Since the new coalition came to power there has been much noise made about their new programme for government and now Welfare reform. Yet one group of people overlooked is family carers. There has been no details forthcoming which outlines the governments plans for Carer Benefits’.
Spanning many years there has been report after report, suggestions made by think tanks, select committees, consultations, Big Care Debate, green/white papers for Welfare Reform and reform of Social Care. And yet….Carers are still waiting
A few examples ..
July 2007
Breakthrough Britain
Family carers are undervalued in our society and receive a disproportionately low level of financial support given the many hours of work that they do.
Carers of elderly and disabled people are not adequately resourced or recognize for the work they do.
August 2008
Give family carers £110 a week wages, MPs demand
Nov 2008
No 10 e petition re proposals of carers moving to JSA
PRTC 5 election asks for carers
The list could go on but we think the message these few examples give is loud and clear.
Carer Watch ask that the new coalition govt, along with DWP Secretary of State for Works and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith, give a statement regarding their intentions re Carers Benefits.
Carers have accepted their responsibilites, when will the government accept theirs?
Tags: ADASS, adult care, andrew lansley, andy burnham, attendance allowance, benefit, benefits, campaigners, care, carer watch, Carers, carers allowance, carers uk, david cameron, disability living allowance, elderly, iain duncan smith, learning disability, national care service, nick clegg, norman lamb, parliament, social care, welfare reform, welfare reform bill, White Paper Social Care
CarerWatch Blog 
28 May 2010 at 18:33 |
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rosemary, Rosemary. Rosemary said: Carers deserve answers……: http://wp.me/pHmFD-8H […]
28 May 2010 at 20:11 |
Many carers gave up work 5,10,15,20, years age to take on the role of a full time carer for either a child or an elderly parent .
we give our disabled relatives the full time one 2 one care that the state / N.H.S. can not provide , when the stae N.H.S. do provide one 2 one care it is at a massive cost to the tax payer.
we keep our caree`s out of residential care and out of the N.H.S. saving the state billions of pounds year on year.
we need stability within our lives and all the “rumours ” surrounding the carers allowance is one thing we a carers can do without ..
many carers like myself survive on the carers allowance only, as i have a small occupational pension which bars me from any other benfit help at all .
if the carers allowance was means tested i could end up with no benefit help at all.
1 June 2010 at 18:11 |
Thanks for your comments George. Lets hope they will listen and give a statement as requested.
28 May 2010 at 20:16 |
Question– if carers were to move on to some kind of “out of work ” benefit would all who are at this moment entitled to the carers allowance still receive the carers allowance , and will it be raised to the same level as others on the “out of work” benefit,
will carers be exempt from seeking work or exempt from attending the job centers , if i had to attend any kind of interview it would cost me £17 per hour for a domicillary care worker to sit with my caree as she can not be left alone , and all day domicillary care is means tested and we have been told we must pay for all,care including respite care fromm local authority..
28 May 2010 at 20:18 |
IIAN DUNCAN SMITH in his report BROKEN BRITAIN which is the backbone of his welfare / benefit reform , said the carers allowance should be doubled at the time from about £50 up to £100
DOES HE STILL HOLD THAT VIEW ..
will all carers who receive the allowance now continue to receive the allowance whatever the changes are ..
28 May 2010 at 20:23 |
we as carers save the N.H.S. some 87 billion £`s each and every year ..
social care begins at home when carers accept their RESPONSIBILITIES as Mr CAMERON wants us all to do .
we want the FREEDOM to care for our elderly disabled relatives at home with dignity,respect& compassion as all elderly deserve .
FAIRNESS Mr CAMERON talks about FAIRNESS and RESPONSIBILITIES .
is it FAIR to “pay” carers the lowest benefit available and as we all know it is in fact a “workfare” benefit we have been on workfare benefit for decades ..
29 May 2010 at 10:45 |
I am reminded of a little known passage from Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. The speech was made on the 28 August 1963 ‘March on Washington’ commemorating the centenary of President Abraham Lincholn’s Gettysburg Address, and pointed to the gulf between Lincoln’s aspiration and the reality of 100 years later.
King said that it was like a ‘promisory note’ or cheque that repeatedly came back marked ‘insufficient funds’. King also warned against the ‘tranquilising drug of gradualism’.
(My own immediate circumstances are that I am on very low income and with home computer problems, leaving me to rely on an hour’s library PC access over bank holiday to get it fixed. I’m also a slower reader and writer than most, so this will not be a definitive response.)
