Carers 'need more financial help'

The government must give more money to help Britain's six million unpaid carers, MPs have said.

The Commons work and pensions committee said people who looked after friends and relatives saved the taxpayer £87bn.

read story here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7586583.stm

here here, there are so many selfless people who give up work, college, everything to look after their sick family members. I think they should get respite care too, and if the carer is claiming anything, this should not get deducted from the care-ee's pensions etc.


I think this country wastes too much money on far less worthy causes, and that carers should not have to worry about money on top of looking after sick people too.

I think that help should not depend on postcode either, I know some towns and cities have centres and groups for young carers to get a break, but everywhere should have this type of thing.

I also think that there should be a transport allowance to help people get to appointments if the carer cannot drive, as some people need to be in a taxi if they cannot manage getting on a bus.

To an extent though, I think that this should be means-tested (as in, the carer should be means tested) because if a person is totally loaded they should be willing to bear some of the costs involved of looking after a loved one.

well as most carers are on income support, its not a prob. they say its in 2011 though!

I can't think of any other full time jobs, when you're 'on call' 24/7, have no prospect of promotion and no holiday entitlement that pay £50 a week!

Good to hear that things may improve in the future.

as always, an uphill struggle, but at least its moving in the right direction

my mum became a full time carer for a family member a couple of years ago, she could not claim benefits as my dad was working, she was eligable for a carers allowance but it would have got deducted from the person she was caring for benefits, so would have made no difference.

I just thought there might be more people in this situation who would appreciate a bit more support from the government.

I also think similar consideration should be shown to people who are living by other means, for example, an academic bursary or some kind of scholarship - as this type of funding is often classed a regular income, which can close the doors to many other government funded financial help schemes.

And you've hit the nail on the head combom, a slow start but its getting there

I am on incapcaity benfit and I cannot claim carers allowance I cannot even claim the premuims that you can sometimes get when you cannot get the money, life is so hard especially with myself being ill. there should be more help and access to the carers money, but also there are so many people that takes advatage of the carers money so you can understand why they are making it so hard to access the money, I am caught in the middle so there must be people like me it also makes me angry