Tag: Carers Trust

Scottish teenagers are missing out on carers benefit

Young people may be missing out on help because they don’t realise they’re carers

On Young Carers Action Day (13 March) teenagers who look after others are being urged find out if they’re eligible for a grant available only in Scotland. 

Since being introduced in 2019 by the Scottish Government, Young Carer Grant has delivered over £3 million to over 6,600 teenage carers.    

However a leading carers charity says many young people who look after others do not recognise themselves as carers, as they see the support they give as just part of family life. As a result, they do not know they’re entitled to benefits. 

Scottish Government figures suggest around 25% of those eligible for Young Carer Grant in 2022-23 did not apply.  

The Carers Trust has joined Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice Shirley-Anne Somerville to urge teenagers who look after others to recognise their vital caring role and to apply for the support available to them. 

Young Carers Grant, paid by Social Security Scotland, is available to those aged 16-18 who spend 16 or more hours a week looking after someone who gets a disability benefit. 

The grant was introduced in October 2019 by the Scottish Government to help young people with caring responsibilities and is part of a wider package of support for young carers funded by the Scottish Government. 

Paul Traynor, Head of External Affairs (Scotland) at Carers Trust, said: “There are lots of young people caring for a relative, friend or member of their community who don’t realise they’re young carers and could be eligible for financial support.

“They might help someone get dressed in the morning, help with shopping or provide emotional support, for example. The person they look after could have a disability, illness or addiction.  

“Young carers often view this as ‘just helping out’ or ‘part of family life’. It could even be expected as part of their culture. It is vital that all young carers know about their rights, what support they are entitled to, are able to have a life alongside caring and are helped to reach their full potential in all aspects of their lives.” 

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “I’m pleased that the grant we introduced has been able to deliver over £3 million to young carers in Scotland who are balancing their vital caring role with study or work.  

“However, we know many young people who look after others see the amazing work they do as part of life and do not recognise themselves as carers and so do not realise they can get financial support. 

“I urge any young person aged 16, 17 or 18 who looks after someone else to check if they’re eligible for Young Carer Grant and to apply if they are. It’s money they’re entitled to. 

“The payment is designed to recognise the important role of unpaid young carers and allow them to take part in the same activities as their peers, whether that’s driving lessons, going on a weekend away or buying new clothes.

“The money can be spent on whatever the young person wants.” 

Zainab, who is a young carer said: “I spent my grant on a piano keyboard. I’ve loved to do piano for a very long time but I didn’t have enough funds to buy one as they’re very expensive.

“So I used my Young Carer Grant to buy one and I love it!” 

Young carers may also be eligible for Carer Support Payment from Social Security Scotland or Carer’s Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions. 

Carer’s Allowance Supplement is also available as an extra payment for people in Scotland who get Carer Support Payment or Carer’s Allowance on a particular date each year.

These dates are available on mygov.scot/carers-allowance-supplement.  

Over 90% of unpaid carers ‘ignored’ 

  • 91% of unpaid family carers feel ignored by the Government.
  • Almost nine out of ten (86%) unpaid carers either agree, or agree strongly, that successive governments have ignored the needs of unpaid carers for a long time.
  • 84% of survey respondents disagreed, or disagreed strongly, with the statement ‘I have confidence in the Government’s ability to improve the lives of unpaid carers’.
  • 49% of survey respondents said they’d had to use their personal savings because of their caring role.
  • 51% of survey respondents said they’d had to give up on hobbies or personal interests because of their caring role.

Findings from a new Carers Trust survey provide alarming evidence of a deep-rooted failure by successive governments to understand and meet the basic support needs of millions of people struggling to provide unpaid care for a family member or friend.

There is a near total sense among survey respondents of feeling abandoned by Government over a long time. Almost nine out of ten (86%) of unpaid carers agreed, or strongly agreed, that ‘successive governments have ignored the needs of unpaid carers for a long time’.

And only 1% of respondents (just 12 out of more than 1,500 unpaid carers who completed the survey) felt that politicians understand unpaid carers.

A separate poll of the UK public by research company Opinium for Carers Trust found that UK adults support the need for unpaid carers to receive more support from the Government.

According to the Opinium poll:

  • Four in five UK adults (80%) agreed that the Government needs to do more to support unpaid carers.
  • More than two thirds (68%) of UK adults agreed that all unpaid carers should receive financial support from the Government.
  • Almost half (46%) of UK adults did not agree that Carer’s Allowance is a fair level of support for an unpaid carer looking after a family member or friend for a minimum of 35 hours a week.

