News

Many people over the age of 60 in the UK care for friends or family members who couldn’t manage without them. Often, these carers don’t get enough support and find it difficult to keep going.

As part of our on going effort to ensure to develop services which respond to carers’ needs and aspirations we are currently researching the profile, needs and aspirations of carers aged 60 and over.

click here to complete the survey

Please note that we need all completed surveys by Thursday 31st March 2010.

We appreciate all your help in providing information to help us fight for better support of older carers.

We are supporting the Southwark & Lambeth Stop Smoking Service for pregnant and new mums with developing a new leaflet and would really appreciate some feedback from women who this service is aimed at (or may have been through this in the past).

It’s a very sensitive subject, and it’s important to get publicity right so that they can strike a balance between giving information and encouraging women to quit – without preaching or being judgemental.

If this issue has affected you – we would love to hear your comments and suggestions in complete confidence.

Two draft leaflets are attached and it would be great to hear:

Which leaflet do you prefer overall?
Which bits do you particularly like or dislike?
What do you think about the colours, design and overall look of the leaflet?
Do you like the wording and language?

Please feel free to forward this on to anyone who you think may be happy to help with this.

Any comments back to ppi@southwarkpct.nhs.uk
pregnant smoking 1
pregnant smoking 2

We now know that the Government has allocated £800million over four years to local authorities to fund short breaks.


We need your help to make sure that local authorities really do spend this money on lifeline services for disabled children.


Take Action!


The Government announced that they will be giving local authorities £800million over four years to fund short breaks for disabled children.


However, this money is not ‘ring fenced’ – which means that it is just a guideline and local authorities don’t have to spend the full amount on short breaks.

In reality, local authorities will only spend their allocation of this money on short breaks if they believe that there is a local need. It is essential that you let your local authority know how important it is to invest in disabled children’s services in your area.


Email your Local Authority to ask how much money they’re allocating for disabled children’s services in 2011/12

The past months have brought changes to the lives of disabled people and their families – cuts to services, large scale reform of benefits, all threaten to have a huge impact on carers’ lives. This is why we need your help to make the case for a better deal for carers.

Carers UK is conducting a major new research survey to examine the State of Caring in the UK. We need evidence on the impact of caring for ill, frail or disabled loved-ones on carers’ health, wellbeing, careers and finances.

Fill in our online survey about your experiences of caring at  Â www.surveymonkey.com/stateofcaring

P.S. Because we want an in-depth picture of the State of Caring, the survey asks a lot of questions and takes about 20 minutes. If you would prefer not to provide some details you can skip certain questions – but it is really important we gather as much information from as many carers as possible so please answer as many as you can.

Nearly 1,500 carers have already completed the survey, but we need twice as many to make headlines! Your answers will help give us the evidence to fight for a better deal for carers like you.

Without Carers, Social Services and the NHS would be overloaded to the point of collapse, but especially with the economic downturn, Carers themselves are overloaded to the point of collapse.

This petition is to raise awareness of the unfairness inherent in the benefit system that continues to keep Carers on a very low income and penalises any attempt at self improvement.

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Please sign a copy of the petition below on the go petition website

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We the undersigned call upon the Government to increase Carers’ Allowance, for those who provide a minimum of 35 hours a week unpaid care, to a level that allows carers to live with dignity and freedom from financial hardship.

That Carers’ Allowance be paid to all carers regardless of age or overlapping benefits (for example, state pensioners and full-time students), thereby not forcing many carers to self-fund their caring role, leading to debt or low quality of life.

To recognise Carers as unique, being the only group within the benefits system to provide a service, often at considerable personal cost, to those who could not lead independent lives without them, thus saving many billions for the Government, the NHS and the taxpayer.

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Sign the petition here

There are new rules to help carers who are missing out on National Insurance Contributions. You could benefit if you are in one of these situations:

• You care for 20 hours or more a week but miss out on Carer’s Allowance because you don’t care for 35 hours or more.
• You care for someone who can’t or refuses to claim disability benefits.
• Where there is more than one of you caring for a disabled or ill person and someone else is getting the Carer’s Allowance for that person.
• You look after several people but cannot claim Carer’s Allowance because you do not care for any one of them for 35 hours.
• You are still providing a lot of care for someone who has gone into hospital or a care home, but cannot get Carer’s Allowance because they don’t get disability benefits because they have been in hospital or a care home.

The Government has introduced a new Carer’s Credit to help carers in these situations. To claim it you need to be caring for one or more disabled person for a total of 20 hours or more a week where they get Attendance Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance or the middle or highest rate of Disability Living Allowance care component; or you will need a medical or care professional to confirm that you are providing appropriate care for them.

If you think this might be you, you can contact the Carer’s Allowance Unit on 0845 608 4321 or Textphone on 0845 604 5312.

http://www.disabilityalliance.org/dlatest.htm

Please follow the link above to submit evidence to the Disability Alliance. This is a way to feed into a consultation which seeks your views on the Government‘s proposals to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a new benefit – Personal Independence Payment. The Personal Independence Payment will continue to be a non-means tested, extra costs benefit but everyone receiving it will have to undergo a new assessment (including people currently receiving DLA).

The Personal Independence Payment, is scheduled to be introduced in 2013/14, when the DWP will begin reassessing the working age (16-64 year olds) caseload. The Government is also considering whether to reassess children and people aged over 65.

Are you a carer who wants to improve local services but don’t know how to get involved in local decision-making?

Do you want to develop your campaigning skills so you can bring about change for carers in your community?

Then you need to attend a Carers Voices training run, free of charge, by Carers UK.

The training will look at practical ways carers can push for change locally including:

how to present your views to decision makers more assertively.

how to pick the right target by understanding the various administrative structures of the NHS & Social Services.

When: Monday 28th January 2011 from 10.30am – 3.30pm
Where: Carers UK offices, 20 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4LX.
Registration: 10am.

A limited number of bursaries will be available for some carers towards travel costs and respite.

To book a place, contact Dalveer Kaur: dalveer.kaur@carersuk.org
or Tel 020 7378 4936

www.disability-grants.org is a weekly-updated website aimed at people with disabilities and their families. It collects details of dozens of grants for a range of purposes, including: equipment, short breaks, education, housing and utilities, and holidays.

The website also gives guidance on the process of applying for grants and a handy list of do’s and don’ts for making your application.

Do you have contact with carers of people with dementia living in Lambeth and Southwark? Have you considered peer support for them?

This peer support service is run in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society and the Modernisation Initiative and is available for any carers of people with dementia, whether the person with dementia lives at home or in a care home.

Peer support for carers is one to one support delivered by trained volunteers who themselves have cared for someone with dementia. These trained volunteers receive supervision from Dave Bell, Outreach and Support Worker at the Alzheimer’s Society.

A sitting service is available should this be required.

For more information, or to arrange for the volunteers to speak to your team or your carers group contact Dave Bell.

For leaflets which describe the service contact Nicola.easton@gstt.nhs.uk

To make a referral

Please ring 0207 095 1531 or email Dave Bell Dave.Bell@alzheimers.org.uk or fill in an Alzheimer’s referral form.