To think disabled people and their carers are being screwed yet again?

[Bingbong21]

Disabled DC. Their father walked away 2 years ago as he couldn't cope with them.

Both my DC in their own right are entitle to someone to claim carers allowance for them. I can only claim for one.

Officially carers allowance is for at least 35 hours week care. DC1 does 9-2.30 5 days a week at school so 27.5 hours. There are 140 remaining hours, DC1 sleeps approx 3-4 hours a night so that's 28 hours. Leaving 112 awake hours with just me, over triple the 35 hours of carers allowance expectations. Both children are throughout their EHCPs noted to require 1-1 care. DC1 when out needs 2-1. Still just me.

Carers allowance is £68 a week for 35 hours care. This for one person is less than £2 per hour.

The short period we had respite (6 months whilst we were in crisis) the carer was paid £10 p/h.

They of course receive DLA which doesn't cover their disability costs.

The loss of the £20 uplift has been devastating for us. I lost my well paid job because of DC1's needs. We went from a 2 parent, 65k combined income a year to lone parent. I can't get any form of childcare for DC1 to enable my return to work. No one is willing to fund the 1-1 support DC1 needs to access holiday provision and universal credit childcare costs does not come close as there isn't an additional allowance to cover the extra care a child may need to enable them to attend. Likewise, EHCPs do not cover after school provision.

Budget just now has specifically penalised those of us not working, the disabled and their carers will be the hardest hit. I have no idea how we will survive winter.

AIBU to think its those least able to change their circumstances who are being most punished?

@x2boys

Lots of carers who get carers allowance are also in receipt of tax credits/ universal credit ,if they increase the carers ,allowance to minimum wage most will be no better off as tax credits/ universal credit will just be reduced ,those of us still on tax credits didn't get the up lift btw .

That's true but the issue beyond 18 is the tax credits stop.

The disabilities don't disappear.

You remain a carer

Of course but once they reach 18 the young person will be able to apply for benefits in their own right,it depends on the disability of course but my child will never be independent so in his case assuming he lives with me and I want to be his carer for as long as I am able I would be his appointee just to point out my son has severe autism and learning disabilities,hes non verbal at eleven,so there is not a chance he could manage his own affairs .

Yanbu and I hope the media pick up that people who are too ill to work, and carers are not being helped, nor are people still on the old benefits.

You've probably thought of this, but can anyone else claim the second lot of carer's allowance? I have an au pair that shares daytime, evening and overnight care of my disabled DS and the au pair claims the carer allowance because I'm not eligible. It doesn't have to be a parent. It can be anyone that does 35 hours of care.

This is true but unless the person claiming the carers allowance lives with the op it wouldn't financially help the Op as the other carer could claim it in their own right .

[quote Bingbong21]@HikingforScenery we were assessed and not eligible.[/quote]
Oh no. I’m so sorry to hear that.
I can’t believe you don’t qualify for it, given your situation

Not sure how the advice "don't vote Tory" really helps the OP here. There are probably people in her situation who don't vote Tory anyway.

But anyway, the problem here is the father walked away. If he was still around the OP's "alone time" with the children could be halved. That's the real issue, women are not usually willing to prioritise their own health (physically and mentally) over their children in the way that men are. That and the fact you earned 65k beforehand - since the dad's not around, how much is he contributing? Presumably now he's freed from the hassle of the children, he's able to work again.

knittedfairies how true, DH and I have four disabled children and we are in receipt of a pension. It infuriates me that we are unable to claim carers allowance. Strange once we hit pension age we are no longer carers. Also only one (youngest) gets respite. The government aregoing to be hit hard when DH and I depart from from this mortal coil!

The inescapable fact is that if you are an LP with disabled dc you are 'screwed' anyway.

My only advice is, as you go through endless years of being the absolute support for your dc is to accept that any expectations you had are now trashed.

Sounds awful, and it is awful and it took me years to adapt - but however insufficient any 'benefits' are, and Carers Allowance is the biggest 'slap' in every way (and deducted from UC) - seek as many other sources that you can and not rely on Nat Govt "doling" out crumbs.

After all, you've got 'society' do deal with as well. Good Luck OP.

Yanbu. I am an official carer to one of my dc, unofficial carer to 3 and just mum to another 1. It's really hard to get any support at all.

Well, according to some bright spark on the BBC news fb page, people looking after family members should be doing it for the "respect of society".
I must have missed the announcement that "respect of society" will now be accepted in lieu of money for bills/food.

Sending virtual hugs your way OP. Agree that Carer's allowance is an absolute pittance and should be reviewed, perhaps even means tested, so the most support goes to those who need it. Please do contact Citizen's Advice Bureau, Carer's charities, etc, to see if you are getting all the right benefits as there may be something additional available. Does your ex put any money towards the children at all?

