why are home carers so under valued. carers allowance moan.

[GAC]

ignoring the care industry im talking about full time carers at home, who get carers allowance.

i have been caring for my mother since 2017 so 4 years now and to be honest i'v had it with the way politicians and some members of the general public view what i and many others do.

received my yearly joke of a letter explaining how much of a increase i would be getting in benefits this year and to my surprise carers allowance is going up £0.35p a week, and income support (there to make up to the min "the law" says i can live off) is going down £0.35p, so £0.00 increase for the year as a whole.

according to the dwp this figure takes in to account inflation, so i must be living in some parallel world of no inflation on anything, but im not. my home phone and broadband is due to jump up £3 a month in may and also my mobile phone is due to rise this year as well, and that doesn't take in to account things like transport costs going up and other bits and bobs like food.

currently waiting on a reply from my MP over this and iv asked him to show how this magical figure is worked out just so i know the thinking behind it, because the dwp flat out refuses to state this to anyone it seems. im not expecting a £50 a week raise or anything like that, but last years total raise was £1.90 a week and the year before £0.80 a week. to get nothing at all has finally pushed me enough to vent about it.

just had enough with mp's and various celebs and others singing the praises of carers (and the nhs as well) and then when it comes to getting actual help be it financial or other no one wants to know.

anyways back to being on hold trying to get a covid vaccination sorted out.

 

[GAC]

iv just gotten the grumps with this years total lack of a token raise, especially when you see some of the rumours due in the budget next week, more eat out take away money, fuel duty frozen for the umpteenth year, cheaper booze in pubs Oo but yeah asking for a bit as a carer and you're open to abuse it seems.

yeah got booked in for a covid jab now i have a two week or so wait for an appointment.

as for earning money every time iv asked for help with how it would effect my benefits like council tax you can hear the dwp robot on the other end physically twitch and then parrot "everyone's circumstances are different i couldn't say" same with if i got a weeks work somewhere and if it would just affect the week, month or would it go against my yearly possibly benefits. same answer again about circumstances, seems giving a straight clear answer to help people isnt a thing for the dwp.

then you add on fun things like having no social life or personal life due to having sod all money or the ability to be able to do stuff without having to plan for who you care for.

and of course the fun side of watching who you care for get worse, my mother had a stroke last year and has been iffy the past couple of weeks just generally ill, but every time she's off colour it hits her that little bit harder and takes that bit longer to get going again.

but mustn't grumble as im on a jolly rolling in it with benefits apparently. its easy life not having to work for money. for good measure im probably about £50k+ out of pocket being a career give or take compared to what i actually get in benefits.

like i said im not expecting £50 a week extra but something would be a start now especially with all the money thats been sloshing about the past 12 months.

 

[GAC]

snip

im a only child and its just me and my mother here, my father died in 2016, she has local siblings but the closest one will be 83 in april, and her closest sister died of corona a few weeks back. so not like any of them will be rushing to give me a chance to take a break or anything.

as for working yes i would probably be better off, just. what i was looking at trying to do was festival work or a mad month of work for a quick injection of funds but the dwp cant or wont give a straight answer if it would affect what benefits i get for only the time i work or would it get slapped across the years benefits. what i will probably end up doing like many is working cash in hand on and off to try and boost my income people can pull their face at it but until we have a benefits dept that will actually give straight answers and be helpful i just cant be bothered going through the rigmarole of getting a job and then having to wait and see what happens a month or two down the line, and then when not working re applying all over again and waiting another month or so for it to all fire back up, did this when i was claiming jobseekers before my last fulltime job and after a 5 hour shift and actually getting to and from work i wasn't even a fiver better off, was a good few years ago now so id hope its changed but i doubt it. id just like to know so i can work things out exactly before, so i know if it will actually be worth the effort or not.

and yes IF we lived in another country it could possibly be a lot worse but we dont we live in the 5th or 6th richest nation in the world supposedly.