Unpaid carers being driven into acute financial hardship

Carers Trust’s survey results also demonstrated how many unpaid carers are being driven into acute financial hardship because of their caring role, with inadequate financial support from successive governments widely cited by survey respondents in their written responses.

Of those unpaid carers responding to a question on whether they had had to give up paid work because of their caring role, almost half (48%) said they had.

Financial pressures arising from giving up paid work are further exacerbated for many unpaid carers unable to claim Carer’s Allowance. The survey found that, of those responding to a question on whether they were receiving Carer’s Allowance, more than half (51%) said they were not.

A common complaint from survey respondents was how family carers of pensionable age stopped receiving Carer’s Allowance because they were receiving pensionable income, even though they were caring for a family member round the clock:

“I did [receive Carer’s Allowance] until I reached my state pension age, but as they class a pension as a benefit and you cannot get two “benefits” it was taken away. I have an underlying right to it though…Caring gets harder as you get older.”

Many unpaid carers receiving Carer’s Allowance complained that payment of £67.60 a week inadequately recognised the number of hours they spent on their caring role. They also felt the payment was not enough, given the complexity of needs many carers have to deal with. One carer commented that, after adding up all the hours he spent caring for his wife, he was earning just 50p an hour from Carer’s Allowance.

Responding to the survey findings, Carers Trust’s Executive Director of Policy and External Affairs, Joe Levenson, said: “Day in day out millions of unpaid carers play a crucial role, caring for family and friends and propping up our creaking social care system. But it’s clear from our survey that this is at great personal cost, and that unpaid carers are struggling to cope and feel marginalised and ignored by government.

“Reading the anguished responses from unpaid carers you get an overwhelming sense of how so many have been brought to breaking point. Unpaid carers are united in saying that they feel ignored and let down by the failure of successive governments to improve their lives, including through wide-reaching social care reform that could ease the responsibilities of care placed so heavily on family carers.

“That’s why the all too familiar practice of paying lip service to supporting carers while looking the other way must stop now. We welcome the UK Government’s recognition of the importance of unpaid carers in the recent adult social care white paper and are committed to working together to improve carers lives, but unpaid carers need ambitious and transformational change and they need it now.

“The Government could let carers know they have been heard straight away by introducing a national strategy for unpaid carers, to ensure their needs are a priority across government.

“And they should act on what unpaid carers have told us, putting them at the heart of this strategy so it’s able to deliver the transformational change that’s desperately needed – such as boosting Carer’s Allowance and making it easier to claim and funding regular breaks and respite for carers.”

In response to the survey findings, and on behalf of the carers who told us what was needed, Carers Trust is calling on Government to develop a new UK Government Strategy for Carers. ;

The strategy should include: improved availability of statutory care and support for people with care and support needs of all ages, so that unpaid carers’ caring roles are sustainable; improved support for unpaid carers themselves, including regular breaks and respite so unpaid carers can live a meaningful life alongside caring; a reform of Carer’s Allowance so that unpaid carers are better protected against financial hardship.

Carers Trust’s full set of recommendations for Government, as well as comprehensive findings from the survey, are available in its report, Pushed to the Edge:

pushed-to-the-edgeDownload

Emergency Fund to provide a lifeline for unpaid carers struggling to cope with Coronavirus

  • There are an estimated 7 million unpaid carers in the UK providing care to family members and friends with long-term illnesses, disabilities, poor mental health or substance addictions.
  • Hundreds of thousands of carers are providing care round-the-clock, experiencing isolation and poor physical and mental health as a result.
  • Huge upsurge in queries from carers regarding concerns caused by Coronavirus.

Carers Trust is launching today an emergency appeal to help unpaid carers who are struggling to cope with the enormous impact of Coronavirus and self-isolation while still providing care and support to family members and friends.

All donations made online by the public will go straight into Carers Trust’s Carers Emergency Fund. The Fund will be used to ramp up Carers Trust’s existing grants programme, providing more small grants more quickly to those carers who need them most. It will provide grants of any amount up to £300 directly to carers, helping them overcome the hurdles that Coronavirus is throwing up on a daily basis.

Carers Trust has been receiving a huge upsurge in communications through its Network from carerslooking after people, young and old, whose lives have been made extremely challenging as a result of the Coronavirus lockdown. 

One Carers Trust Network Partner has reported a 100% increase in the number of emails it is receiving from carers since the outbreak of Coronavirus. The same Network Partner reports a 177% increase in people visiting its website (an average of 466 visitors per day). All communications from carers, whether calls or emails, are prompted by concerns about Coronavirus.

