Casual care help and Income Support

roy_harper

Hi all,
I've been signed off work for long-term sickness, on Income Support, and as a result I have done unpaid volunteer work in the community, and stopped when it got too much.
I am frequently being asked by elderly neighbours, and relatives with parents at home to visit and re-heat a meal, hoover, garden, shop. I've stressed that I don't want paying, as I'm a Christian, and I do it for love. But I have had to stress that they need a professional assessment, and trained carers, and that I'm just bridging the gap.
Unfortunately I don't know who to recommend - do I tell them to ask Social Services?
Can anyone assist pls?

DX2

Yes they require help from social services adult department.

[Deleted User]

or more to the point their own families !

happy_lass

woodbine wrote: »

or more to the point their own families !

assuming they have families of course. They may be on their own and lonely.

roy_harper

One family, the whole lot are out all day because they work so hard, and ironically one has a proper job as a carer, but she married and lives far away, and can only come south some weekends. Another lives in sheltered housing, and her family are all over the world. When I walk in the sheltered housing unit, she guides me straight to her room because everyone wants to be helped. They are getting rid of a lot of wardens to cut costs.
The thing worrying me is that they are not getting the help they really need from trained and qualified people, and I'm just patching the problem rather than being a solution.

clemmatis

Yes, it's bad and it's getting worse. But even if Social Services aren't prepared to organise care, they have lists of registered agencies. The people you help should try to push Social Services into doing a proper assessment, though, not simply sending out the lists, as my local ones try to do... .