Genuinely not a troll question,

A quick google gives a figure of 5 million carers in the UK, they are given a pittance and told to get on with it. It saves the government an absolute fortune.

read what uther posted tom1, but in short being a carer i save the gov and local authorities thousands a year in care costs, we have a fancy new place near us and its around £1400 a week, and then that's still nowhere near the 1 to 1 care most carers would be providing.

Obviously I don't like delving into people's finances/personal stuff but are you only claiming carer's allowance because you can usually claim universal credit on top of it up (still stupidly low amount for the work being done, should be 'equal' to min wage, it's still cheaper than a paid carer) if you fit the criteria of low savings etc

i get carers and income support, and a portion of the council tax paid for, as we own the house jointly that's it. we are better off than most for sure as the house is paid for so no mortgage or anything on top but seems working and being sensible with you're money just means the gov can ignore you that much more.

as for the income hell i don't mind its not like its not impossible to google this but as of now the dwp and its "the law states the minimum you can live off of" line states i can live on £111.85 a week. like i said the thing that's set me off is the whole 35p raise in carers a week which is just disgusting, and then the way income support drops by 35p a week so il be getting exactly the same for two years.

a couple of years ago when it went up a whole £0.80 a week combined (carers and income support) the council took over half of it in council tax (as the council determine how much council tax benefit you get) stating i was so much better of then the year previous. last year i didn't get charged but who knows what this years council tax bill could bring, with the ability to raise it by 4.9%.

UC is eventually taking over from income support so should in reality be the same exact amount but who knows with the way the dwp works. i did get a letter a while back about switching but when i phoned and asked how exactly it would affect my income, yet again they couldn't/wouldn't say all i got was the same bs line about how my circumstances determine what i can get. even though they know exactly what they are they just wont say until you apply.

 

[GAC]

@GAC

I'm just going to put this as a warning. Working cash in hand. If you get caught. All your benefits will be removed and you will be fined on top and forced to pay everything back.

I sympathise with your situation and the stress your obviously under. But things could get a lot worse if someone decides to poke their nose in.

I'd be honest and above board personally. It's your decision though but I wouldn't take the consequences of your actions lightly if caught. You could end up losing your home.

Your between a rock and a hard place. I hope you can improve your situation but I would think seriously before doing anything risky.

exactly why iv not done any as of yet, someone grassed me up years ago when i worked one place local for one 10 hour shift (which i did tell the jobcentre about) but i got a call from the dwp and had a interview at the jobcentre months afterwards due to the idiot at the jobcentre not marking it down correctly.

im nowhere near as bad as some as iv said but this who 35p give and take is a joke, had a neighbour when i first started on this claim "oh you'l be raking it in now" she was under the impression id be clearing £350 a week and thats 4 years ago, another onw who is a employed carer at that place i mentioned after a chat about my mother and how i was caring for her so not working stated "well at least you get a ok income" i asked how much and she came out claiming id be clearing £250 a week, again 4 years ago, when i told both of them how little it was the first one said i must be mistaken and not claiming everything, and the other one couldnt get her head around it due to what they charge for residents.

but for now im just going to have fun with the local conservative mp and councillors and cause misery for them as a way to vent. got to have a hobby.

 

[GAC]

who said anything about huge sums dowie ? as i said its the simple fact they gave 35p a week with one hand then snatched it straight back with the other. well claiming the 35p raise in carers covers inflation, while totally ignoring the fact il be no better off this year.

and i think you will find the gov is saving thousands a year having me look after my mother than having a care home do it.

as for work from home, sure if i could find a work from home job id be doing it, but as iv never really been a office bod and worked more manual and security jobs its not like i can work any of them sat at home now. also being in a rural area doesn't help with the jobs market to start with, same with getting extra help with the close family all being in their late 70's and 80's, also im a only child so its all on me.

