CA may be paid at same rate as JSA in Scotland

pmlindyloo

I cannot see how raising the CA to JSA level will work.

At the moment you can work under 16 hrs and earn up to £100 ish per week and still receive CA.

For those who are unable to work and have no savings already claim Income Support as a top up to their CA. Yes, the CA is counted as income but then a Carer's premium is added so in effect these carers would already be getting more than JSA.

Personally what I believe should be happening is that more help and support should be given to carers - more respite, more help with aids/equipment etc etc.

In some areas there is already a lot of help available but this does not seem to be nationwide as a given.

Possibly one of the problems is access to the help/support that is available - a kind of 'one stop shop' for carers where they can find out exactly what is available would be a good start.

Plus, the real 'strugglers' (IMO) are those who are caring for severely disabled people - in effect trying to keep them out of residential care. The form filling and officialdom involved in getting alterations/adaptations done to the home (for example) is horrendous.

There is help out there but it is a post code lottery and this needs to be addressed.

50Twuncle

pmlindyloo wrote: »

I cannot see how raising the CA to JSA level will work.

At the moment you can work under 16 hrs and earn up to £100 ish per week and still receive CA.

For those who are unable to work and have no savings already claim Income Support as a top up to their CA. Yes, the CA is counted as income but then a Carer's premium is added so in effect these carers would already be getting more than JSA.

Personally what I believe should be happening is that more help and support should be given to carers - more respite, more help with aids/equipment etc etc.

In some areas there is already a lot of help available but this does not seem to be nationwide as a given.

Possibly one of the problems is access to the help/support that is available - a kind of 'one stop shop' for carers where they can find out exactly what is available would be a good start.

Plus, the real 'strugglers' (IMO) are those who are caring for severely disabled people - in effect trying to keep them out of residential care. The form filling and officialdom involved in getting alterations/adaptations done to the home (for example) is horrendous.

There is help out there but it is a post code lottery and this needs to be addressed.

I agree but how many carers would desert their hubbys/wives etc to take a break ? Even if their were alternative carer arrangements made for them ?
I am a "cared for" person - my wife is my carer and I see her getting extremely stressed sometimes (at her wits end) but she would not accept ANY outside help at all - from anyone - she sees it as her duty to care for me !!
I keep on telling her that she needs a break and that I will be OK for a long weekend but she just keeps on and on - cooking/cleaning and doing everything for me that I am unable to do myself !!
She gave up a reasonably well paid job that she enjoyed doing to care for me and because of that, she has lost any regular contact with "life outside of the home".

cattermole

50Twuncle wrote: »

I agree but how many carers would desert their hubbys/wives etc to take a break ? Even if their were alternative carer arrangements made for them ?
I am a "cared for" person - my wife is my carer and I see her getting extremely stressed sometimes (at her wits end) but she would not accept ANY outside help at all - from anyone - she sees it as her duty to care for me !!
I keep on telling her that she needs a break and that I will be OK for a long weekend but she just keeps on and on - cooking/cleaning and doing everything for me that I am unable to do myself !!
She gave up a reasonably well paid job that she enjoyed doing to care for me and because of that, she has lost any regular contact with "life outside of the home".

Best thing to say to her if you haven't already tried iis. " If you get ill or too stressed then you won't be able to look after me!. Where will that leave us then? Everyone needs a break and it makes me feel bad you doing this all the time and having no life of your own". Carers are three more times likely to be ill themselves so there is a strong chance of it happening. This is why it can have a negative effect on the person they are caring for if they do too much.

I know she feels its her duty but sometimes the best intentions are not always the right ones.

Another option even though she might not like it is to say you feel you need a break from it as well.

Do hope she can be persuaded to take a break, maybe joining a carer's group might be a way forward as well? Most areas have some kind of voluntary support groups for carers, even days out etc.

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