Carers allowance, I work, am I entitled?

marliepanda

NYM wrote: »

I'm so sorry to go off topic...but what is CMT ?

I googled it, from my laymans reading it seems to be a firm a muscular dystrophy.

NYM

marliepanda wrote: »

I googled it, from my laymans reading it seems to be a firm a muscular dystrophy.

That's what I got, but I can't understand why the OP would need to purchase bandages....so assumed I'd got the wrong CMT ..:)

I_Love_Shoes

Thank you gigglepig, that is the point I am trying to make.
I cant stand people that cant be bothered to work or try their hardest to scrounge as much money off of hard working tax payers like myself. It just gets a bit frustrating that both him and me are working our !!!!!! off to get the same as some lazy people in this country get for free.
We are both pretty tight for money at the moment and are trying to do things as independently as possible by working, but it does get frustrating when we see some friends of friends eating expensive steak dinners multiple times a week and wearing designer clothes in their council house with the bill on us, the tax payer!
It would just be nice to get a bit of support, rather than the attitude of "well if you didn't work we will help you, but if you do work then you must be rich"

marliepanda

You are getting taxpayer help though. Your boyfriend has a car which he had to pay nothing for. You are getting what anyone who works full time has, plus extra due to his disability. I'm not sure why you think you deserve more than that? He has just bought a house. You cannot be scraping by.

dandelionclock30

Gigglepig wrote: »

I think this is a bit harsh. From the OP's point of view, the boyfriend needs support, OP puts in the hours as a free carer, so they did not then presumably the system would need to pick up the slack. So OP is saving the state money by working AND caring.

I understand that the system is based on low income, but can see both sides. Hypothetically, if someone did caring for 35+ hrs AND pushes themselves to works full time, why should they be supported less than someone who does caring for 35+ hrs and choses NOT to work full time? In some scanarios, no or low income does not just result from doing 35+ hrs caring, but also from how the person manages to and decides to spend the rest of the hours in their week. So I understand OP's frustration and the point she is trying to make. if she jacked in her job and continued with "just" the 35+ hrs caring she would get more support, but OP is working hard to do both and the system does not reward this extra effort.

If your a proper full time carer you are more often than not unable to work full time.They often dont have a choice they cannot do it full stop.Someone who is looking after a person with say severe dementia, isnt lazy for not working. (Text removed by MSE Forum Team)
If someone needs full time care of 35hrs plus a week then they are doing well to hold down a full time job as well, dont you think?
Whos doing all the care whilst the person is working? and how do their needs alter so much when they are not at work and on a weekend?

I_Love_Shoes

CMT is a condition that affects the nerves in your legs and arms, it interupts the signals sent down your peripheral nerves and causes motor problems and muscle wasting, along with sensory problems. Generally people suffer with hand and feet problems, high arches and short tendons mean some people struggle to walk without operations.
My boyfriend has had tendons cut out of the back of his knees and stretched and put into his feet, he has had about 7 or 8 surgeries on each foot where they are trying to flatten it and stretch his tendons out. He struggles with walking a lot of the time, gets tired easily (bad immune system is another symptom of CMT) and cant wear shoes very comfortably because of the shape of his feet. So if he has been on his feet for a while, he gets very bad blisters from where they rub against his shoes, hence the bandages.
Its not the easiest to explain, as there are a few different types of it and people suffer differently, but in general there needs to be more awareness of it.
I raised £150 in the awareness month (September) for CMT, so if you dont know what it is, google it and make people aware! It isnt that rare, but nobody has heard of it!

MissMoneypenny

I_Love_Shoes wrote: »

At the moment I probably see him 3-4 evenings a week and the whole weekend (60ish hours a week), but I am often up in the middle of the night

Why not solve his cash flow problem by paying him rent? You won't need to pay rent to his mother anymore when he moves to the house he just bought. I assume you are paying his mother rent?

FBaby

So you want to do the same ie. Trying to get something from the tax payer that you think you could be entitled to on a technical point but that you don't really need? My husband and I have just lost entitlement to child benefits because of his income even though he is not their dad. Does this mean it is ok to twist the rules and see if their dad could claim CB instead? You and your boyfriend would be grateful that DLA remains non mean tested unlike child benefit, a rule I think is unfair, but here we go!

Errata

Apart from the bandages bit and the fact that the NHS doesn't appear inclined to provide them, how many hours each week does your boyfriend need care? Simply being in his presence isn't providing care.

I_Love_Shoes

We don't live together, but stay around each others houses a few times a week. Now that he has his house we are looking at me maybe moving in, but I would obviously have to pay rent and I cant afford to at the moment. I am spending a lot more in fuel to take him places (when he is feeling too tired to drive or his feet are hurting too much) which is another reason I am looking into the carers allowance as my potential rent money is being spent on fuel etc for him. He cant afford to let me live there rent free either.