Oh dear :
Universal credit to be paid to main carer in attempt to help women.
Work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd unveils package of changes to benefits system.
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**_The government will seek to make universal credit payments to women if they are the household’s main carer, Amber Rudd has said, as part of a package of changes to the heavily criticised benefits system that have been unveiled by the work and pensions secretary.
Rudd, who also said she wanted the long freeze on working-age benefit levels to end next year, used a speech at a jobcentre in south London to further emphasise what she said is a more caring and thoughtful approach to the welfare system.
A key element to this is the news that the planned mass “migration” of claimants on existing benefits to universal credit, which replaces a series of payments, would instead be paused so a trial of 10,000 people could be held.
“We will tread cautiously,” on the change, pledged Rudd, who took the work and pensions job when Esther McVey quit in November.
Rudd also confirmed the partial scrapping of the controversial two-child limit on universal credit payments, but only for this benefit and for children born after April 2017, when the wider limit was first introduced.
She defended the cap, and the “rape clause”, under which women can claim exemption from the policy if they can show they had conceived a third child via domestic abuse or rape. The charity Women’s Aid called the policy “objectionable” and likely to hamper some women trying to flee domestic abuse.
**In the speech, Rudd said she wanted universal credit to particularly help women, and she understood the criticism over the way the benefit was paid into a single bank account, which could be a problem for some couples or families.
“That’s why I’m committed to ensuring that household payments go directly to the main carer, which is usually but not always the woman,” she said.
For couples and families, 60% of payments already go to women, she said, adding: “However, I am looking at what more we can do to enable the main carer to receive the UC payment, and we’ll begin to make those payments later this year.”**
Other changes outlined by Rudd include a new online system for private landlords to request direct payments for tenants who have problems managing money, and changes to pay childcare costs in advance if needed.
On the benefits freeze, which was introduced in 2015 by the then chancellor George Osborne and is estimated to have cost some working families hundreds of pounds a year, Rudd confirmed she wanted it to end but had yet to discuss this with the chancellor,
Asked about this after the speech, she said: “The benefits freeze is scheduled to come to an end next year. I haven’t had any further conversations with the chancellor, so I’d better not say anything too definitive at this stage, but it would certainly be my view that it should come to an end at that stage.”
But Rudd defended the principle of the two-child limit: “I think it is fair that those on welfare make the same considered decisions as other taxpayers who support themselves solely though work.
“So I believe it was right to limit the number of children for whom support can be provided through universal credit funded by the taxpayer. However, I believe it is unfair to apply that limit retrospectively.”
This prompted criticism from Sian Hawkins, Women’s Aid’s head of campaigns, who said children born after April 2017 “are still subject to this objectionable policy”, while the rape clause exemption “does not reflect survivors’ lived experience of disclosing domestic abuse and rape”.
She added: “We know from our work with survivors that many women do not have the confidence to speak out about their experience of domestic abuse or rape due to feelings of shame, worrying about the repercussions for their children and fears of the consequences of doing so.”_**
Once that change comes into effect , time for my retirement from this forum ???
No CarerWatch around in 2019 to fight your corner … we had success over a decade ago … keeping CA as a separate benefit within the then benefit system !
Bets now being taken … how many days before we all see the CUK press release in response ?
THE VERY LAST THING ANY CARER , JUST CLAIMING CARERS ALLOWANCE AND NOTHING ELSE , WANTS TO HAPPEN IS TO BE SUCKED INTO UC !!!
YOU have been warned … UC is on it’s way to CarerLand. !!!
Time for a trip down memory lane … CarerWatch / DWP … 2008 … part of what went on prior to the Betrayal in 2009 :
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_It is vital that carers allowance remains outside the UC.
Does IDS agree that we as a society need carers identified as a group so resources can be targeted correctly in the future. Plus they provide a service this country cannot do without and actually save the country money, ( 87 billion at last reckoning by CarersUK )
Carers can only work if the services and support are there for the person they care for. Councils are going to have to make huge cuts in spending over the next few years .So carers are less rather than more likely to get the respite they need to be able to take up paid employment. Full time carers are placed in an impossible position.
