To bring your attention to the Carers Benefit fraud scandal?

[MistressoftheDarkSide]

https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/12/carers-allowance-benefit-error-30p-a-week-dwp

Don't know if anyone here might be affected by this, but in the wake if the Post Office scandal it's yet another example of lack of institutional accountability and disproportionate official responses that decimate the lives of ordinary people.

Carers save millions in social care costs. The amount paid to them is an insult as is the threshold for earnings.
That is as much as I need to know and I don’t want to see anybody penalised into repaying money because they have earned a tiny amount more than the dwp state is allowed.
As for trotting out figures about benefit fraud, the majority of that is organised crime gangs not ordinary individuals.

He is fretting about a potential work bonus that he might get of £50 which will wipe out his CA. So he'll be £39 worse off after receiving the bonus.

This man ticked a box to state he was not working at all. Then every year he just ignored the letter asking if his circumstances had changed at all. Benefit fraud can't be accepted any more than tax evasion. It's right he was made to repay the money he wasn't entitled to in the first place. I'm surprised they are targeting people on CA though as it's such a small amount. Lots of people claiming to be living alone and claiming benefits as a single person but actually have live in partners. I've noted that when these come to court it's often £70-80k or more and the judge just lets them off because they have a DC. If DWP's can access bank accounts that might mean fraud can be stopped quicker.

No, you he'll lose his entire carer's allowance for that month

@CentrifugalBumblePuppy Why wouldn’t you just keep the successful business rather than live on £70 a week? Just curious.

His Father would not have received Carers Allowance, if the Son had not continued to receive DLA/PIP.

So actually £395 worse off after receiving a £50 bonus?

I didn’t claim CA when entitled because my work could be sporadic (albeit below the threshold) & I couldn’t face having to deal with all the changes in circumstances. It’s a pitiful amount for someone who requires 24 hour care as well

Yes

I went back to uni part time. I did exactly the same amount of caring as I studied when my son was asleep or at respite. Lost the CA I had been claiming (was not entitled to student loan).

it’s an awful benefit tbh. So easy to make an error.

There's a big difference between this and the post office scandal.

In the post office scandal the individuals had done nothing at all.

In these cases in the press about carers allowance it seems in all cases the rules of claiming were broken. People may not have understood and been confused by the rules but the rules were broken. DWP could have been more efficient in identifying overpayment but for every single benefit claim individuals are reminded to check whether they are still entitled and to report and changes to DWP.

The man in the article wrongfully said he didn't have a job, when he did. He wasn't eligible to claim and therefore committed fraud.

I think the real scandal is how little carers allowance is. the lowest weekly benefit of any kind on exchange for at least 35h work - many do so much more. No break, no holiday, no sick leave, no extra pension payments (other than the NI credits) and if you work even for a few hours, you are banned from claiming as if you don't care. I care for 2 DC with disabilities, one very complex needs. I earn little in a shitty part tine job and I am therefore disallowed from claiming carers. We do a bloody hard job. it should be paid at 35h x NMW. nothing less. It's absolutely disgusting how we are treated. But nothing will change because most people aren't affected and couldn't give a hoot and sadly, we are not able to go on strike like the rest of the nation.

Unfortunately she has a cluster B personality disorder. Specialist external carers are few and far between; we’ve had normal carers, it did not go well.

And as she is a) self funding and b) has capacity (madness in itself) she has absolutely refused for anyone but me to do her care. Adult Social Services are involved, and have done their best to persuade her that due to my own disability (a congenital defect and 50 years of deterioration so on crutches myself) it’s not right or fair, but she refuses to listen.

I’ve lost count of the number of therapists, doctors, nurses, OTs, PTs etc. who’ve tried to help her over the years, she’s complied with none of it (although of course she’s as sweet as honey saying she’ll change or exercise or help herself).

Other family have their own mental health issues (in big part due to her behaviour when we were children) and there’s no way I want them to suffer any more due to her behaviour.

There’s no magic bullet or medication for Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

It sucks, but we’ve tried every permutation before we’ve come to this end.

The system is fucked.
There is no help if they won’t consent to help.
Thank god for a good DH, adult kids, great medication for myself, and a hell of a good private health plan & therapy through his job, or I’d be fucked too.
It’s like shouting into the Abyss.

Many apologies, got onto a bit of a rant lol!

@CentrifugalBumblePuppy

Just wanted to send solidarity.

My SM sounds scarily similar and I'm three months in trying to help my 84 year old physically frail Dad deal with it all. SM appears to be a hot potato and we have to carry her. It is a shitshow.

Much love to you x

@MistressoftheDarkSide Sending much love back.

Having a cuppa whilst she eats her breakfast at last.

This morning’s batshittery? Having a full temper tantrum because I’ve asked her to hop in the shower. She has refused every day for 3 weeks. She has taken up a game of weeing on the loo floor and clearing it up with toilet roll & her feet.

This only occurs when I am not here. I have caught her doing it. She will also wee into her waste paper basket.

She has told friends and family that she has to do this because I won’t stay at hers at night to help her to the toilet.

I do not help her to the toilet during the day when I am here. She doesn’t need the help and has been assessed by OT & ASC as being able to toilet herself. Indeed this is what she tells to the med care she does receive.