One thing I found was that 'additional' services available was location specific - actually most services, including education were and probably still are.

I moved from a nice, but poor area in the SW to a nice, but rich area in the SE and then back to the nice, but poor SW area once some minimal educational provision was finally established.

The richer area definitely had much better provision and availability of additional services and whilst there have been some improvements in this poorer area - it's still nothing close to the provision I found in the richer area.

I'm happy to be back home and so is ds, been back 5+ years now.

I’m not being funny but I have 2 kids on dla and get carers and I didn’t get the extra £20 a week because I’m still on the old system of income support so some of us didn’t even get the extra at all! Sick of hearing people moan about it when some of us never even got it to begin with, you are lucky you did

@turnupturnip not being funny but when I was forced to switch to UC I found myself £135 a month worse off than when I was on legacy benefits. So you know...

And even working it out with the UC uplift I was still worse off than when I was on legacy.

It is not a race to the bottom. It is awful whether on legacy or UC.

@harrietschariot he contributes around £75 a month for the children which covers the shortfall from the DLA not quite covering what they need. He hasn't seen them in a couple of years, he couldn't handle oldest DC at all and you can't force someone to parent. When we were together we worked direct opposites to manage the needs of DC1 so it has always been constant but I feel absolutely trapped now I'm on my own.

Depends on circumstances I’ve seen many people saying they have been better off on UC, I don’t have any sympathy tbh, many of us are wondering how we are going to cope, think yourself lucky you got it. Not everyone is worse off. 🙄

I haven't always been disabled, and to be honest it came like a hard slap in the face when I realised how badly our society treats the disabled. The worst part of it for me, is the fact that we're the ones who find it most difficult to make our voices heard, after all, how many of us can cope with going on a protest march or whatever? I think that's how they get away with it. The media all seem to be in the government's pockets, and even when they do raise an issue on our behalf, it's very soon 'yesterday's news' with no changes being made. I just struggle so much when I see how little able bodied people really care. I know life is getting more difficult by the day for a lot of people, but what they don't realise, is that there are always people worse off than themselves, and I often think that it would do everyone good to have to spend even a week living the life of a carer, or coping with life in a wheelchair, then maybe they'd be a little more understanding, and help us fight for a better standard of living, but it seems to me that everyone is just out for themselves these days.

Sorry, just felt compelled to have a rant OP, I really hope that you find some way of getting more support, I only have to cope with my own daily needs, and that with the aid of my carer DH. Sending you and as it's probably the only way you'll ever be able to afford to get some!!

With the best will in the world, the absent father should be your first port of call.

@DesdemonaDryEyes

With the best will in the world, the absent father should be your first port of call.

What’s she supposed to do? Beat him with a stick until he gives her more money?? 🙄

@TurnUpTurnip

Depends on circumstances I’ve seen many people saying they have been better off on UC, I don’t have any sympathy tbh, many of us are wondering how we are going to cope, think yourself lucky you got it. Not everyone is worse off. 🙄

The people who are better off on UC are the people working, there have been cut after cut to disability benefits.

You sound very bitter, surely you should be trying to make things better for everyone and not whining because you perceive someone has got it easier than you.

I'm not sure if you are aware but a case will be going through the courts challenging the fact people on legacy benefits never got the uplift so you might get it backdated.

@DesdemonaDryEyes there isn't any route to tackle the absent father. A parent can literally choose to up and leave without a look back. It's hideous.

With the best will in the world, the absent father should be your first port of call.

Unpaid maintenance is a low priority for the courts and its very easy for absent parents (predominantly fathers) to fiddle the figures so they don't have to pay or pay for less than they should. My friend's ex owes her thousands in unpaid maintenance (£10,000+ at last count), she's scrimping every penny and he just got back from a foreign holiday. She's been to court and all sorts and nobody gives a shit.

[quote Bingbong21]@DesdemonaDryEyes there isn't any route to tackle the absent father. A parent can literally choose to up and leave without a look back. It's hideous.[/quote]
Yup this happened to me. Had a second child at 42 after being hugely pressured by now ex-h. That's another story. Fucked off after 2 years to live with OW. Does everything to avoid paying maintenance. Sacked me from our family business which I joined to help him, giving up a well paid city career. I'm 52 and have lost 10 years. I will never earn well again even if it were possible. We manage ok on legacy benefits; any switch to UC which is going to happen will see me in abject poverty. I'm terrified.

@DesdemonaDryEyes

With the best will in the world, the absent father should be your first port of call.

What planet are you on? You do realise that courts don't deal with maintenance and the child maintenance service is on the side of the non paying parent; not the needs of the child. What do you suggest we do?????