Carers Allowance rate should be raised
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Whilst I am sure some people are claiming who may not be doing the 35 hours 'caring'. There are many many people who do go above an dbeyond what a wife, husband, daughter would reasonably be expected to do.
It is very different nursing someone who has become unwell or just out of hospital and will recover in days/weeks to supporting someone with a long term disability of Chronic illness.
Social services will offer care plans and support in the form of carers/PA/equipment but that is at set times and who is going to support the person at other times.
My husband claims carers allowance for me..and he darned well deserves it. He gave up his job as i couldn't cope in between my PA/Carer visits. This was not a choice I was at risk.
A normal husbands role does not involve showering your wife from necessity not pleasure, turning her in bed, manual handling, coping with prescriptions and medications, going to Dr's appointments with me and yes sometimes for me without me. Being on call to help. picking me up of floor, hours in A&E or phoning Dr's. Having cooked dinner stopping to hold me as I am ill. Being 'on-call' constantly in flares (which happen often) by means of a wireless doorbell (how rude and dehumanising does that feel?). Even taking me shopping, persuading sales assistants that he has to come in t help me try on Bra's as I can't manage alone, lifting things of shelves, he is tied and at times only gets to do the things I want. He works more than 35 hours as a carer, yes he loves me and he is my husband but he gave up his work to do this.
His carers allowance goes to one side to make his life easier... the idea is to spend it on treats for him, a pot of tea and cake when we are out, supplies for his hobbies, a dvd etc.. but also the money has gone to the gas bill and new tyres for my wheelchair.
I was told to claim carers allowance for looking after him (he gets low rate PIP) but refused. There is no way I qualify. This was a council official who was trying to 'maximise my benefits', and seemed non-plussed when I said but I don't qualify.. and was very insistent.
So there are some people who must claim who may not put in the caring role but many many many people who deserve every penny and so much more.
I would like to see it increased, I would like to see some form of monitoring but nothing to onerous ..
Our carers who are family, friends etc are worth so much. They dn't do the 'job' for money but they sure as heck deserve some recognition0 -
I agree totally with your sentimentsWhilst I am sure some people are claiming who may not be doing the 35 hours 'caring'. There are many many people who do go above an dbeyond what a wife, husband, daughter would reasonably be expected to do.
It is very different nursing someone who has become unwell or just out of hospital and will recover in days/weeks to supporting someone with a long term disability of Chronic illness.
Social services will offer care plans and support in the form of carers/PA/equipment but that is at set times and who is going to support the person at other times.
My husband claims carers allowance for me..and he darned well deserves it. He gave up his job as i couldn't cope in between my PA/Carer visits. This was not a choice I was at risk.
A normal husbands role does not involve showering your wife from necessity not pleasure, turning her in bed, manual handling, coping with prescriptions and medications, going to Dr's appointments with me and yes sometimes for me without me. Being on call to help. picking me up of floor, hours in A&E or phoning Dr's. Having cooked dinner stopping to hold me as I am ill. Being 'on-call' constantly in flares (which happen often) by means of a wireless doorbell (how rude and dehumanising does that feel?). Even taking me shopping, persuading sales assistants that he has to come in t help me try on Bra's as I can't manage alone, lifting things of shelves, he is tied and at times only gets to do the things I want. He works more than 35 hours as a carer, yes he loves me and he is my husband but he gave up his work to do this.
His carers allowance goes to one side to make his life easier... the idea is to spend it on treats for him, a pot of tea and cake when we are out, supplies for his hobbies, a dvd etc.. but also the money has gone to the gas bill and new tyres for my wheelchair.
I was told to claim carers allowance for looking after him (he gets low rate PIP) but refused. There is no way I qualify. This was a council official who was trying to 'maximise my benefits', and seemed non-plussed when I said but I don't qualify.. and was very insistent.
So there are some people who must claim who may not put in the caring role but many many many people who deserve every penny and so much more.
I would like to see it increased, I would like to see some form of monitoring but nothing to onerous ..
Our carers who are family, friends etc are worth so much. They dn't do the 'job' for money but they sure as heck deserve some recognition
I think it was last general election where Labour tried to bribe the many CA claimants by offering to raise CA by £20 per week - this would probably never have happened though - leaving hundreds of thousands of carers "on the breadline" rather than paying them what they are really worth...0 -
question answered0
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skcollobcat10 wrote: »In Scotland they are suppose to be increasing careers allowance up to £73 per week. The extra money will be paid in 2 instalments each year.