The Green Party of England & Wales now has one MP in Caroline Lucas MP who is committed to a sustainable, much more equal society as I am. Other parties have let us poor folk down, and I am particularly horrified at the way that the Employment & Support Allowance is still going to be rolled out primarily as a ‘cost cutting measure’ while the Welfare Reform Act 2009 becomes a slavers’ charter with govt money squandered in a new ‘commodities market’ as other global resources are depleted. Lib Dem MP Steve Webb – despite several years in post as DWP Spokesperson – is now in cahoots against this, along with his party leader who have signed up to the Carerwatch pledges.
Some say that the Green Party focused too much on combating inequality in its 2010 General Election campaign. They say that Greens should have focused more on combating global catastrophe. I disagree, as does Caroline Lucas MP. Caroline Lucas MP and I say that inequality of UK proportions is a catastrophe aligned to the global environmental catastrophe.
I shall close here for the time being, and forward the campaign on to other contacts.
29 May 2010 at 13:07 |
There is no doubt that the Green Party have given Carerwatch massive support for our campaign on ESA and we know Caroline Lucas will continue to suport us.
But CarerWatch expect the LibDems to play a full part in the coalition and there is no reason to think after their whole hearted rebuttal of the Welfare Reform Bills in both Houses and their full support for our General Election campaign that they will not continue to work for a fairer and more humane ESA.
The LibDems have always been one of the good guys in this. Perhaps Caroline can talk to Steve Webb about this.
1 June 2010 at 09:38 |
If you think Lib Dems are “good guys” you must be living on another planet
1 June 2010 at 10:51 |
In our response (jointly with four other organisations concerned with sensory impairment) to last year’s social care Green Paper, we said:
“Ways of supporting carers should be kept under review and developed as part of the mainstream of social care policy. In particular, both carers’ incomes and their own social care assessments are frequently inadequate; while the presence of a carer can lead to a very restricted definition of the disabled person’s needs also. Such issues are overdue for serious attention”.
They are still overdue.
1 June 2010 at 18:09 |
Thanks for your support Geoff.
1 June 2010 at 15:45 |
received today….
Hi Carer Watch,
Happy to support again,
Andrew Fisher
LRC joint Secretary
1 June 2010 at 18:10 |
Many thanks to Andrew and LRC for their continued support.
1 June 2010 at 15:56 |
Carer Watch would like to thank Vern Pitt at CommunityCare ( Adult services ) for helping raise awareness of these issues.
Read Verns’ blog here http://bit.ly/9K3LA7
1 June 2010 at 16:21 |
Responding to Carer Watch’s statement on carers’ benefits, Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers UK said:
“The new Secretary of State and his team have outlined their intentions for 21st century welfare reform, and it is now critical that they set a target to ensure that carers are not left in financial hardship as a result of caring. In Carers UK’s manifesto we called for all political parties to pledge to end carer poverty and set out an urgent timetable for a review of carers’ benefits. We support Carer Watch’s call for the new Government to consider carers in its plans as a matter of urgency.”
1 June 2010 at 18:14 |
Many thanks for your support Emily. Along with CUK latest campaign.. Its Time, http://bit.ly/9KUD02 , lets hope the Coalition government will listen and take action.
3 June 2010 at 00:15 |
CommunityCare
Carers: Ministers urged to deliver on election promises http://bit.ly/aD7wcX
3 June 2010 at 16:42 |
Both the Lib Dems and Conservatives said they wanted to look at carers’ benefits during our roundtable with them in March. Since they are both now in Government, they should be able to work together on this. We recognise that there are a variety of priorities for the new Government and it will take time for them work these out, but the Government should be clear in saying whether they will act, what they will do and when.
Gordon Conochie
Joint Policy & Parliamentary Officer
The Princess Royal Trust for Carers & Crossroads Care
6 June 2010 at 14:23 |
I have recently retired and my carers allowance removed.Apart from this being daylight robbery some consideration should be given to those who have cared for our loved ones when it comes to pension rights.Not only have people like myself been struggling during our ‘working’ lives but we were unable to contribute to personal pensions and certainly not works ones! So we’ve given up our early lives for a pittance and now we’ve got to do it in ‘retirement’.
17 June 2010 at 09:13 |
[…] On 2nd June 2010, Carer Watch called on the government to make a statement regarding their intentions re Carers Allowance. To date there has been no response from them. […]