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

@LoseLooseLucy they don't fully. Income support its deducted pound for pound but then a carers premium is added. You don't get it in full ut you are better off

Chuld tax credits the standard child rate is 117 a week and we get 273

We get additional council tax support so I pay no council tax.

I'm reading so many if these posts and nodding my head because I recognise so much of my own experiences in whats being written. People don't seem to realise what it's like and there have been people I've spoken to in real life who are shocked at how low Carers Allowance is, a lot of them presume its at least around £80-£100 a week per person being cared for.

Two of my DC have additional needs, one gets HRC and the other MRC. Their individual needs are totally different to one another so trying to multi-task care tasks and cover them both at the same time is a bit of a juggle. Even when they're at school I'm "on-call" for whatever crops up, I also have paperwork to do (EHCP reviews, DLA reviews, referral forms, SENCo forms, etc), I have meetings to go to, appointments, telephone calls to make, I have to sort out the house in line with their needs (e.g., DS1 will only use one set of bedding so when it needs cleaning it has to be washed, dried, and back on his bed before he gets home), I have to shop/order for anything they need and for some things this can take a while if they need a specific item tracking down, I have to prep tea so that I'm as available as I can possibly be to give appropriate supervision when they get home from school. When they're home they need supervision that is additional to typical children of their age, the stims of one are quite often the triggers for the other so I need to manage their interactions and intervene where needed, we have OT activities to complete, prep work to do for the next day so they know where they're going and what they're doing, medication to sort out, and thats just the basics. I also have NT children who need their needs met.

I made a post in MN Campaigns asking if @MNHQ can take this up as a campaign.

For anyone on universal credit you can claim the carers element which is 162.92 per month. You don’t have to claim carers allowance if you don’t want to (but it does give you a higher class of NI contributions). If you get the carers element you are classed as a carer and don’t have to do paid work.

www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Universal-Credit/Additional-Elements-of-Universal-Credit

YANBU. I advise on benefits (among other things) and I've always though the pitifully low level of Carer's Allowance was an absolute disgrace.

Good for you for raising this OP.

I've been trying to find it and I can't - I'm sure the IFS said that of the families in poverty, a high percentage had a family member needing care (and presumably at least one parent caring).

Carer's allowance being so low presumably feeds into this.

Too big an issue for MN surely ?

Changes via Parliament/Government

recent response from the gov to a petition to raise CA:

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300032?reveal_response=yes

there is no chance that they will chance course. Not as long as the Tories are in charge though mind, success labour governments have not covered themthelfes on glory either.

We are not the tobacco or automobile industry. We have no lobby. I really don't think that things will ever get better. Not in my lifetime anyways.

I laughed at "the bit of shopping" if only that were true !

Yes, it's a lovely idea isn't it? I have to admit that I've found some of the comments on here from carers rather disgusting. It's a shame the OP's topic has turned into one group of carers claiming to have a harder time of it than others but I guess that's very much the way people in this country are now.

Its a shame the OP's topic has turned into one group of carers claiming to have a harder time of it than others

so you think all forms of caring for the purpose of receiving CA are comparable? You must be having a laugh indeed.

@JamieLeeCurtains

Someone on UC with no other income effectively gets their CA dropped to £38 a week.

It's derisory.

They don’t though do they, they apply for the carers element of uc as well so get 38 on top of the carers element... It’s still shit but important to let people know people won’t only get 38

@dairyfairies

Its a shame the OP's topic has turned into one group of carers claiming to have a harder time of it than others

so you think all forms of caring for the purpose of receiving CA are comparable? You must be having a laugh indeed.

So you think it’s right to pit carers against each other? What is gained by that exactly?

Why the need to basically say others have it easy and play down what they do?

It’s not a race to the bottom and if carers can’t even support each other then we are stuffed aren’t we.

Something needs to be done, and it needs carers to shout loud and long. Until the mid 1980s married women couldn't even claim the allowance - then called Invalid Care Allowance - until Jackie Drake took it to the European Court who ruled it was unlawful sexual discrimination.

For all of you stressing about people proving they are caring 'above and beyond that needed anyway', you'll be flabbergasted to know that DWP have said that during the pandemic, even offering advice and support by phone or by email can be counted towards the 35 hours, as can any tasks done on the person's behalf but not with them. So I think you'll find the qualifying care is quite wide.

I just pointed out that some people provide far more comprehensive 24/7 direct care whilst others do much less. This was not a criticism. I just said that I don't think it's fair that someone proving 24/7 life in care is entitled to the same support as someone who still does a lot but considerably less. I don't understand why so many people take issue.

If you work in the economy a 35 hour weeks you will get less pay that someone doing 90h in a similar role. And noone would take an issue with that but somehow you must not say it in relation to carers.

I am leaving that thread now. it clearly impossible to have any kind of debate.

It is possible to have debate, but a debate means that people won’t always agree with you.

Just because someone isn’t with someone 24/7 doesn’t mean they aren’t on call 24/7 when needed by that person.

Like I said it’s not a race to the bottom and when you have carers trying to play down the role of other carers that doesn’t sit comfortably with me

I have two children on DLA. One needs considerably more care than the other but would both get me carers in their own right.

so you think all forms of caring for the purpose of receiving CA are comparable? You must be having a laugh indeed

We may not all be in the same boat, but we are all in the same storm and the only way to change the system is to put the case for all carers.

Too big an issue for MN surely ? Changes via Parliament/Government

It will only change if pressure is put on them, the more people who shout about it then the greater the pressure.

It is utterly disgusting. It makes me so angry. Fucking disgrace

I think carers should receive more

However, I expect due to Covid & a down turn in the economy. I predict higher taxes, higher bills & more cuts in the future

I don't have the answers

Perhaps more volunteers & community help ? Obviously checks & balances need to be put in place for vulnerable children & adults

I hope I didn't come across like that. I was trying to illustrate the point that caring doesn't always look like what people expect :)

Those of us who work full time out of the home and provide care in the evenings and weekends aren’t even allowed to claim.

No one will get anywhere until we tackle the belief that disability is a lifestyle choice that our tax, benefits and media systems all think it is.

There's a thread in FWR that I made the stupid mistake of commenting on, pointing out that sometimes, just sometimes, having more children than you can afford might be due to someone becoming disabled (or dead). The general consensus of MNetters was "if you didn't get insurance, suck it up, loser".

So you need to find a way to reconcile that majority view with the majority view on here.

You can work and get Carer’s Allowance, as long as you spend at least 35 hours in your caring role.
www.gov.uk/carers-allowance/if-youre-working-

@thelnebriati the income limit prevents this

I don’t honestly know how some carers cope with the hours of medical and physical care they provide. Personally I think carers should be in addition to earned income. But conversely it has to be acknowledged that for some people the scope of their caring makes work impossible. If people claim tax credits they get additional for each disabled child I think. Does that mean that people on UC or caring for adults are worse off? Often when a child gets to 18 there’s no provision for them at all . It’s such a shame that a lot of the day schemes have been cut back as they’re vital for the health of the person and their carers.