She has also told me that she does it ‘to pay me back for being a naughty child and soiling myself at 5.

Sister and I were sexually abused by a teen cousin when we were 4/5 in his bedroom whilst she chatted to her sister in law in the lounge. I can remember being sent upstairs to play ‘so the grown ups can talk’.

Mum has never accepted this could ever happen; I think I was soiling myself due to fear, shame, and trying in a small child’s way to stop anyone being interested in anything in my pants.

Anyway, she is refusing to shower, even just her feet, this morning.

Both parents were hygiene refusers, I have bought every aid to help keep her clean. Dad went a record 18 months refusing a shower (again, he had capacity). And to be honest doing a round trip of 400 miles to pop on a swimming costume & help him in the shower again was even a stretch for a chronic people pleaser like me.

Thank god DH helps me for the first 45mins a of my day with her (and her last) so I have a witness for a lot of her behaviour. And we ensure DH uses a recording feature on his phone so that, on the rare days I am ill & he does the basics, any accusations she’ll make are documented (and there have been plenty over the 30 years DH & I have been together).

As you’ll know, narcissists love to lie & triangulate to separate people and make them the victim if a lie is uncovered.

So, we’ve had a temper tantrum; she’s also taken her beloved tv remote upstairs and refuses to go up there to get it. She won’t ask for anything outright; just moans and whines until we capitulate and do it for her.

She’ll not die of the TV being off whilst she eats her breakfast as I type this.

I’m just finishing a crafty roll up (revolting habit I know) before I go and cut her hedge. In a full back brace today due to pain; not letting DH do it as he’s awaiting shoulder surgery and I can’t face a whole weekend of him shambling in his grey Dressing Gown of Doom 😂.

It’s all fucked, and I know many people have far tougher battles than I, so I’m sending love to all who deal with the utter batshittery of this bloody disorder.

Narcissist Personality Disorder isn’t your parents not buying you a Mr Frosty at Christmas (although I don’t get one either, DH bought one for me our first Christmas together, and it is and was completely useless rofl). It’s a horrible, insidious poison that drips through your first memories as a child and keeps on coming.

Keep strong everyone who deals with this. We’re not alone, I’m always here if anyone needs to shout into something other than the abyss.

But not right now as there’s a hedge to cut lol! Thank god for good opiates and a banging back brace that yes, does make me walk like Kryten, but means I can keep on trucking!

@CentrifugalBumblePuppy

Oh good lord that is all incredibly hard and honestly (as I lie here chain smoking) you certainly deserve a crafty roll up, and whatever else gets you through x

I think such complex situations are completely misunderstood by medics etc and of course they are overstretched, underfunded yadda yadda.

When my SMs mental health / MCI went off a cliff in mid January, she ended up in A&E after two weeks of delirium which nearly killed my Dad. They said "faint markers of infection in her urine" so popped her on antibiotics and tried to discharge her after 72 hours. Managed to block that to safeguard my Dad and pointed out her dramatic personality changes (she'd never been aggressive before, just sly and spiteful and controlling) followed absence seizures which had happened before. She has untreated brain aneurysms so we pressed for a brain scan.

After 8 weeks of being batted around dementia wards etc she was sectioned. Within three weeks section was removed. We had one meeting with a very arrogant psychiatrist this week who is putting much of it down to "marital problems".

The brain scan was done 10 weeks in and shows small blood vessel disease but she "definitely doesn't have dementia".

She's an expert at showtiming and is currently on a phased return home. She blows hot and cold with me so she's with my Dad over the weekend and I'm not allowed to ring ir visit. Dad has to wait until she's in the shower to update me. So far she's "playing nice" as she's on Risperidone. It's been frustrating, horrific, and there's a constant implication we are the problem.

It will be interesting to see what my Dad says after she goes back to the ward on Monday. I'm dubious she can keep the mask up for the whole weekend.

We "may" have community input but with the level of cock up and institutional gas-lighting so far I'm sceptical, bitter and cynical.

Ah well, it's a rocky road when we don't tick the boxes ain't it?

Big hugs to you again xxx

Behaving like this helps no one. How childish.

The father was forced by DWP to sell his house. It wasn't a choice for him and there was no financial savvy required as he had to do it to repay the money.

@CentrifugalBumblePuppy

I’m appalled. I’m so sorry.

My DP is in a lot of back pain all the time, I can’t imagine him having to deal with all you have to deal with on top of it. I don’t even know what to say.

So where are all the NHS workers who jump onto the NHS threads............. i mean considering a lot of them expect family members to step up and do care no matter what is going on in the lives of those family members AND the support they got for striking where is the support for the family carers. Tumbleweed

Great post and thank you.

The rules are the rules and that is a fact

When people claim benefits they have a responsibility and that is a fact.
If the system is failing so many people, then the reporting of earnings and how this is doen and checked should be revised as carers already have a lot on their plate. Having stated that, like any benefits, some do abuse the system and via work I'd seen it but did not have enough evidence to report them

On the other hand, I'd also seen people that should have had carers allwaoance and were unsure and helped them apply

Often those in genuine need get missed out on all benefits as they are often too unwell, frail, lacking abilities whilst some that do not qualify have the ability to rant and rave,

The bottom line, is CA's is getting so many into trouble, it does need revissitng