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Sidsnotwasere · Joined: 24 Jan 2008 Posts: 705

Thank you.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/caringiswork/

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to withdraw the
proposal to transfer carers on carers allowance and income
support to job seekers allowance and to recognise carers'
valuable social input by keeping carer benefits separate from
the rest of the benefit system.

In the Welfare Green Paper No One Written Off: Reforming
Welfare to Reward Responsibility the Government proposes to
transfer working age carers on Carers Allowance and Income
Support to Job seekers Allowance. Carers are amongst the most
responsible members of society. Without their contribution our
NHS and social care systems would collapse. Transferring carers
to job seekers allowance , a benefit that suggests carers are
not working, are not contributing to society and are available
for work is an insult and a contradiction of the government’s
claim to ‘recognise’ carers’ ‘immense contribution’ to society
(estimated to be worth £87 billion a year). Carers' valuable
social input should be recognised by keeping carer benefits
separate from the rest of the benefit system.

BoB · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:34 pm Post subject:

I sometimes wonder if MPs live in the same world as the rest of us!

With their big fat pay packet I don't suppose they stop to think or how much this will cost in the long run or how it affects the carer or the cared for. Put a carer back to work and it will cost everyone more!

If they go back to work, they have to put the person into care, which no doubt will cast the tax payer more and maybe the person will also be out of pocket as no doubt they will have to pay as well.
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Xcotty · Admin Joined: 14 Jul 2008 Posts: 1377 Location: Highlands

Signed it Sid.

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Zaf · Joined: 16 Jan 2008 Posts: 278

me too

of course the MPs dont live in the same world as us, what a daft idea that they might

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niclaramartin · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 32

It would be laughable, if it were not so sad. I've just managed to get my daughter back to her Day Centre after, she was at home for eight months, because she broke her leg whilst in the Centre. I was responsible for her care 24/7 (although the staff at the Centre were very good, and keen to help - just it wasn't practicable - especially with Moving and Handling regulations which wouldn't have let them lift my daughter etc). Three years ago she broke her knee whilst she was in Respite, so another six months at home. So, in the last three years she has spent fourteen months at home - just when am I supposed to find the time to "seek" a job? And, what employer is going to employ someone who needs to take time off work every month in the winter because their daughter is ill (this has gone on for thirty years, so is not going to change now? ) I AM able to do a few hours a week (when my daughter is on a good run healthwise), but only because I work for my husband. I also volunteer (no set time that I have to work, so "do-able", or bin-able, depending on daughter's health), and I know many Carers who also do this, with their "spare" time.

I am in no way out of the ordinary. Carers the length and bredth of the country, have spells of intense caring for their relative. Lack of sleep, bad backs (genuine), aching limbs, exhaustion, stress and lack of time for "self" are all part and parcel of the "job" of caring. I've lurched from one bug to the next this year, simply because my defenses are so low. We haven't been able to take a holiday for the past three years, because of my daughter's lack of mobility and osteoporosis. And unlike MPs we don't get weekends off, or twenty four day Christmas holidays

If a female MP wanted to walk in my steps for a week, I'd give her half a day, before she threw the towel in, at the prospect of toileting, feeding, lifting, cleaning, running around behind my daughter (who has no concept of danger, and is at constant danger of breaking more bones), or wheeling a wheelchair on the wobbly pavements/poor access to buildings. Not to mention trying to lift a big beastie of a wheelchair into the boot of the car. But, mainly, I think her "Human Rights" would be infringed, when she had to develop a bladder the size of an elephants (you can't go to the toilet and leave the person you are caring for in danger), or had to eat cold meals, (yours gets cold whilst you feed the person you are caring for/ drink cold tea (same reason).

But, Government and MPs of all parties, know that we WILL save the country a fortune, because we love our relative, and we will continue to care for them (for our Fifty pieces of gold a week). BUT, to then say that we should be treated as workshy, really does add insult to injury. Of course, I know the PC brigade will be saying that Carers need an outlet to allow THEM to develop as a person, separate from the person they are caring for.

And, yes, I have heard our Social Work Dept use this argument

That somehow we are not fulfilled as people

You know what I'd do with that time, they are planning to say is surplus, and when I could go out to work - I'd sit down, I'd have a long soak in the bath, I'd try to go swimming, I'd try to join a salsa class. In other words, I would pamper myself, and I defy the Government to tell me I shouldn't.

