I feel really degraded as a carer. In 2017, I completed a carers assessment and I didn’t get a response or a written outcome to it. I was just told the directorate would not look into it. The social worker allocated put the phone down on me when I asked about it and ignored my emails. I put in a formal complaint to have a response given regarding my 2016 carers assessment. So complained further to be totally ignored. I went to the ombudsman who then said I was out of time to complain to them. The same situation occurred after my carer’s assessment in 2018. I asked for a written outcome and was ignored and then I was sent the original carers assessment copy repeatedly but no written outcome to it. I complained on resolver on-line and the council didn’t respond at all for months. Then I asked for the Ombudsman to look into it to find my complaint has disappeared on that site. I completed my 2018 carers assessment in November of that year. I did actually go back to the assessor last year to ask why I hadn’t even received a carers grant. He was aggressive about this but finally in Oct 2019 allowed the grant…telling me I have to wait another 12 months to get another. The thing is the grant was delayed by the time it got to me by 11 months. I feel degraded because I have not been allowed to challenge the way my carers assessment are ignored and I feel organisations who should be supporting me are actually allowing the council to openly discriminate by allowing them not to address my own needs as a carer.
Has anyone else had this experience and does anyone know what to do about it?
Hi Charm
That sounds awful…
I have had a Carers Assessment, but no support plan in place at all.
I haven’t chased it myself as other things keep getting in the way!
There is always some other priority rather THAN me.
Hopefully someone else on here will have a firm idea of how to resolve this …its not as though you haven’t tried - as you have!
How frustrating and upsetting for you.
.
Has anything really changed since my one and only carers assessment … back in 1998 ?
Everything came with a price tag … someone would have to replace me as the carer.
Sure , 6 hours , three days a week care for my caree at a respite centre … free of charge as apart of the local services
then available … cutback in the early 2000s until closed permanently in 2004.
Even then , any problems and I was contacted … so , couldn’t go very far.
Since those days , the all dancing and singing Care Act in 2014 … that has improved things , hasn’t it ?
( 17,000 odd reads … now buried in the archives on the forum. )
Even today , low millions of family / kinship carers have probably never heard of it … until we mention it ???
To be fair , that Act and Universal Credit … both good ideas but … poisoned by Government policy … collectively known as " Austerity. "
Waiting times … several weeks to under a year in most cases ???
Still 2020 now and … survival goes on despite everything thrown at us ?
I attended several carers assessments quite a few years ago now never got any help or support package from the assessment.
Despite looking after a wide mix of carees, Severe mental health, severe physical health- cerebral palsy, spina bifeda - incurable long term chronic illness/disabled from birth.
I explained my issues time and time again, the council were cutting services leaving my carees with little or no support.
Cutting cleaning services, no we don’t do that you have to pay for it yourself.
Shopping, used to be shopping services for the elderly/disabled, no they were cut, you should go on the internet get shopping delivered.
My carees didn’t have a computer let alone, broadband etc.
Years of arguments with the council and complaints and going through the Ombudsman with no help or support with caring or the complaint.
I lost the case although the Council as said in the papers have pledged to help and support unpaid carers.
I had multiple carees at the time, but never got any support.
The Care Act came in and I thought well shall I apply and try and get help, I just couldn’t be bothered in the end, the council had just shut down basically all services leaving my carees high and dry.
Offering to send my carees to a day centre to give me a break, they didn’t want to go to a day centre, they wanted to go out independently, go shopping, go to the seaside for the day, go out for a meal, go to the cinema. But needed extra help, NO we don’t do that.
I supplied years of night care, the wardens and emergency buttons had been cut.
The last paid carers may have been 4 in the afternoon for an evening meal, then the next call was 8 in the morning, left with no help, no services for 15 hours, 100% dependent on friends and neighbours.
The only answer was that all my carees should move into sheltered extra care housing.
I did over the top caring, my wife was ill so I was caring all the time for her, I was shopping, cleaning, cooking meals, emergency call out, giving practical and emotional support.
It cost me money taking people to the hospital, doctors, shopping etc, the specialist disabled transport had been cut.
And I wasn’t allowed to claim carers allowance, I have health issues myself on long term sickness pay, shouldn’t these have been taken into consideration? NO.
There have been unpaid carers strategys, there have been unpaid carers days, posters and leaflets at local supermarkets there’s the new Carers Strategy/Action plan to give unpaid carers a life on their own, but hasn’t made any difference.
Has anyone had any proper help and support from a carers assessment.
I am still caring, I am facing complex caring issues but just don’t know where to go for support?
I’m about to report my son’s “Care Manager” to the new social worker’s governing body. She is an incompetent liar and I’ve had enough!
Hiya Cloudygal, I know exactly what you mean about not being able to chase things up as it happens often for me. What doesn’t help is when time is made under difficult circumstances to apply for a carers assessment and to be outrightly ignored just adds fuel to the fire. It is really awful and it does seem that SS and Health are taking full advantage of carer’s situations by using them against. It just shouldn’t be like this.
Hiya Honey Badger, Yes they don’t seem to allow a separate issue of helping carers and mix it all into one convenient box. I think most are being strung up by them that’s for certain. I have noticed they keep changing the way around the system and also regularly every couple of years the SS are changing all their staff and signposting them to other sections of social care. Then, of course, they are reshuffling as they put it so that they can change all the employees around so if there are any complaints it’s going to be difficult and impossible to track those responsible down. New social workers and new managers constantly. To be fair, they really don’t care how far they push carers. I was in a position last year where my GP said I could go into a coma at any time. SS did not act for 3 months and only put 2 weeks extra respite in place then. It was offered earlier and I was asked when I wanted to use it…then I was ignored for 3 months before the matter went to panel. This is the level being dealt with.
Hiya Chris, I never got offered a carers assessment until 2015 the one and only time I actually got something in my own right…a gym pass for a year. They delayed it for about 10 months and then only paid for an off-peak one I couldn’t use because of caring responsibilities they didn’t cover. So I had to pay a large amount towards it and not only that it had devalued by the time I received it. Apparently I only got this gym pass because I had missed the boat for 2 years on the run for a carers grant as they had run out of funding. The carer’s grant was £250.00 every 2 years. I actually got £150.00 for a gym pass instead under the pretense of help following carers assessment. Then they referred to this gym pass every time I did a further carers assessment the following years and they’d offered me nothing and not even an explanation. I actually found this out at the ombudsman stage and it was probably the reason the ombudsman refused my case as being out of time.
Hiya Bowlingbun, There are much more incompetent liars from these services these days than ever before and the attitude stinks. I had two high up managers from Nhs come to my door on a so-called visit. The one said to the other ‘oh look we’re on cam’(I have cams up) and then the one told the other to come in my home and record it meaning the meeting. All of this was recorded on cam and guess what…They denied having done it EVEN after the video was sent to their complaints department who also denied it. Disgraceful it really is.
You know what Bowlingbun, I’ve written over 800,000 words on my blog now in 2 and a half years and most of it is about their incompetence 