There are about six million unpaid carers in the UK and most of them are under pension age. If they did not do this work it would cost taxpayers an estimated £57 billion – that’s £57,000,000,000 – a year to replace them.
Research by Age Concern found that the most common age to become a carer is in your fifties. So just as your children are becoming independent someone else starts to need your time and attention. Caring for another adult – whether it is a partner or a relative – can be very expensive. The campaign group Carers UK found that more than four out of five new carers aged 45-54 were worse off as a result of caring. More than half had to give up work to care and one in five had to work fewer hours. One in three said they had been in debt as a result of caring and one in five had cut back on food and one in four on heating to make ends meet. Some financial help is available – but Age Concern reckons that one in four carers do not know about it and that £740 million a year goes unclaimed. Most carers are women, though four out of ten are men, and often not closely related to the person they care for.
Carer’s allowance
The most important benefit is carer’s allowance. It is only £48.65 a week –
just over £2500 a year. To get it you have to care for at least 35 hours a week.
So the allowance actually pays you a maximum of £1.39 an hour. That is about a
quarter of the minimum wage which everyone in work should get!
To get carer’s allowance the person you look after has to be disabled enough to get attendance allowance (or constant attendance allowance) or disability living allowance care component at the higher or middle rate. The mobility component of the DLA does not count.
If you do paid work to supplement carer’s allowance then you will immediately hit a problem. As soon as your weekly wages exceed £87 your carer’s allowance will stop. So if you earn £87 you will get the full £48.65. If you earn £87.01 you will get nothing.
At the moment the National Minimum Wage is £5.35 an hour. So if you work for 16 hours at that rate you will earn £85.60 and will still qualify for the carer’s allowance. However, from 1 October the minimum wage rises to £5.52 an hour. So 16 hours a week will bring in £88.32 a week which means carer’s allowance will stop. So for an extra £2.72 earnings you will lose £48.65 a week carer’s allowance!
One answer of course is to work fewer hours – 15 hours will reduce the wages to just below the limit so carer’s allowance can be paid as well. But that can bring with it another problem. Many carers who work supplement their low pay with working tax credit. Normally you have to work at least 30 hours a week to qualify. But if you have a dependent child or if you are fifty or more and are returning to work you only need work 16 hours a week. So cutting your hours to 15 you will stop you getting Working Tax credit. That can cost you more than losing the carer’s allowance.
Since April 2007 carers have been entitled to ask for flexible working to help with their caring duties. The employer can say ‘no’ but must explain clearly their reasons for refusing.
Carers under 60 who do not work may be able to get extra money through income support. This means-tested benefit depends on what other income and savings you have. If you live as a couple then it depends on joint income and savings.
State pension
If you get state pension you cannot get carer’s allowance as well – the two
payments are said to ‘overlap’. That is because both carer’s allowance and state
pension are supposed to replace income you cannot earn because of your
circumstances. As they fulfil the same role you cannot get them both at the same
time. That official explanation understandably infuriates many carers. But it
means that if you get carer’s allowance it will normally stop once you reach
pension age and claim your state pension.
If you are already over pension age when you start caring, claiming the allowance may seem pointless. But carer’s allowance is still worth claiming even if you get nothing. That is because if you qualify you still get what is called an ‘underlying entitlement’ to carer’s allowance. That is useful because it will add as much as £27.15 to any pension credit or income support you claim. It will also cut your council tax by up to £5.43 a week and can mean more money off your rent by boosting housing benefit. It is important you make clear that you are entitled to carer’s allowance when you claim these benefits. Some carers who live alone with the person they care for – who is not their spouse or child – may get a further reduction in council tax. Ask your council.
If you get carer’s allowance and you are under pension age you will get a National Insurance credit for each week you care which will help ensure you get a full state pension. If you fulfil the conditions for carer’s allowance but do not get it for some reason then you will be given different help towards your pension – not as good but still worth having – called Home Responsibilities Protection. From April 2010 carers will get a full credit whether they claim carer’s allowance or not.
Practical help
All carers now have a right to an assessment by the social services
department of their local council. That is to see if they are willing to care –
or carry on caring – and if so what help they might need. It is important to
prepare for it by making a list of everything you do for the other person, even
things you take for granted like cleaning or cooking as well as more personal
things like bathing or dressing. You should also list the things that would make
your life as a carer easier. Remember, just because you do some things does not
mean you have to do everything.
Although you have a right to this assessment, social services does not have a duty to provide the help you need. So you may end up with a long list of things you need to help you care and get nothing! However, there is a way to putyour needs into a category that social services cannot ignore. The person needing the care also gets their own assessment. And social services does have a duty to provide for their needs. So if you can get your needs set out as part of that assessment they have to be provided. After all, if you cannot cope their care will suffer. It’s a trick – but one which Carers UK says does work.
One of the main things carers need is a break. Caring can be a full time occupation and having a week or two off from time to time can recharge the batteries and make life easier. Even an hour or two off in the day, or a day at a weekend can make a lot of difference to a carer. The council can arrange from someone to sit in the house while you go out for an hour or two or even provide a week or more in a care home while you have a holiday. Always remember that the council has a duty to provide care for anyone who needs it if there is no-one willing to give that care. So if you stop giving the care that would be far more expensive for social services to provide it.
Each case must be considered separately on its own merits. Many councils will resist giving carers what they need. Either they are ignorant of the rules or they are so strapped for cash they will say they cannot afford it. One thing the council cannot do is to have a blanket policy that it never gives carers a particular service. Each person must be separately considered on their own merits. You can challenge a decision – every social services department has complaints procedure and you have a right to see any information they hold on you. If that does not work there is a local government ombudsman who may be able to help.
You can get help with carer’s benefits and problems through the local citizen’s advice bureau. Carers UK offers advice to carers and campaign for improvements. Call 0808 808 7777 or on the web at carersuk.org
September 2007