Examples of problems described by carers

These problems will be addressed through grants made available by Carers Trust to carers in need:

  • Lack of money for petrol from a carer whose 98 year-old father was released from hospital after 28 days battling Coronavirus. The carer did not want paid care workers coming into the house and risking re-infection. With her only income being Carers Allowance of £67.25 per week, however, she could not afford to make the 18 mile round-trip three times a day to care for him properly.
  • The lack of money to meet the cost of purchasing a small tablet so that an unpaid carer can keep in regular contact with the person they care for, reducing their loneliness and isolation and ensuring their health doesn’t deteriorate.
  • A carer had no money to buy a cooker after ordering one from Bright House just before they went into administration. She had no further funds to get one in any other way. The carer has three children with disabilities who need very particular foods.

Launching Carers Trust’s emergency appeal, CEO Gareth Howells said: “Unpaid carers are the backbone of our society, providing huge levels of care to family members that are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. But all too often the commitment and sacrifices they make go unnoticed.

“At Carers Trust we are constantly hearing about the daily struggles of unpaid carers and how their lives have now been thrown into turmoil as a result of Coronavirus.

“Some unpaid carers simply cannot find food because food banks have closed. Others are spending considerable amounts of money caring for their family members because it’s not safe for the social care workforce to do so.

“That’s why we are launching the Carers Emergency Fund. It will increase the number of grants we are able to make and ensure this happens as quickly as possible to ease the pressures on unpaid carers.”

“This Fund also shows Carers Trust’s determination to stand by these heroes, keeping them afloat so they can continue to care for their loved ones. I’d urge anyone able to do so to visit the Carers Trust website to donate and show their support for unpaid carers who really are the backbone of our social care system.”

Sir Trevor Pears CMG, Executive Chair, Pears Foundation, added: “The Coronavirus crisis has made an already difficult situation for carers far, far worse.

“That’s why we think it is so important to support the Carers Emergency Fund which will significantly increase funds that can speedily be turned into grants for carers. These grants will serve as a real lifeline at this time of crisis, getting financial support swiftly to vulnerable unpaid carers.”

Count Me In!

Young carers call for educational equality and an end to isolation

Thousands of children and young people across the UK will take part in activities today to highlight the need for far more support for young carers from government, schools and local authorities.

The call comes on Young Carers Awareness Day, an annual event led and organised by Carers Trust. The day aims to raise awareness of the pressures experienced by young carers – children who need to look after someone in their family, or a friend, who is ill, disabled or misuses drugs or alcohol.

Count Me In! Young carers call for educational equality in UK schools

Scottish Government figures estimate the number of young carers in Scotland to be around 29,000. However, further research by Carers Trust shows that as many as one in five secondary school children may be a young carer. For many, the caring journey begins long before they reach secondary school.

But whatever their age, the need to provide care can have a negative impact on the wellbeing, education and future prospects of young carers. Caring responsibilities all too often lead to an inability to complete homework, late arrival at school or even non-attendance.

Research indicates that young carers on average receive lower grade in their public exams than their peers who do not have caring responsibilities at home.

But despite the challenges faced by young carers, far too many remain unidentified and hidden away from support. These problems are less likely to build up if young carers are proactively identified as early as possible.

Once identified, young carers’ circumstances at home can be better understood. This will help schools ensure that young carers are receiving the additional support they need to address their vulnerability to lower than average educational attainment.

This is why Carers Trust has made Count Me In! the theme for this year’s Young Carers Awareness Day.

To ensure as many young carers as possible are identified in future, Carers Trust and young carers are calling on:

  • compulsory education providers to acknowledge their unique position to identify young carers at an early stage so appropriate support can start as soon as possible; and to recognise young carers as a vulnerable group of learners who require additional support so they can engage in their education and go on to lead enjoyable, fulfilled lives.
  • The Scottish Government to monitor implementation of legislation relating to young carers, including how many young carers are identified and supported; and to ensure that local authorities receive appropriate funding so they are able to fulfil their statutory duties to provide young carers and their families with the support they need; and collect attendance and attainment data on all identified young carers in education.

Gareth Howells, Carers Trust CEO, said: ““I know as a former young carer myself that it’s hard enough for young carers to have to juggle all the pressures of school and exams with caring for family members.

“They are often dealing with complex problems which many adults would struggle to deal with – from disability and terminal illness to mental health problems, alcoholism and substance misuse.

“The need to support hundreds of thousands of young carers right across the UK could not be clearer. But far too often the needs of young carers are ignored, leaving them unnoticed and unsupported.

“Our colleagues in local authorities, education and government need to be doing far more to identify young carers at as early a stage as possible so they can achieve their potential at school and lead happy, fulfilled lives.”