Either the Govt provide the support carers need to work or they acknowledge that caring is work. What is IDS opinion ?
There is not another group of people who give so much for so little in return. Paul Burstows (Refresh of Carers Strategy) asked for examples of good practice, value for money. There can be no greater example of Good Practice, no greater example of value for money, than the services provided by families. They are the foundation that all else must build upon.
As much as the govt want carers to remain in work, with recession as it is, coupled with local authority cutbacks, there will be cases where carers have no choice but to cease working. The 24/7 carers need fully supported both financially and with resources. What will IDS and his dept do for these carers?
So many proposals regarding the welfare system, most benefits being discussed but once again carers put on the back burner. There has been no detail with regards carers and the Universal credit but now we also have the concerns of what will happen to carers if Disability Living allowance is reformed to the Personal Independence Payment. Will the Pip be a passport benefit to Carers allowance?
Will the universal credit be means tested, and if it is will carers, who presently receive the carers allowance, continue to receive the universal credit, even if they would not be entitled to the universal credit due to any means testing?
A carers “right” to not have to seek employment (and therefore claim benefits) is precariously linked to decisions made re the ESA claimants ability to work. How will UC accommodate carers?
Carers valuable social input should be recognised by keeping carer benefits separate from the rest of the benefit system. Will IDS agree with this?
Family carers are not unemployed and do not belong on a Universal Credit. Without the love and support they give their spouse/parent/child/sibling etc, both NHS and Social services would collapse. Families work and work damn hard. Hows does IDS and DWP view carers…does he see them as in work or out of work?
If a carer moves onto the universal credit will they still be expected to work for a minimum of 35 hours per week, when all others on the universal credit will not be asked to work for their benefit. If “carers” still have to work for their benefit, and others dont is that not discriminatory?
Will the universal credit reflect his own center for social justice report Broken Britain, which said, "The carers allowance should be doubled to over 100 per week.
If a “carer” moves onto the universal credit will they be exempt from seeking work.
If carers move to the UC, how would it affect carers and the current earnings limit.
If one person in a couple gets Carers allowance, for looking after a child/parent, and their other half is bringing in a salary, what then?
The UC mentions taper rules. Keeping CA out of the UC, could the taper rules be applied to it to enable working carers to be treat fairly and keep more of their earnings too?
Will a carer who is unable to do any paid work due to caring responsibilities be financially worse off after the Universal Credit is introduced?
Will there be such a category as a carer who is unable to do any paid work after the Universal Credit is introduced?
The current restrictions surrounding CA mean so many people dont qualify eg pensioners, students depending on study rule. What does IDS plan to do to ensure that these groups are fully recognised for their input and become eligible in the future?
Is the Coalition doing reform of some benefits by stealth? E.g. possible changes to rename DLA to PiP but as yet no details known if PiP would be a passport to CA
What will happen to families like ours where both parents are classed as full time carers? Under the UC would one of us need look for work. We have 2 disabled adults sons and they need both of us.
How does UC incentivise full time carers to work if carers can’t get the respite?
Even those carers that want to return to work are dependent on local services. Considering they are only paying out on extreme tightened criteria, any carer can have the will to work, want to work, but are services going to be there to match. Authorities are not coping now and no way will be able to cope with further demands on their limited resources.
In my family we have not had any external service/agency give us any support apart from my GP. Between my son and I we had a myriad of physical long term physical/mental illnesses and disabilities and I fear between the changes to incapacity benefit, dla, and now the universal credit that we will end up well below the poverty line and possibly threaten our housing. We are extremely fearful about our future.
What will happen if the caree of a full time carer is deemed fit for some limited amount of work with adequate support ---------- what position (as far as benefits are concerned) does this place the carer in?
My point here is that the carer may well have to also help to support the caree to try to do some limited work. The caree managing limited work may not allow the carer the time necessary to work themselves. How will the new benefits accommodate this situation?
The relationship between caree and carer is very complicated and very individual to the “couple” involved. How will this relationship and the complications which arise within it be accommodated within the benefit system? Currently a person is entitled to be at home and claiming benefits if they have caring responsibilities.
