Hey everyone, I was trying to help one of my carees out today with their transition onto state pension. I noticed on the government calculator, in the section about non-dependent living with the claimant that this is one of the options... "living with you or your partner and paid by a charity to be ...

Hi everyone. Happy new year! Does anyone here know if there are any advice lines or services, or even an online forum, which offers advice on social care? In particular, direct payments. One of my carees has part of their care funded through direct payments, and she's having a hell of time being pas...

I feel for you, Londonbound. Experiencing a very similar thing with of my carees. She's housebound, severely disabled, with a litany of health issues, including mental health problems with anxiety and agoraphobia (developed due to the lack of care funding/services to support her getting out of the h...

We, as carers save the Government millions and still they 'ask' for a £200 month 'contribution' towards the care package as that is what PIP is for! This riles me to no end. The council asking for top-up to care packages from people who can barely survive on what benefits they get. Worse still, is ...

Hi everyone, Spent this afternoon going through some old care plans for a relative, and found something curious in regards to how our LA estimates their direct payment budget. It seems to be done on some kind of points based system, but there's no real information provided in the care plan about how...

The Care Act also says the client should be able to choose who they want "including friends and family". Yes, it seems the exceptional circumstances umbrella is just a get out of jail free card to help local authorities dodge paying unpaid family carers. I mean, hell, can you imagine them accuratel...

Hi everyone, So after years of being messed around by care agencies, my next door neighbour is being moved to a direct payment so he can control his own carers. He'd really like to employ his son, who's been acting as an unpaid carer since childhood. However, the son has some health issues of his ow...

Hi Melly,

Mine was the same, as were my carees, but apparently this past week they've given up on all the on-site precautions, which just seems like a huge gamble to me. You still can't get an appointment for love nor money, but they seem to have stopped caring who they let in the buildings.

Hi everyone, Just curious what everyone's experience is with their GP's or local hospital's at the moment? And how you all feel about the lifting or relaxing of restrictions in healthcare settings? Previously at my local surgery the main door had been locked, and you had to ring the bell to get some...

You're exactly right, Londonbound. It's just all so crazy to me how unnecessarily complicated and frustrating they make everything, and how they seem to defy all common sense with certain things. If you don't fit in the cookie cutter everything becomes a battle. Surely it makes more sense logistical...