What Carers need is a "wage" which is not derisory from the Government (£50 a week, well below the minimum wage) - and you know what, that would make Carers feel valued and "fulfilled". We need the Government to pay our stamps towards our pension. We need the Government to make sure that all Carers can get a Respite break. We need the Government to stop the iniquitous "tax" of charging elderly and disabled people to go to Day Centres - freeing up their money to pay the extra costs of heating/special clothing/transport/laundry/wear and tear on washing machines/special diets/parking at hospitals (we still have to pay)/adaptations/wheelchairs/aids............ We need the Government to send a Welfare Officer to every house where someone is being Cared for to make sure they are claiming all their benefits. We need the Government to make sure that Local Councils are fulfilling their obligations to the disabled and elderly, and most of all we need the Government to start to comprehend what being a Carer is like (they spend more on lunch, than I earn in a week of round the clock care). But, instead, what do we get? We get a Government which treats Carers as if we are sitting on our bums all day with our hands out. We get a Government which thinks that it is acceptable to undermine our "self worth". We get a Government which thinks there are twenty five hours in the day. We get a Government with no concept of what Caring is. We get a Government which does not care for it's Carers.

And, I am only able to post this because I am on a laptop, whilst I am sharing/sleeping in the same room as my daughter, as her leg is still not strong enough if she got out of bed at night, and we can't get her upstairs to her bedroom - and I have several friends who have disabled children, who have done this for years.

Got me at the wrong time with that petition,

which I shall be running to sign.

Xcotty · Admin Joined: 14 Jul 2008 Posts: 1377 Location: Highlands

Nic's, I know what you mean, about the carers not being cared for.
I needed some help a few years ago.
I looked after my Mum, at home.
Spent everyday tired, desperate for sleep, and some help.
I got help one day a week, from this woman, who did not care.
She couldn't lift my Mum, as she hurt her.
So I was there, when she was, so I could do the lifting.

Makes me mad, when I think about it.
I spent most of the time, making this woman tea, and something to eat.
She was there for 6 hours, which isn't enough, when you need sleep.
It meant I could nip out, and do a weekly shopping tho.

We need good carers, who actually do have a caring nature.
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niclaramartin · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 32

Xcotty, I never cease to be amazed at how Social Work run their depts. We have Carers whose children are very profoundly mentally and physically disabled, and some get help to get them up in the morning - of course they have to pay for this. But, then there are others, who have equally as disabled children, and desperately want help, but can't get Care Assistants to come into their homes, because the bathrooms are too small to get wheelchairs in, use hoists, bathe etc. So, what happens is that the mum gets the wheelchair into the bathroom (and as the bathroom is too small to get a hoist in too, the mum has to lift the disabled child(who is actually an adult) into the shower/bath manually. Social Work won't send in Care Assistants, as having done moving and handling and Risk Assessments, it has been deemed too dangerous to the Care Assistants backs to lift manually. So mum is left to just get on with it. And the punchline to this wee tale, is that the families in question live in specially adapted disabled homes

(with bathrooms too small for the needs of the disabled person)

We also have the added situation in our city, that the Social Work Dept has decided to start charging disabled people to attend Day Centres (we received a letter dated 3rd April, on 5th April, telling us that the charges would start on 7th April - this has been moved back to June). There was NO consultation. But the worst of this story is that they decided to charge without having costed and budgeted BEFORE sending out this letter and even today 26th October, the Council have not been able to tell people how much they are going to be charged. Some have been told £25 per week, others £30, but I have no idea how much my daughter will have to pay per week. The irony of this is that the disabled community receive benefits, and the last one they receive is Income Support which states, something along the lines of "You are being allowed £X, as that is the amount of money which the government deems necessary for you to live on", and then our local Council come along and take £X per week off what is deemed NECESSARY by the Government.

As I say at this rate, the disabled community in my city will all be in debt to the tune of hundreds if not thousands by the time Social Work Dept get their finger out, Assess, and inform people how much they need to pay a week. Some parents have decided to keep their children at home as they can't afford to lose thirty pounds plus a week - bearing in mind as you know, that they require extra heating/special aids/adaptations/wheelchairs/wear and tear on washing machine/laundry costs/special clothing etc, which all costs a lot of money, which the able community don't need to spend.

You really despair of their common sense and common decency towards those who need care.

niclaramartin · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 32

Xcotty, thinking of your situation with your mum, sadly that is so common. I now realise that a lot of the voluntary sector/charities offer better services than those provided by Social Work Depts. The problem is that there don't seem to be enough Care Managers around who can assist at the BEGINNING when someone first needs a Carer, so that the family can be guided through services (voluntary and Council funded), which would help them with the care of their relative. And even if you get one, like me, you'll only see them when they have THEIR annual paperwork to fill in (so they can tick a box which says that THEY have completed their requirements).

The strange thing is that where I live the Social Work Inspection Agency's Report says that the two areas where our Social Work Dept are doing very well in, are BOTH to do with THEIR staff and THEIR working conditions (which apparantly are very good

). The two areas where they are doing worst is in providing Resources to their "clients"

So, the comment "Gie's a job" seems appropriate.