Carers Allowance WTF

[MagicPharmacist]

Due to an absolutely perfect storm of shit happenings, my dad died, my mum has Parkinson’s and I lost my part time job, we’ve made a decision that rather than look for another job right now I will care for my mum. I’m very happy to do this and we are fortunate enough that I can be on minimal income for now, although obviously not ideal.

I do a little bit of self employed work, no where near the threshold. My mum gets attendance allowance so she told me to apply for carers allowance.

But the numbers make NO SENSE to me. It’s not anything I’ve ever had to look at before but how the fuck do they justify this?

£81 a week for 35hrs caring (and obviously it’s more than this for most people). And then on top of that you are only allowed to earn £150? Why? What’s the justification?

And then the new cap will be £196 earnings which is equivalent to 16hrs at minimum wage. Why? Why are they so invested in keeping carers poor?

I don’t really understand why this is a means tested benefit. Surely it’s in the government interests to have family carers? £81 a week for 35 hours minimum work and then you can ONLY make less than 800 a month on the side? How do they expect people to live?

I’m ENRAGED. Not necessarily for myself; we won’t starve as my husband has a good job. But if he earned less we would be fucked, my mum would either have to have carers in every day or go into a care home.

Oh god and the hoops to jump through as well; the form was a nightmare and they want so much info about me and my previous employment and current income. And it takes at least six weeks for a decision…could be months.

AIBU to be shocked by this?

You’re saying that you won’t get universal credit but also that you don’t really need it because your husband earns enough. People who need universal credit will get it, so I don’t see the problem.

If you really needed to earn more you would work more and most people that genuinely need full time care can access it through their councils. Providing support for immediate family doesn’t need to attract a wage from the government.

If you really needed to earn more you would work more and most people that genuinely need full time care can access it through their councils. Providing support for immediate family doesn’t need to attract a wage from the government.

not sure on what planet you live but that's not the case. most people cannot even get a few hours respite. There is absolutely fuck all out there to support carers.

The form isn't a nightmare and the online form is even simpler. It basically just asks what you earn and who you are caring for.
Carers on a low household income can claim UC as well.
Your mum can give you her Attendance allowance as well if she wishes- that would be £110 ( from next week ) per week. The money is there to pay for care and the extra costs of a disability.

Totally agree, its an absolute disgrace.

Governments never really care about the most vulnerable in society, they care about who is going to kick off if they're not provided for, and disabled people and their carers are very low risk of that.

Politicians are all a bunch of shit heads.

No it doesn't come off her Attendance Allowance but if the cared for person lives alone and gets a severe disability premium on a benefit like ESA or Pension credit then they lose that when someone starts to claim carers allowance for them. So it could be pension credit that is reduced by not AA.

Where is this magical council?

I can tell you after caring for 2 sets of relatives in two adjacent councils, this is not happening in my area of the South East. It took years to get even the most basic level of help, then the carers call you up several times a day asking you to fetch and carry. It's honestly a horrible system that has been unfit for purpose for decades.

"and most people that genuinely need full time care can access it through their councils. "

Don't talk daft.

The carers allowance demands at least 35 hours of care per week. So at £83.30 per week that’s £2.38 an hour. So both.

UC treat carers allowance as income and deduct 55p for every £1 and give you back the difference.

Carers allowance is actually deducted in full from UC but a carers element added.

It is awful particularly as unpaid carers save the government billions a year.

Have you ever tried to access care through the local authority ? Clearly not, or you would know that the system is broken and many people who need care are being short changed or left without it entirely because the resources are so stretched. And as for carers allowance being a wage - l wouldn’t call £2.38 an hour for caring for someone full time a ‘wage’.

Indeed I do. I was presenting an argument, is all - not necessarily my argument.

Agree and the shit will really hit the fan if lots of people start to lose their PIP and their carers lose their carers allowance and adult social care have to pick up the tab.

Which is what l said. It’s counted as income and what you end up with is a carers premium worth 45p in the £ after the deduction.

Ilovecleaning

A person does not have to live with someone to claim carers allowance !