 

[GAC]

the whole jobs situation is just dumb for carers, now soon as i earn £1, boom i lose income support, prescriptions for free and dental payments for free (nhs only i think), then add on getting to work on top of that its a fair ole hit straight off the bat.

so 5 hours income straight away to cover the initial income support lose then say another hour for every day you have to travel to and from work, then as i get two medications a month thats 2 more hours to cover them. and toss another hour in for the dental costs so in all looking at 10 hours all in as probably having to work a couple of 5 hour shifts and that doesn't even bring in to account any possible council tax surprises as now the council see you as earning nearly £100 a week on top of carers so instantly think you are better off as income support isnt actually viewed as a income against council tax relief.

and the maximum from last april you can earn before it starts eating in to the carers benefit is £128 a week. so 13.89 hours min wage before you lose more money and have to work more hours to offset that.

as iv said earlier in the post iv asked what would happen say i had a mad week or month where i made well over the limit and if it would be set against that week/month or the years benefits and the dwp and jobcentre (thats who the dwp pass you to for advice on work stuff) at the time couldn't give a straight answer just that its all down to my circumstances even when i tried to run through a few examples they point blank dont have the ability to give any sort of rough estimates or advice. this is the most annoying part for me and probably many other carers who could get some work but want real help as to show how much better off they could be, and of course this doesn't bring in the issues if the person you are looking after takes a turn for the worse, all the dwp states for that is find a job with flexible working because obviously theres loads of them out there.

again im not expecting loads of money from the government but this year really has upset me, especially with the BILLIONS sloshed around through the pandemic and the possible ones coming next week in the budget, it seems for certain sections of society money can always be found.

 

[GAC]

Sounds like your already receiving a lot of money and benefit tbh.

sigh again not what i was saying, its the fact the increase this year is ZERO. il say it AGAIN for the hard of reading im not expecting £50 a week raise here but at least to cover the raise in my bills you'd hope would be the least they could see to, rather than the vague bs about "the law says you can live on £XXX" when they refuse to actually say what the law actually says or how the math works out.

is a couple of quid a week too much to ask ?

im under no illusion about actually getting a income for being a carer but theres so much more they could do as far as assisting people but there just seems to be no interest in actually having that discussion outside of the line about always being better off in work, weather its true or not.

 

[GAC]

listening to the bbc's money box program today about carers. there's 940k people getting carers allowance. so £1 a week increase would be less than £50 million. £100mil for a £2 weekly rise. says it all i guess.

and psycho sonny maybe a slight tax rise of 1p on fuel duty which would bring in 100's of millions a year.

 

[GAC]

lets be honest here no matter what i suggest if its a tax rise you would moan about it.

 

[GAC]

I'm just saying that raising fuel duty hits everyone and it hits the poorest the most.

Had you suggested a tax on online businesses, the top 3%, businesses with extremely high turnover in the retail sector, people who have billions in trusts. Then it would be much more likely not to negatively affect the poorest as bad as fuel duty would.

the online tax has been looked at for years but no one will do it as they are terrified of of companies moving hq's and employing even more dubious tax dodging ways which no gov around the world seems willing to actually act on.

 

[GAC]

I hear you, I am a carer for my dad (90), he has Alzheimer's, the money I get to look after him is only £67 a week (try living on that), I would go back to working if I could, at least minimum wage is a lot better then carers allowance, my mum can't cope so I had to help her, the Government don't care how hard it is or scraps of money they give you.

Normal job working is 1000x easier then looking after somebody that has Alzheimer's, I've had a few jobs in my time from military to large companies, it makes you appreciate carers and what they go through when you end up doing the same thing as them.

As a carer you don't really have a life, you can't switch off completely, it's a 24/7 job in my case.

My brother lost his job due to covid so he is helping us out at the moment, gives me time to type this.

you should be able to get income support as well, not a lot but its something.

as for my own situation now my mothers taken a turn for the worse so the way things stand she could die within the next few months, got carers coming in 4 times a day and district nurses twice a week, but now im basically house bound now with her while she slowly deteriorates until the inevitable.

then i get a 8 week window of the same amount in benefits until the job centres let loose on me and i end up being told to go be a carer as i have so much experience now. yeah no, talking with the carers who come here they only get min wage while their company charges a lot more.