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

@GetOffYourHighHorse

'Carers is different to ESA. Carers is money for caring for someone for 35 hours - that’s akin to a full time job. Why shouldn’t it be reflective of that?'

Oh fgs i know it is different to esa my point is benefits aren't like for like payment. So esa isn't the same as a salary. Carers allowance is a £260 a month top up or stand alone payment to give a contribution to costs. It isn't your salary.

The 35 hours could be spread out at anytime say 5pm until 10pm so completely possible to have a job too.

I dont think it only costs £20 a week to pay for kids upbringing either so you'd better not look at how much child benefit is.

So someone who is a full time carer should also work full time as well?

That says it all

And in a dream world no parent would need to be full time carer to their child. But the world doesn’t work like that and there are children who need significantly more care than most children of their age.

I get that it can be quite hard to comprehend if you haven’t experienced it. But instead of posting judgemental rubbish then spend a bit of time reading this thread which will give you just a bit of insight into the life of a parent carer

Imagine only being disabled between 5-10pm lol

How convenient.

@HadaVerde

Imagine only being disabled between 5-10pm lol

How convenient.

I could actually cope with Ds only being disabled from 5am -10pm if it meant I got a full nights sleep and not woken up by feeding pumps every night!

I don’t think anyone should receive a careers allowance for caring for their own child.

Why shouldn't they? Caring for a child with high care needs is much more complex than caring for a typical child of a similar age. If a child needs additional care then their parent or guardian is usually the best placed person to provide it however this often comes at a cost to their career, their own health, their social life, their financial security, and so on.

Between my two children who receive DLA, this week alone I have dealt with:

• SENCo virtual meetings
• medical appointments x3
• EHCP paperwork
• sorting out school issues that arose due to social-communication difficulties
• soiled underwear daily
• medication daily
• a child who can survive on four hours sleep meaning I have to survive on four hours sleep
• a child who does not go to sleep until around 1am meaning I have to be awake until 1am
• meltdowns
• shutdowns
• sensory overload
• additional laundry
• replacing clothing items that had been chewed through
• mending a treasured clothing item that had been chewed through and cannot be replaced as no longer sold
• repainting a wall that child had managed to peel during the night
• visiting four separate shops to find a specific food item that was out-of stock in the first three due to a child with a restricted diet
• writing social stories to prep child for medical appointments x2 coming up next week
• daily OT
• daily physio
• daily sensory activities
• replacing broken Christmas items after a child flipped out and crashed into them
• child covered head to toe in mud after rolling in a puddle

And that's not even all of it, there are things I've missed out as they'll be outing to anyone who knows me. And on top of that is all the regular parenting stuff of feed, clean, dress, love.

You have no idea what is involved and I doubt you'd last a week if you had to try.

I don’t think anyone should receive a careers allowance for caring for their own child You do realise how hard it is to get childcare for disabled DC.
Some families have DC with profound disabilities that require 24 hour care it limits their life choices for a career.

@TikTokFinger

I don’t think anyone should receive a careers allowance for caring for their own child.

Why not ?

@TikTokFinger

I don’t think anyone should receive a careers allowance for caring for their own child.

Why not?

Are you prepared for the tax hikes to pay for state care for children who need it? Do you realise how expensive that would be?

I dont think tiktok is anticipating the state will pick up the care. I think they believe it is part of being a parent and should be done for free and the parent should just live in extreme poverty for the rest of their life.

I do wonder if carers would be paid more if the majority of carers were men.

@BoobsOnTheMoon if you pay into a private pension that is taken into account and could lower your earnings so you would be entitled to CA all year

And once your child hits 16 you can’t claim anymore....because, you know, they are fine as soon as they hit 16!

Actually scrap that. I’m thinking of DLA. 🙊

It is shit.

My OH can't work, I can't be left alone particularly long, I can't do many physical things.

He however is autistic and the older he gets frankly the harder he finds life.

I get PIP, he is my carer, but he failed his PIP application (well, more to the point, without any outside support, I ballsed up his tribunal failing to make things clear :( )... I am very much his carer too.

I do all the thinking, the organising, the motivating, I supervise damn near everything he does, provide daily lists, orders of work, put up with the results of his stress and frustration at any change of plan or routine... (before his dx I did try not doing this. It wasn't pleasant at all!)

And I earn the income with my dog behaviour work and freelance-anything-else-I-can-do (writing, illustration, craft based stuff). Sometimes I can earn loads, sometimes sod all.

The system is not designed to help the self employed, nor is it designed to pay carers any semblence of an actual wage, but nor is the world geared up really to actively employing disabled people, or making accomodation for those who have to care for someone else, so we have to choose between self employment or unemployment.

I've seriously considered jacking it all in and claiming out of work benefits, I am not fit to work... no one would employ me, I wouldn't employ me... but thats not who I am, and frankly I would rather the stress of not knowing where the next job is, and doing the thinking for two people, than the out of work benefits system!

