National Carers Week
For a number of years, my father cared for his partner Rose who had Alzheimer's disease. Eventually, she had to be placed in a home. In recent times, my mother is doing a fair bit each day for my step-father who's not in the best of health.
This week, is National Carers Week. Here are some little known facts:
There are almost six million carers in the UK
East 520,209 East Midlands 435,741
London 609,890 North East 276,593
North West 724,802 Northern Ireland 185,066
Scotland 481,579 South East 737,751
South West 495,442 Yorkshire & The Humber 518,211
Wales 340,745 West Midlands 558,421
2 One in ten adults in the UK is a carer
3 3 million people juggle work with caring responsibilities for a disabled, ill or frail relative or friend
4 The main carers benefit is Carers Allowance - is £48.65
for a minimum of 35 hours, equivalent to £1.39 per hour
5 People providing high levels of care are twice as likely to
be permanently sick or disabled
6 Every year 2 million people take on new caring
responsibilities
7 1.25 million people provide over 50 hours a week on their caring responsibilities
8 58% of carers are women, 42% are men
9 1.3 million carers are over the age of 65
10 27% of carers questioned said they had been offered a
health check; 88% believed that carers should receive
annual health checks
11 Carers save the country / Government £57 billion each
year yet the decision to care can mean a commitment to
future poverty. Many give up an income, future
employment prospects and pension rights to become a
carer.
9 comments:
It would be nice if 'actual' Carers were featured during Carers Week rather than the hand-picked and briefed ones Carers UK pick.
Our members are more likely to tell people about how caring REALLY impacts on a persons life, yes it could affect you so anyone reading this remember, it only takes an accident or illness to a close relative for YOU to become a Carer, be forced into giving up your career, live on the only benefit you have to work for (WHICH IS UNDER £50.00 a week though a thing called the 'overlapping benefit rule' will probably claw some/all of that back) get sucked into poverty, social isolation and ill health, many Carers go on to become disabled or suffer poor health BECAUSE of their caring role.
We (Carers) aren't angels or unsung heros, we want paying for the damn hard work we do....but Carers aren't trendy enough to be featured in the mainstream media are they?
BTW, the 57 billion a year figure is well over 2 years old now so you can add a million/billion or two to that Jeremy
Very interesting post. These people are often forgotten and they do a terrific, difficult and demanding job.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
I will put in a link to yours which I enjoyed reading.
Very interesting and sad information....
Must appologise if I came over as 'aggressive' I just feel we Carers get the rawest of deals (as can be seen on our message board, 'www.carersmessageboard.com' OK it's not original!) I get rather vexed at how the media ignore Carers except for this one week, which is a glorified mebership boosting exercise.
Well done for highlighting the plight of carers, Jeremy. This is a subject close to my heart, as you know. I just do not know how some carers manage to carry on - day in, day out, year after year with hardly any official help. they so often just need a break for a few days or even a few hours in order to be able to carry on.
great post, carer's get so little from our society whilst contributing so much. Most put up with their lot with admirably british stoicism too.
Clivegsd
No need to apologise on my blog. Your point is well made.
Cityunslicker,
Yup, we just get on with it and don't complain. (No votes in that)
Welshcakes
That's touched a raw nerve!
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