Unpaid Carers Forced to Repay Benefits

A leading carers' charity says that a "huge" number of unpaid carers looking after disabled, frail or ill relatives, are facing severe fines from the government. Carers UK has now launched a petition calling for Parliament to review and reform the Carer's Allowance to increase support and reduce overpayments.

Elizabeth Tait looks after her son who has Down's syndrome and had to pay back the government £1623 after taking on extra supply teaching shifts to help with her family's finances.

Broadcast on 02/05/24

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#GMB #unpaidcarers #nhs #carers #disability #benefits

[naomi]

Unpaid carers save the country £162 billion per year - the equivalent of the entire NHS budget. Every time a carer gives up on unpaid caring because they can’t afford to live, it costs the public purse around £88, 816 per year to provide 24/7 care to that carer’s loved one. The country would go bankrupt overnight if carers stopped putting up with this nonsense - they are holding this country up and out of economic implosion.

[rebeccamondloch]

£81.90 is only £2.34 per hour pay carers at least minimum wage. Carers save this government millions

[goodluck-mxqr]

You should cover MPs claiming 2 houses and saying honest mistakes, side by side with carers who are being punished for little mistakes, and show the hypocrisy by those elected to serve and serve no one but themselves.

[Vinny-Zen]

The basic annual salary for an MP from 1 April 2024 is £91, 346. MPs also receive expenses to cover the costs of running an office, employing staff, having somewhere to live in London or their constituency, and travelling between Parliament and their constituency. Meanwhile carers receive £4, 258. How is that fair?

[alphafemme]

This woman deserves a personal apology, a medal, compensation and a long holiday.

[beverlysbrookes]

This woman was so decent and lovely. The money she is saving this government caring for her son, it's unbelievable how she and others have been treated, it's so unfair.

[rosemarygriffin]

Another issue that needs to be addressed is, when you become a pensioner, your carers allowance automatically stops. Yet we are still caring for our loved one, now an upaid.

[wendyford]

As long as she is caring for her son 35 hours a week her earnings beyond that time should not be government owned. She has saved the government a lot of money by caring for free

[ravinbarbs]

What the heck, unpaid carers should get a decent allowance It's disgusting

[ruthie_sos]

I’m glad this topic is reaching mainstream media. I have been a carer for over 11 years and it’s exhausting. Receiving less than minimum wage for a job that never stops with no days off. I have in 11 years had 2 days without my caring responsibilities only due to the fact I was hospitalised. Carers deserve to be given respite to recover and an actual reasonable amount of money to live on.
I previously calculated it would cost around £17k a week to cover the cost of the caring responsibilities for my family if I said I’d had enough. Enough is enough help those that need it urgently before we fail.

[mckenzie]

I was a long term carer for my mother. After she died I tried to get back into work but was told by employers I had been out of the job market for too long. When I asked my MP what the government were doing to help long term carers back into work, she told me to visit the job centre. We save them billions and they don't give a f**k about us.

[thepm]

This lady is a saint...this government showed be the ones taken to court...cruel beyond belief

[nathandraper]

Tax the global corporations properly! Get back all the money wasted on fraudulent PPE contracts!

Don't harm working people who struggle to make ends meet.The Government's priorities are all wrong.

[Rick-xpsy]

Take them to court, no wonder the tories are finished, the way they’ve treated the British public is sickening.

[SteveWebb]

I had to close my company when my father died and a few weeks later my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. As an only child I had to become my mother's carer. I get carers allowance which somehow is supposed to cover my existence. I have my own house I was doing up, which now I try and work on when I get a few hours to myself every week. Basically I'm living on my savings which I suspect is the same for most carers. I've paid my taxes for 35 years and also lots of taxes from my company, but there is basically no help when you need it.

[krg]

They need to make carers allowance the same pay as agency staff

[juggalomuthafacko]

I have been a carer for my mother for about 20 years and have been paying those darlings at the dwp back money for about 7 years now ( only another 2 to go ).
Because the local bank closed its branch and I put some of my parents money into my bank account because it was easier and I wouldn’t have to drag my disabled mother 10 miles to the next nearest bank. Anyway they knew very well that the money account but they insisted that I pay back over £6000.
I have since learned that neither of my parents received state pension for over 22 years ( my mother is 83 and my father passed away 4 years ago at the age of 82).
Those little sweethearts at the dwp would only pay back 1 years back pay of £4000 so that’s well over £200 thousand pounds they have lost out on.

The double standards of these individuals is truly sickening.

[acquiesce]

And 771 young men all crossed the channel yesterday who are all going to get a £1000 a week and a free 5 star luxury lifestyle.

[grunge_surf_witch_uk]

As a carer this is exactly what happened to me I got a second job and got fined £1000 and then fined again £500… also the more I work the more council tax i pay changes all the time! Then hit with bedroom tax of £70 a month! I can’t even afford food and not had a holiday for 10 years!! Worked in retail in the pandemic risking my life and my elderly dads just to survive!

[ojmkhnh]

My son was my carer for 2 years and was paid £65 a week. This nearly destroyed our relationship. He was made to pay it back with no explanation and at the same time I was forced to pay back £7000 for a false claim. I'm bed bound and unable to walk. Make that make sense. Carers who can barely speak English from overseas are being employed and doing minimum work for average £12 per hour. Yet family members are paid so little. Why pay Migrants when family members are so much better