Caring responsibilities are “confirmed” if the caree is entitled to DLA. How will the new benefits accommodate this? i.e. what will open the door for a person to be allowed to be a carer as far as the benefit system is concerned?
What effect will time limiting certain benefits have on a) carers b) families as a whole ?
Other benefits
Entitlement to DLA is not based on the health condition or impairment itself, it is based on the care and mobility needs which arise from them, if the DLA consultation is knowingly based on false premises the consultation is also knowingly false and therefore meaningless. Link this in with other reforms within welfare and even the Universal credit proposals will not work.
What would IDS say to this?
What is the Secretary of State’s justification of the inclusion of IB/ESA in universal credit plans?
Can the Secretary of State guarantee that Disability Living Allowance will not form part of the universal credit?
If CA kept separate to UC, what would be eligibility criteria for CA under the new PIP?
No actual rates have been given for the new system. Can IDS state now what would be the basic rate and how much the additions would be for disability and caring?
Could IDS give the definition of the words used by his govt so many times, the most vulnerable? This is a phrase they are always using in terms of it will be these people who of course will be supported unconditionally. In financial terms what will this support mean?
Will it be the same amount of money as a person is currently getting? Or are the changes in name of benefit a way of reducing the amount of benefits even to "the most vulnerable?
For all the many people who will not fall into the category of “the most vulnerable” but who clearly still suffer huge disadvantage due to their illness/disability what financial support can they expect?
Many of the ill and disabled people who are refused support and told to get a job will have no chance of doing so. What human cost is this govt prepared to pay in order to save a few pounds? Is this another case of knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing?
Will a person with disabilities, who becomes part of that rare group (6%) of people in the support group, be financially worse off after the Universal Credit has been introduced?
Will a person with illness or disability who is declared fit for work by A*, despite being a very unattractive prospect to an employer, be worse off with the new Universal Credit system than they are now on Incapacity Benefit?
Is the Coalition doing reform of some benefits by stealth? E.g. possible changes to rename DLA to PiP but as yet no details known if PiP would be a passport to CA_**
( Even a video … IDS’s response , of sorts , in a Committee Meeting on 9 February 2011… a very , cagey , response ??? )
https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/1e4ffd59-1de7-4894-b631-2010da491a56
Yep , different world back then … you had CarerWatch looking after YOUR interests.
And , NO petitions … we went straight for the throat !
As the DWP has kicked off , time for us to bring in our concerns as part of the reply … as we did back in 2008.
2019 … who out there will be stepping into the breach , roll up their sleeves , and making damn sure that the Voice of the WHOLE carer army is heard ???
i dont see what the problem is , it does not come across as CA is being sucked into UC …
infact if anything it is just an exact copy paste of what the SNP claim they will be starting that will make life more fair and equal for women in relationships with joint bank accounts … the payments would be given to them rather than the man.
ALL paper work i get states that my Income support will be replaced by Universal credit that had been planned for November 2020. but having read what you provided this is now on hold so i dont see what is bad about that either.
Administrative wise , now two departments … Carers unit / UC unit … for starters.
Delays between one unit advising another common under UC.
UC involves journals … online at that … 4 of my neighbours use my laptop to update theirs … will carers be excluded ?
ESA and Carers premium … I will assume no change regarding what is input into that person’s journal … if a journal is mandatory in the first place ?
Many carers will be sucked in automatically if any income related benefits are also being claimed once UC is rolled out on there manor.
For those just claiming carers allowance , UC did not apply … but will do under this new proposed system.
Long term aim … already 12 years on … was for the Government to accept that carers are a " Special " case and should not be included in the beneit system.
( CarerWatch spelt that out at some length … see previous posting. )
Following the introduction of UC in 2012 ? , that plan needed revision … also bearing in mind the " Partnership " relationship between the caree and theiir caree.
In the absence of CarerWatch , a back burner task but … given the Carers Strategy due in the Green Paper … some input will be needed along these lines … otherwise , ALL carers will be lumbered with whatever for years to come.
A sticking plaster for a gaping wound ?
This is a side issue … part of the bigger picture.