"From summer 2018 carers in Scotland who receive Carers’ Allowance from the DWP will receive a top-up benefit (backdated to April 2018) twice a year from the Scottish Government. This will increase the value of their award to the same level as Jobseeker’s Allowance (increasing from £62.70 to £73.10 per week) and is an interim measure prior to the Scottish Government taking complete control of Carer’s Allowance itself at a later date."
I suppose that the Scots do deserve more - they do have more challenges !0 -
skcollobcat10 wrote: »In Scotland they are suppose to be increasing careers allowance up to £73 per week. The extra money will be paid in 2 instalments each year.
Not an increase, its a top up and could in theory be stopped at any point.0 -
"I think newcomers to this forum need to bear in mind that this is a public site on which anyone can post. You can't assume information is trustworthy, indeed some posters are known to disrupt, post disinformation, and tell tall stories.
I would caution newcomers to be wary of any advice supplied that doesn't contain a link to an authoritative site. Such sites include adviceguide, entitled to, turn2us, revenuebenefits.
Accredited benefit advice is available from local advice agencies such as Citizens Advice.
Please don't take horror stories about benefit assessments, appeals etc at face value. There are posters on here who whose aim seems to be to alarm, frighten, and generally dissuade OP's from pursuing sensible actions to claim / regain the right benefits.
Harmful and misleading posters are easily identified by the reaction to their posts0 -
I believe that the government is breaking all sorts of its own rules by paying Carers Allowance at such low rates......
They require a minimum of 35 hours caring every week and pay just £62.10 for this - a rate of just £1.77 per hour
Minimum wage is currently £7.83 per hour (over 25) - leaving carers over £212 per week short
Anyone else agree that Carers should be paid more ?
No. CA is not compensation for caring. It is merely a contribution towards some of the losses that a person may suffer because of their caring roles.
Likewise should PIP rates be increased? No, for same reason - it is a benefit paid to go towards the extra costs incurred due to a disability.0 -
No. CA is not compensation for caring. It is merely a contribution towards some of the losses that a person may suffer because of their caring roles.
Likewise should PIP rates be increased? No, for same reason - it is a benefit paid to go towards the extra costs incurred due to a disability.
Correct - and the extra costs caused by disability are on average £570 per week !
https://www.scope.org.uk/campaigns/extra-costs/disability-price-tag
Which my £228 per month received from mid care DLA do not cover
And as for the £250 that my wife receives to cover the extra costs of looking after me - you are kidding aren't you ?
She does a good 40 hours per week (that she would otherwise be in paid employment) - earning a minimum of £350 per week - but instead receives a pittance for.......0 -
PasturesNew wrote: »Before the Allowance was introduced, people got nothing. It was an amount akin to "the dole" to keep the wolf from the door, introduced only in "recent years" (I can't remember when). ...
Introduced in 1976 as the Invalid Care Allowance (ICA). Became the Care Allowance in 2003.
See HoC BRIEFING PAPER Number 00846, 7 November 2016
And to confirm what others have said; the paper states that;
Carer’s Allowance is, formally, an “income replacement” benefit. It isintended to provide “a measure of income-maintenance” for people unable to do full-time paid work because of their caring responsibilities. It is not a payment for care provided or a “carer’s wage”.0 -
As many of you know my wife is significantly disabled, due to carers allowance being so low I couldn!!!8217;t reduce my working hours or quit as we wouldn!!!8217;t have enough for utilities, nevermind the mortgage.
As a result when she became disabled she couldn!!!8217;t leave hospital and was a bed blocker for almost eight months. This was costing around £4,000 a week, how can we afford that when we can!!!8217;t afford to suitably compensate people for saving the state thousands.
She can!!!8217;t dress herself, feed herself, wash herself, prepare food, toilet herself etc without assistance.
In the UK I earned too much for CA, we were eventually awarded DLA, we recieved no help towards care, and we could only afford one fifteen minute visit a day, so she could only use the loo during that one fifteen minute block when I was at work for ten hours. NICE also don!!!8217;t fund physio for her condition, so we were spending £800 a month of this, this enables her to hugely improve and go back to work. Right now she would not be a productive person if we didn!!!8217;t get into debt to fund her care.0
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