard to care for him and to get anything done. So my studying doesn't make a difference to whether or not I care for him over 35 hours which I most certainly do because he needs care night and day, as evidenced by his DLA rates.

DLA (i haven't ventured into PIP yet) is awarded based on hours of care needed. Therefore its a given that if they qualify then the care giver will be providing that
But DLA doesn't state you need X hours of need, just specific needs.

35h hours of need specific to the condition/disability is a lot. Counting things that a parent, slide or relative would do anyway shouldn't be counted in these 35h.

I have a friend who had to give up her career to look after her severely disabled child. No childcare could offer full time care and she oy gets a couple of hours despite a week. She is a single mum and was earning a very good income. Carers allowance is a pittance in comparison and she is really struggling.

A family member was a SAHM. Her husband earns very good money. Her 3rd child was diagnose with diabetes and got DLA. She applied immediately for carers allowance. He is at school FT and no way she provides 35h of care additional to what she'd provide if he didn't have the condition. They don't need the money but it's a bit of extra cash.

So yes, I do think people like my friend should get more, but not my relative.

As for fraud, CA is the benefit considered the most fraudulent claimed according to the dwp. The reason why nothing is done about it is because the cost of the resources that would be required to evidence it would be higher than the cost of the benefit, it's not worth it.

I work pt and care for my. Disabled dd to its disgusting the way unpaid carers are treated.

You also can't get carers allowance and your pension when you reach state pension age.

We have no respite because ds is considered too complex for paid carers or overnight short breaks so anyone who thinks it easy money has no idea.

Most of the respite provision and day centre provision is still closed due to covid so carers are doing more than they usually do.

Proof of the level of care they require has already been proven as part of that application process
But it doesn't though. Say an man gets DLA because they are not able to cook for themselves, but for the past 20 years, have never cooked because their wife has always cooked and done the shopping.

DLA/PIP is based on perceived need, not actual.

@Sockwomble, I think people like you should get much more, bit also that others who do claim shouldn't.

The thing that annoys me is that you have to provide 35 hours a week of care. What state paid service does that per person in the community on average?
None of them.
The council carers come in for an hour in the morning to get the person up, bathed, fed and dressed, another visit for lunch and dinner, and then a visit to get them ready for bed and down for the night. That’s a maximum of 4 hours a day x 7 days a week = 28 hours. And they get paid minimum wage.

So why does a loved one have to do more than that to qualify?

It’s mental.
And most people don’t even get four state visits a day.

It should be a minimum of two hours a day care provided to anyone in receipt of benefits proving they require care.
And it should be at minimum wage at least per hour.

It should be taxed as income but my opinion on tax is that you shouldn’t need to pay any until you earn about £15k.

A slight change of subject, on to fostering. If you look after your own kid you don’t get £300 a week, yet if a foster carer takes on your kid she gets that much.

The whole system is fucked up.

"A family member was a SAHM. Her husband earns very good money. Her 3rd child was diagnose with diabetes and got DLA. She applied immediately for carers allowance. He is at school FT and no way she provides 35h of care additional to what she'd provide if he didn't have the condition. They don't need the money but it's a bit of extra cash."

The very good money is irrelevant. To get carers the child must be on at least middle rate care DLA which is not given for children unless there is evidence ( from other people - they don't take the parents word) of a considerable amount of extra care being required.

I think it should be more but the criteria to qualify should be more rigorous. It was taken advantage of with people getting it who provided no care or very little care. An hour or two a week. This is unfair on all the genuine carers.

The horrendous form I filled in to prove Ds was disabled enough to need DLA should be more than enough for anyone who requires any sort of evidence of the level of care that is needed - the award of higher rate care is a good indication that a high rate of care is needed.

Or you could use the hard fought for EHCP plan which shows that Ds needs full time 1-1 in school. I’m pretty sure that need doesn’t stop at 3pm!

The money that carers save the country must be enormous. Keeping people out of living facilties etc.

They absolutely deserve more.

Ds has 2:1 at all times at school and sometimes needs 4:1 yet only one lot of CA possible for us.

It was taken advantage of with people getting it who provided no care or very little care. An hour or two a week. This is unfair on all the genuine carers.

Source?

YANBU. It gross.

@Sirzy

The horrendous form I filled in to prove Ds was disabled enough to need DLA should be more than enough for anyone who requires any sort of evidence of the level of care that is needed - the award of higher rate care is a good indication that a high rate of care is needed.

Or you could use the hard fought for EHCP plan which shows that Ds needs full time 1-1 in school. I’m pretty sure that need doesn’t stop at 3pm!

Apparently it does as my twins need full time 1:1 at school but apparently I’m supposed to manage their needs by myself at home when DH is working. Easy peasy!

@dontdisturbmenow

DLA (i haven't ventured into PIP yet) is awarded based on hours of care needed. Therefore its a given that if they qualify then the care giver will be providing that But DLA doesn't state you need X hours of need, just specific needs.

35h hours of need specific to the condition/disability is a lot. Counting things that a parent, slide or relative would do anyway shouldn't be counted in these 35h.

I have a friend who had to give up her career to look after her severely disabled child. No childcare could offer full time care and she oy gets a couple of hours despite a week. She is a single mum and was earning a very good income. Carers allowance is a pittance in comparison and she is really struggling.

A family member was a SAHM. Her husband earns very good money. Her 3rd child was diagnose with diabetes and got DLA. She applied immediately for carers allowance. He is at school FT and no way she provides 35h of care additional to what she'd provide if he didn't have the condition. They don't need the money but it's a bit of extra cash.

So yes, I do think people like my friend should get more, but not my relative.

As for fraud, CA is the benefit considered the most fraudulent claimed according to the dwp. The reason why nothing is done about it is because the cost of the resources that would be required to evidence it would be higher than the cost of the benefit, it's not worth it.

Do you have a child with T1 diabetes? Do you have to wake in the night when their CGM is alarming to give medication?

Have you ever dealt with a Hypo? Tested a screaming child’s blood sugar, called an ambulance when they’re unresponsive, dealt with ketoacidosis?

One of my twins was born with the opposite of T1 diabetes so no insulin needed and it was still a waking nightmare.

DLA is not handed out willy nilly, and the hours of frequency / care needed is absolutely a factor in the level awarded, and you can only get carers allowance if they are on at least middle rate care.

How can you claim CA fraudulently? You can only get it if you care for a person who has proved their disability to the DWP and been awarded the right level of DLA/PIP - which is not easy You can't just claim CA without a person with a significant disability relying on you.

If you are a carer living in different household then should keep a record of hours spent with the disabled person.

Right, and how much money would the government need to pay to ATOS to Capita to assess those logs or their eligibility? The tiny amount of fraud costs less than assessing eligibility.