Carers

Are you caring for a partner, family member or friend who is ill, frail or has a disability? Do you provide emotional support? Do you help with washing, dressing, feeding, taking medicines etc? If so then these pages could provide you with useful information.

Introduction

Many elderly, frail, sick or disabled people need support to enable them to live in the community and 5.7 million 'informal carers' (one in eight people) provide the majority of community care in Britain......

'Carers' are adults or children who have responsibility for providing care, without wages (Invalid Care Allowance is not considered a wage), for someone close to them who for the following reasons are unable to manage without help:

• An illness
• A physical impairment
• A mental health condition
• A learning disability
• the effects of age or frailty

Are you a Carer?

Are you caring for a partner, family member or friend who is ill, frail or has a disability? Do you provide emotional support? Do you help with washing, dressing, feeding, taking medicines etc?

If you are providing most of the care which a friend or relative needs, it is important that you are properly supported so that you do not have to cope on your own. There are a range of statutory and voluntary organisations that can provide information and support to carers and young carers.

How many carers are there in Herefordshire?

It is estimated that there are about 19,400 adult carers and 300 young carers in Herefordshire. Not all of these carers are providing regular and substantial care but the care they provide may be crucial to the person who needs it.

• Around 58% of carers are women and 42% are men
• 50% of all carers care for someone aged over 75
• Nearly 25% of carers have been caring for 5 - 9 years
• Nearly 25% of carers have been caring from 10 or more years

Government Legislation to Support Carers

In the last few years the Government has increasingly recognised the carer's role by introducing new rights for carers.

The Carers (Recognition & Services) Act -1995

In brief the Carers Act gives Carers providing regular and substantial care the right to ask Social Services for a 'Carers Assessment'. The Assessment is carried out by a Social Worker and is a chance for the carer to talk about himself or herself and how the care they give affects them. The assessment looks at what help and support the carer is able to give and what the carer does not want to give. This, together with the result of the assessment of the person requiring care, will be taken into account when deciding what services can be provided.

The Carer can also ask for an assessment if they intend to care for someone in the future, for example when someone leaves hospital or is planning to come and live with them.

Young carers (children and young people who look after someone) can also ask for an assessment.

The Carers & Disabled Children Act 2000

The Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 extends carers rights. The new Act does not mean that the 1995 Carers Act is no longer relevant. The new Act introduces new provisions but the Carers Act is still important in ensuring that a carer's ability to care is assessed and that they and the person they care for receive additional help on the basis of that assessment.

This Act extends the rights of some carers to an assessment when the person they care for refuses an assessment. It also gives parents of children with disabilities the right to an assessment. A Social Worker from Children's Services will discuss both the child's and the family's needs. This is an 'Assessment' and it should include the needs of parent carers. It is their opportunity to talk about the care they give and how giving this care affects them.

The Act also gives local authorities the power to:

• provide carers with services that help them to care;
• to provide direct payments to parent carers and carers for their own services;
• to provide vouchers for breaks services;
• the ability to charge carers for their own services

Financial Information for Carers

Many carers are entitled to financial help, which they may not be aware of...

1. Invalid Care Allowance

This is a taxable income-maintenance benefit for people caring for someone.

You may be eligible for up to £42.45 per week if you are:

• Aged 16 or over (from October 2002 people over 65 can claim for the first time)
• Spending at least 35 hours a week caring for someone who is getting either:
• Attendance allowance
• Disability Living allowance (middle or highest rate for person care)
• Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefits Constant Attend. Allowance
• War Pensions Constant Attendance allowance

You can get ICA if you earn less than £75 per week after you have paid things like:

• some National Insurance (NI) contribution
• Income Tax
• half of any money you pay towards a personal or occupational pension
• paying someone who is not a close relative to look after the disabled person while you are at work (up to a certain limit)
• paying someone who is not a close relative to look after children aged under 16 while you are at work (up to a certain limit)
• some other expenses

You cannot get ICA if you are in full-time education.

