Help me understand please

[Guest]

Dear all

I am new to being a carer and have just been awarded £37.70 topped up with £55.50 per week to look after my mother on a full time basis.

I am now having to live with my mother in a one bedroom flat and care for her every day.

The benefits system says that as a single man I need approx £60.50 each week to live off as I do not have any savings or property to my name.

So whilst I was not very good at Maths in my school days I work for 35 hours and more for a grand total of 27.70 approx to look after my mother as the official carer

This country is in such a mess just like me thanks very everyone. look forward to any feedback

Ian from Keighley

[charles47]

Welcome aboard, Ian.

Unfortunately you've found out how "helpful" the benefits system is the hard way: quite a few of us have fallen foul over the years.

There are a number of campaigns ongoing about this - the main one at the moment being "Real Change not Short Change." You can find a link in the "News and Campaigns" section - have a good look around. Lots to see: no doubt others will welcome you as they pop in for a look.

[rosemary]

Welcome to the forum Ian.

If you have time take a look round the main site too.A wealth of information to be found and also details of carers groups local to you.

Rosemary

[BigRob]

That is the main issue for carers. Despite the "carers survey" of real carers and thier needs the government obviously decided money is not an issue and claims any increase in benefit for carers will lead to more fraud.

I personally think we should be able to be part fo the direct payment scheme which provides a considerable amount of money to hire carers to look after you but cant be used on a member of your family, or that we should be given at least minimum wage for our 35 hours a week, especially since for some of us it is consdierably more.

If all the carers in britain who do this work for nothing were to say "I can't do it, sorry, the NHS will need to take over" the system would implode about a week later. But because we are getting on with it without making too much noise, the government is happy to ignore us and use thier money to fund much more important projects like buying playstations for prisons, paying people to stop taking thier illegal drugs or even paying kids to stay in school!

[Lazydaisy]

THought I would add my bit about schools.

The really badly behaved(are we allowed to call them that now) children in our local comp., have their own classroom and teachers plus support staff.Imagine the cost of funding that,which inculdes their own minibus and many trips. They are called "PRIDE"!The pride of the school. The same school had no interest in young carers, such as my two, even after discussing various issues with me, with regard to the many different disabilties and what children may need to do before they even get to school. Their argument was that they had to treat all pupils the same.

Welcome aboard Ian

[Guest]

I want to say a big thank you for all your replies. It comes with great comfort that I'm not alone.

If the local MP or Governing bodies just sat down and went through this site alone the answers are staring them in the face.

for the 1st time in my life I actually feel trapped by the system.

[BigRob]

The "system" is very cleverly designed. Its so mind numbingly complicated that you need a degree just to work out hwo the application forms work. The only people who i have found to be completly at home with it and know exactly how the system and forms works are the people who are fiddling it for extra money.

The schools thing doesnt surprise me, my little brother had severe ADHD and the councils educational psycologist drew up an action plan after interviews and consultations. The headmistress then promptly ignored it and just sat wringing her hands complaining about hwo much trouble he was. My parents ended up nearly bankrupting themselves sending him to a private special school because the council said they wouldnt help until he was at least 3 years behind in ALL subjects.

We can only hope that the next government will bring some major reform and undo the 11 years of labour cockups caused by tony, postcode pat and thier friends.

[Julian Karswell]

Dear all

I am new to being a carer and have just been awarded £37.70 topped up with £55.50 per week to look after my mother on a full time basis.

I am now having to live with my mother in a one bedroom flat and care for her every day.

The benefits system says that as a single man I need approx £60.50 each week to live off as I do not have any savings or property to my name.

So whilst I was not very good at Maths in my school days I work for 35 hours and more for a grand total of 27.70 approx to look after my mother as the official carer

This country is in such a mess just like me thanks very everyone. look forward to any feedback

Ian from Keighley

In awarding benefits and allowances to carers the policitians know that they can take cynical advantage of the carers' goodwill towards their dependents. So instead of paying the going rate - say £6.00 per hour for argument's sake, to say nothing of enhancements for working unsociable hours - they probably pay about £100-£150 for a 100 hour working week.

If such a job were advertised it would surely breach various EU and H&S rules:

FULLTIME CARER WANTED
* 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year
* Salary circa £0.75p - £1.00 per hour depending on experience
* Must be a fit car owner with no social life and ideally a home owner
* Should expect stressful working conditions i.e. possible physical and mental abuse
* You may be required to dispense medications and watch your client die in unpleasant circumstances
* Postholder must allocate a further unpaid two hours per day to form-filling and phone calls

[Lazydaisy]

Julian, you only have 16 hours in the day. Haven't you forgotten the other eight , on -call, wothout an on-call allowance which emergency services get?

Most Carers are on-call, when they are not actively caring.I expect you are, woth two young sons, aren't you?

[Julian Karswell]

You're quite right. Both of my boys have been unsettled during the last 2 - 3 nights for example, resulting in less than four hours sleep per night (and even then, it's what doctors term broken sleep).

The only respite we get is when they are at school i.e. five hours a day, Mon - Fri during term times. Having said that, one of my boys is home today with a virus, which obviously restricts what you can do with your time.

JK