@PlanDeRaccordement
Not sure if it already includes NI credits towards state pension, but it should do that too.
You can apply for NI credits whilst in receipt of Carer"s Allowance

I'm a single mum of a disabled dd on carers allowance. If it were just carers allowance that was increased, I wouldn't see any increase as my means-tested benefits would just go down. I am still on income support and tax credits, and it's deducted pound for pound off my income support. Most people I know who get carers allowance are in the same situation (I got to know most of them through parent carers groups, and almost all of us are single mums due to the impact that caring has on relationships).

The only mum I know of who would be better off I think is one who is still married, as her husband has a good job (over six figures salary) and has a lot of savings, so she isn't entitled to anything else.
For me, the fact that carers allowance is taxable makes no difference to me, as most of my other benefits income isn't taxable so it's my only taxable income. I get free prescriptions due to getting income support. The earnings cap is irrelevant to me as I don't have time to work due to the time I spend caring. I do get a free travelcard although that's because of my own disability rather than through being a carer.

I'm not saying that these things shouldn't be changed, but if there's a campaign to improve the situation for carers, it needs to take into account the situation of the poorest carers on means-tested benefits, not just those who disqualified from means-tested help through being over the savings barrier or having a partner who earns over the threshold.

I used to claim Carer's Allowance when I provided care to a relative in receipt of PIP. I gave up my claim when I ceased to provide them with care for 35 hours but still provide them with care. Due to attending carers courses sent on by the local council, I have met many carers, some of whom only provide a couple of hours of care per day. Do I believe they should be paid for 35 hours at NWM? No.

Just because someone is on PIP, even at the enhanced rates, doesn't mean they require 35 hours of help each week. People on PIP may have problems and need help but are awarded the benefit whether or not they actually receive any help. Obviously there are other people who do need 35 hours per week of care or more and these are the people who should receive help. I think that if Carer's Allowance was to increase, then it should only be paid to those who really are providing 35 hours of care per week.

It’s shameful and a disgrace

No one who is caring should be in a position where money is also a worry because it’s too low to live on

Not only should the money not impact other benefits and be increased there should also be more money for respite support

But there is money in the pot

And so a few commit benefit fraud while large corporations legally get away not paying billions in tax and some even given a fucking peerage there is something very wrong in our tax system that impacts money needed to support the most vulnerable in society (and not something that Labour has tackled either)

Some of the replies here are unreal. I recieve CA for dp.
Its absolutely sole destroying for 3 years now I have done this and our quality of life has declined in that time.
Its hard work and so fucking lonely, and for a measly £67 a week.
Too all you carers I think you are all doing an amazing job

@Calmandmeasured1

Many carers provide far more than 35 hours per week but don’t claim for various reasons. Claiming carers allowance is not required to be considered as a carer in the local authority’s eyes.

@BoobsOnTheMoon

It is absolutely a disgrace.

I am eligible to claim CA but don't, because I'm self employed and some weeks I earn over the £128 earnings limit. Most weeks I don't, but the hassle of stopping and starting everything means it's easier not to. So far this is ok because I'm on tax credits but when I'm moved to UC I don't know WTF I will do. If you don't claim CA then you aren't considered to be a carer by the DWP, so I suppose I'll have to claim it then so I'm not forced to work 35 hours a week (impossible with a disabled child who has no school place so is at home 7 days a week!!). I'll end up worse off though if I claim CA

It's a shambles. People who are carers should be properly compensated for their loss of earnings capacity.

Actually for the self employed it is easier because you can pay, yourself a wage to smooth the peaks and toughs of good and bad weeks. You can also deduct pension and care costs you need to cover whilst at work but it still a pitiful amount.

The other issue with carers allowance is you can't study easily. I had someone who got very abuse toward me when I tried to warn her she ran the risk of being caught for benefit fraud when she was doing her degrees whilst her child was at school as her hours were way over what you are allowed to do. Lots of people don't realise the hours are not just taught time but the estimated self study time as well.

The whole thing is a joke.

Actually for the self employed it is easier

Not for me it wasn't. I gave up my 2 days a week working because the carers allowance went through cycles of not paying me then eventually giving me back money - we did about 4 rounds of this over 2.5 years and on one of my 20 thousand phone calls I asked why I wasn't getting an ongoing payment and she said it was bc I was self employed so I told her there and then I was stopping work effective immediately. The ongoing payment was set within a week. This was a few years back, it may not be quite so hard now. The stress of having to call them every week to ask what was happening just to be told they don't know almost had me needing a carer!

This is exactly why my disabled son can't live with me at the moment, because as I single parent I can't work and care for him. I have to choose. It's ridiculous that he is eligible for far more assistance and financial support living outside the home than in. What kind of world do we live in where full time carers get less than Jobseeker's Allowance? It's disgusting.

My DC gets highest level of DLA and lowest mobility allowance and goes to a special secondary school. I can no longer work as have to drive DC miles to his special school every day. I claimed carers allowance sending in copies of his DLA and school care plan. I was asked if I had any more evidence. I had to ring peadiatrician to get him to write me a letter setting out care DC needs every day and night. I was made to feel so humiliated.

"I don’t think anyone should receive a careers allowance for caring for their own child."

It's a shame you don't have enough understanding and empathy to value the contribution that carers make to society. I feel sorry for you.