Even if ICA cannot be paid it may be worth claiming because it may give you 'underlying entitlement' to other benefits.

Points to consider:

Its worth getting advice before you claim because if the person you are caring for gets Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance they may lose their severe disability premium. Check whether they are getting either of these benefits.

Recent changes you may not be aware of:

There is now no upper age limit and this means that significant numbers of lower income carers and those carers (mostly women) with no Retirement Pension or a reduced rate of Retirement Pension will now benefit. If your retirement pension is less than ICA then your pension can be topped up to the weekly ICA rate.

• If you have a short break from looking after the person you care for, your ICA may be able to continue.
• You will earn extra pension through State Second Pension for every complete tax year you get ICA.
• Carers can continue to receive ICA for up to 8 weeks after the death of the person they care for.
• ICA will be renamed 'Carers Allowance' in April 2003

2. Income Support with Carers Premium

Carers who are unable to work over 16 hours or who can not sign on for work may be able to claim Income Support with a Carers Premium. The Carers Premium can allow up to £24.40 a week to be paid on top of any other Income Support a carer gets. Any other income a person has is taken into account when calculating how much Income Support the person can get. People under 60 years old cannot get Income Support if they have £8,000 or more in savings, while people over 60 cannot get Income Support if they have £12,000 or more in savings.

3. Other Financial Help

You may be able to get other financial help like Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

Ask for a benefits check from:

• Herefordshire Council Social Services, Welfare Rights Unit: 01432 383530
• Herefordshire Carers' Support: 01432 356068 (see above)
• Carers UK CarersLine: 0808 808 7777 (see above)

Or look at the national website (Department for Work and Pensions) by clicking on the link in the external links box at the bottom of the page.

Contacts for More Information

• Social Services
• Voluntary Organisations
• Web Sites
• Private Care Agencies

1. Social Services:

• If you would like to talk to a social worker, ask your doctor's surgery to put you in touch with the social worker. (A Social Worker is part of the team at every surgery in Herefordshire).
• Or telephone Herefordshire Council on 01432 260000 and ask for the Social Services Duty Desk.
• Or email: ssh_adults@herefordshire.gov.uk

2. Voluntary organisations

A large number of local voluntary organisations provide excellent information and support to carers. There is one organisation which is dedicated to supporting carers:

Herefordshire Carers Support (HCS) is a local registered charity, part-funded by Herefordshire Council, providing free information and support to carers and young carers through one-to-one support, general benefits information, carer support groups, a young carers club, a regular newsletter (one for adults and one for Young Carers), a Carers Emergency Card Scheme etc. Telephone: 01432 356068. They are based at Canal Road, Hereford HR1 2EA. Email: info@herefordshirecarers.co.uk

There are two main national organisations dedicated to supporting carers:

• Carers UK is a national registered charity that provides information, support and campaigns for carers. They run a telephone advice line. For more information telephone 020 7490 8818 or
  Email: info@ukcarers.org.
• The Princess Royal Trust for Carers is a national charity that aims to make it easier for carers to cope by providing information, support and practical help. For more information telephone 020 7480 7788 or
  Email: info@carers.org

3. Web sites

There is a range of web sites that provide information. The Government's web site on Carers is a good starting point (this can be found in the external links box at the bottom of the page). This site includes links to national organisations such as Carers UK and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers (see above).

4. Carer's Hub

The Carers Hub is being developed by Herefordshire Carers Support to be the focal point for all information and advice for those people in Herefordshire who care for someone else, or professionals working with families where there is:

• An Adult carer
• A Parent-carer (a parent caring for a disabled child)
• A Young Carer (a young person under 18 with caring responsibilities)
• A carer who is employed i.e. the employer wants to find out how to support their employees who might be carers.

Carers can register themselves with Herefordshire Carers Support and the Hub by accessing the website http://www.carers-hub.net/

Last Updated: 14 November 08,
Review Date: 20 September 2005