To think Carer's Allowance is a fucking disgrace?

[BoobsOnTheMoon]

Not only is it an absolute pittance of £76 a week considering you need to be providing care to a disabled person for at least 35 hours a week to claim it in the first place.

BUT you also can't claim if you earn more than £139 a week.

AND if you claim low income benefits (ie UC), the Carer's Allowance is counted as income and taken off your entitlement £ for £.

It's just so insulting. People giving up their lives and careers to care for a disabled family member deserve better than this.

(Just feeling a bit down about the fact I will probably be poor until I die, even if my disabled child manages to leave home one day I'll be at least 50 by then with no prospects for earning decent money or building any sort of security for my own old age)

@Cornettoninja, I referenced a poster up thread stating a she knew a man who claimed CA for his Aunt who lived 200 miles away. I don't know this person but it is clearly happening.

Yes! I am now 70 and caring for my dd who has ASD and adhd. When I got my state pension ( huge sum of £139) they took the carers allowance off me 😡

Then it wouldn't be carers allowance.

It's a set sum and you either get it or you don't. No.slidong scale. So she would get the same looking after a child as she dian for an adult.

• giving emotional support
• helping someone cope with or seek help for a mental health problem
• budgeting and looking after finances
• helping others understand the needs of the person you are caring for
• arranging medicine or providing medical care
• checking they are safe
• Advocating on their behalf – this means helping them express their views and wishes

Here are some things from the list that might apply.

If your epilepsy was severe enough to need care, how would you be able to prepare food safely?

Agree. I don't qualify for carers allowance as I work school hours but I do get extra money from working tax credits because my childs disabled. I'm much better off financially working school hours.

I don’t think I could be so certain on third hand information that this was indeed happening to the extent you’re implying by making it a hill to die on.

Tbh my primary concern would be that a vulnerable person is being financially abused if someone is claiming benefits on the basis someone isn’t receiving the care they’re entitled to. If you have details of this you’re, morally at least, obliged to report it. Or that poster is.

What it’s not, imho, is a starting point to cast all claimants, with issues you personally have no understanding of, as frauds.

What?!? Do you think people with epilepsy spend their lives wrapped up in cotton wool just waiting for the next seizure?

I didn't say that. But if you got PIP just on the basis of epilepsy, how would you then be well enough to care for someone 35 hours a week, including preparing food? And yes I do have experience of epilepsy.

This is a valid answer. This is how my life was set up when my dads care package had the funding withdrawn without notice of replacement and I was living over 100 miles away. I didn’t claim any allowances because I work but it had a huge impact on my performance and I wouldn’t hesitate to describe it as caring despite not actually physically being there 24/7.

Well that’s just how life works out sometimes. If you live with a partner who can manage emergencies well enough to ensure your safety during/after a seizure (even if that’s calling for 999 or other support, the key being that someone is actually there to alert those people to a problem) but they have mobility issues meaning that other tasks are beyond them then the situation arises they are effectively caring for each other.

look, you can have a couple where one can do A,B & C tasks, and the other can do X,Y and Z tasks- they can just about manage when they have each other (although frequently with a lower quality of life than non disabled people) but otherwise would each need a carer.

This is not a drain on the system.

All of the above might take 5 hours a week not 35 hours. I'm not saying a person far away can't offer support but things like organising a prescription takes one click of a button. My DH and I do all of the above and more for MiL and it takes us about 30-40 mins between us a day. That included other little things like getting her boiler serviced too.

@Cornettoninja I see you did not claim as you were working, but you actually spend 35 hours every week dealing with your Dad's issues. I'm only questioning it because DH and I offer support/care to my MiL who is 250 miles away and we facetime twice a day for 5-10 mins each time to check she is ok. We manage her direct debits/bills. We order her online shop each week. We click the button to get her repeat prescription and delivery. We organise things like boiler service or workman for any repairs, do any paperwork she might have, chat to her everyday. It all takes less than about 4 hours a week. We do also go up once every 5 or 6 weeks to visit in half term. But it still works out far less than 35 hours every week. I'm really sorry your Dad's care package was pulled though. It must be stressful working and caring and yes it will probably be affecting your performance if you are worrying about your Dad.

Yes I do care for someone. Its hard, don't get me wrong, but I don't expect to be funded to do morally the right thing for my close relative. That's what families do.

Of course there are still care homes in those countries. If you look up the stats home based care provided by family is much much higher than western.

but things like organising a prescription takes one click of a button.

It is clear you don’t have much experience of complex medical needs. If only it was that easy. I live with DSs and it takes far longer than “one click of a button” to order medication (some of which aren’t on/can’t go on repeat prescriptions or even be prescribed by the GP), arrange delivery by the Homecare service, chase the prescription/missing medication/ancillary items…

Emotional support and reassurance on its own could take longer than 5 hours a week.

it takes us about 30-40 mins between us a day

Good for you. Not everyone’s needs are the same. For some it takes far, far longer.

Tbf yes it is. I claim for my son and also home Ed him as the education system is such a cluster. It’s all I earn a month.

Some people have conditions that mean they need someone present to ensure they don't get into danger. They might have epilepsy or a cognitive impairment. They are not 'ill' in the sense of being unable physically to perform the task, but wouldn't be safe to perform it without someone there, or may lack the cognitive ability to do it without supervision. The 'someone there' may be someone with a physical disability that prevents them cooking themselves, but not from instructing the other person on what to do or raising the alarm if necessary.

I qualify for carers allowance but don't get it cause we couldn't live on that amount of money. So my working life is care. Mainly palliative care. If I could afford it I would stop work, sometimes it does feel like a go from one job to another.

THIS with bells on

YANBU - carer's allowance in this country is a disgrace.

In Germany when my grandfather became my grandmother's carer when she left hospital he was transfered the equivalent of £700 (monthly Ca) from the German state. This was within one week of her being discharged and did not include 4x care calls and equipment. Considering she would have cost thousands being looked after in a nursing home the state is still saving money.

I think in the UK were just used to low CA, low sick pay, low jobseekers etc.

@caringcarer, I suppose it would depend on whether you would include an allowance for frequently urgently travelling and having to be available 24/7. Those trips could frequently result in over 35 hours for me. Personally I would and thankfully everywhere I worked also did for the purposes of absences.

It's a disgrace. And caters can't strike either

@Poppies26 riiight, so carers should be able to live of fresh air because it’s the morally right thing to do? Glad it’s so simple.

@Alltheclogs I think u need to go back I read my posts and not confuse me with another poster