My friend does this for a very vulnerable person
They have power of attorney for their health & wealth
They have to be available for hospital issues, carer issues, all manner of issues & it has been very stressful at times

I cannot disclose the nature of this persons exact circumstances

My friend has a heart of gold !

Yep. And I don’t think the government have even thought of this as a knock on effect - lt’s not factored in to the projected benefit savings because LA care budgets come from a different source.

Family/friend carers are kept afloat with carers allowance and are saving the tax payer millions as a result. Once PIP daily living is stopped, care allowance stops and, as you say, the LA has to pick up the tab when the care needs are passed on to them. Not only that, but PIP is also taken into account in the financial assessment for home care, so LAs are going to be out of pocket again when the amount the client has to pay is reduced on loss of PIP.

There are also implications for self funders in care homes because they continue to be eligible for PIP while they are self funding. The loss of PIP will mean the funding pot depletes faster and the LA has to contribute sooner. A triple whammy which you’re unlikely to hear about in the press/media because they’re too busy denigrating claimants and digging up dirt on the ‘free cars’ provided by Motability.

@HashtagShitShop sending you a massive hug. I'm dreading having to lift my relative. We aren't there yet but it's coming.

A carers premium is added on so it’s the equivalent of a 55p in the £ deduction - it’s treated as income.

You can claim carers allowance alongside UC, in which case, you will have the carers allowance deducted in full from UC because it’s an overlapping benefit. They will then give you the carers element on top of UC, which is the equivalent of a 55p in the £1 deduction from the full carers allowance.

Welcome to the awful wold of carers and disabilities! Unfortunately lack of help to disabled and carers doesn’t take people to the streets , in fact governments like the current one have a way of turning folk against disabled and the more vulnerable because they know they can’t protest and nobody cares much .
Carers allowance should be at least minimum wage but the government knows to well most of us will not throw out children or parents on the street .

Yes I worked agency nursing when I looked after my father in law with cancer and could only do occasional shifts when someone could be with him.
I was £1 over and they refused carers allowance.
told me to apply in January and I said it doesn’t matter he’ll be dead in January which he was.
they don’t help genuine people however I don’t regret it and we managed to get buy.

I’m a carer for DD. I had a good job, my income had come down massively. We aren’t entitled to anything else because of DHs wage. I would love to work, even a few hours a week. But I cannot guarantee I will be at any place at any time because it depends how DD is on any given day.

Who wants an employee for a few hours a week who might not turn up anyway. And no weekend/evening isn’t an option. So I am trapped.

What’s really pissed me off though is if you apply for courses it doesn’t count to getting a free place like being unemployed, probably because you might work as well. So I could use the time to do some training which would be flexible, but I’d have to pay.

I also think the criteria means fewer carers are eligible, hence money is saved. Family working full- time jobs generally, somehow, do caring alongside which they don’t get carers allowance for. People nowadays often can’t afford to lose their wages, to instead get paid the small sum of carers allowance.

Successive labour opposition leaders, including Starmer have howled indignantly at Tory plans to cut benefits, and also at the way in which the different benefits were deliberately misrepresented to get the public on side. I remember Jeremy Corbyn railing at the coalition government for the way disabled people were represented in the press and media with misleading stories to push cuts through.

Well we have a Labour government, and lo and behold they’re doing exactly the same thing. Cutting benefits to the most vulnerable, ignoring the repercussions for the claimants and being dishonest about the projected savings and ramifications for the care sector, lumping out of work sickness benefits and disability benefits together with no clarification of what benefits like PIP are for.

We’ve had disabled people trotted out on TV, and denigrated in the press, in exactly the same same way as the Tories did, in their attempts to sway public opinion. And there’s an added element. Not a day has gone by - both pre and post spring statement - when there hasn’t been a ‘damning report’ on Motability with the same tired agenda of making it seem that the tax payer is footing the bill for ‘free cars’ when nothing cold be further from the truth.

I voted Labour. Never again. They are wolves in sheeps’ clothing. They’ve launched an all out attack on the disabled using the same despicable methods as their predecessors, which also makes them a bunch of hypocrites. At least the Tories were upfront about hating disability benefits. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. If the cut to PIP daily living doesn’t realise the intended savings, the mobility component will be next, and with it Motability. The ground is being prepared now.