I was asked why I decided it best to close UK Carers and that it had an important role in the online Carer community due to it's ability to ask the questions no other Carer group had the temerity to do. The main reason UK Carers closed it's doors so to speak was because of all the deviousness and lies from certain people and groups (read here for details..) It's fairly well-known what happened and who was involved so I'll put the record straight.

I decided (after being pestered by decent Carers) to keep re-launch UK Carers with the aim of getting Carers to be defined as a specific group set apart from others in the 'social care' muddled mixture that the various (government lapdog) charities seem intent on placing them in.

People on Carers Allowance are "Carers" in the benefit system to qualify for Carers Allowance you should be, according to the rules,

You may be able to get Carer's Allowance if you are aged 16 or over and spend at least 35 hours a week caring for a person who gets either:

Attendance Allowance

Disability Living Allowance at the middle or highest rate for care

Constant Attendance Allowance at or above the normal maximum rate with an Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

Constant Attendance Allowance at the basic (full day) rate with a War Disablement Pension

This is a little 'black and white' and doesn't take into account Carers such as child Carers or those studying or those in some form of employment or pensioner Carers who get their Carers Allowance stolen from them when they draw the state pension BUT, the key to this is that to qualify for Carers Allowance is that you have to be providing substantial care to someone that receives one of the mentioned benefits or allowances IE a 'disabled person' and if you went down this route it would possibly allow those people access to Carers Allowance in some form.

The Carer charities won't accept that Carers are a unique group in the benefit system and lump them in with people who are not Carers to 'fiddle the numbers' and justify their existence. That might be great for those paid a decent salary at these particular charities BUT it merely makes the case Carers put for a realistic income impossible. The government of the day will merely say "we can't afford to pay 6 million people any more than we already do".

There is almost always the claim that £40 or £50 million pounds a year in benefit goes unclaimed every year by Carers, well that's not hard to believe because the figures show there simply isn't the stated 6 million Carers.

Carers have to insist that they are a special case and a special group in the 'social care' system. We provide a lot of effort in keeping disabled people out of hospitals and care homes while at the same time receiving very little income for the work we do, and it is 'work'. Throw in guaranteed respite as and when we need it. Also the members of the Standing Commission on Carers should be removed and replaced with Carers from 'the real world', those that aren't well off financially and who have no idea what it is like to struggle to make ends meet, the present SCoC members come from privileged backgrounds and have good incomes, no wonder there is no urgency from them in bettering the position of Carers.

Past - present and future governments have enjoyed the benefits- financial and otherwise, our efforts have saved the UK a fortune, it's now time to reward Carers with their own classification and a decent income and the sooner Carers get that into their heads and fight from a 'real' position of strength the better.

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