Exiting my care role

Benefits, finances and funding
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I want to exit my care work, I have been doing this since I was 14, i’m 38 now and I have no friends or family of my own. Although care work is lonely I just want to be alone on my own. I feel I don’t get any privacy and due to earning so little and having a few issues I have been unable to save.

I have never lived on my own and I am kinda scared. I just want a life of my own with my own time. I tried getting support from my housing and they give you more jobs to do. I told them due to extreme stress I want to quit but they have deemed me in suitable housing but it’s not suitable whent the person I care for is taking advantage of me. She stays up till really late 4-5am playing louds things on the telly and relys on me for everything other than making a cup of coffee. I can’t leave the house without doing a job for her while I am out or before I go out. If I ask her to help, she always ends up hurting herself or she will hurt herself becuase I am in her way tidying up.

I get weekly carers allowance for my mum, which is £84 odd pound a week and around £200 universal credit a month, it will take me over a year to even save for a deposit and it wont cover rent. I have no space to continue my bussiness or get a job so I don’t know what to do.

Any advice would be greatful. Like how can I save, what would you do witht hat amount, I have to pay internet out of that to secure housing otherwise if mum passes away I am homeless. So that’s £50 down, I pay board for eelctric and gas which is around £50 a month and I top up the food shop with a weekly £18 surplus food shop. The rest normally goes on supporting my bussiness but I am gonna have to give it up because I can’t sustain the subscriptions needed to keep it going. Exiting my care role

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Start by having a Carers Assessment from Social Services, and discuss your situation with them. Does mum have any outside carers, or just you?

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just me at the moment. I’ve been looking up a carers assesment, i wold have to do it privately away from home as i worry she will chuck me out before i have saved enough money.

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I believe you can be paid to support your caree. You have to do things in the right order. My arthritis is too painful to explain in detail.

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no suprise, even healthy hands would be sore after all the support you give out. rest well

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@KellySue when you aren’t living with your Mum, you will be able to claim the housing element of UC too. As you can imagine, it isn’t generous but cover the rent to lodge/ have a room in a shared house/ a bedsit when the time comes. This will give you breathing space.

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wow. i was feeling really low but read this. I didn’t realise that you could have a set limit per age, I’m over 35. So the relief of being able to have my own space is immense. I feel a bit more hopeful. thank you

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@KellySue hiya. If you ring your local citizens advice sometime you will find the phone number of your local one by writing citizen advice bureau into Google and the area where you live and tell them your situation they have lots of knowledge on lots of things. Benefits ,housing.write a list of the things you want to know so you don’t forget and then they will make an appointment for someone to ring you back.they may have some advice to. Have you had your benefits checked , they will be able to check them and make sure you are getting what you are entitled to now ,and if you mention about the future they will tell you what you would be entitled to then situation changes. Write a list of the things you want to know, have piece paper to write down things they tell you so you don’t forget.

Do you get the care element of universal credit as well as carers allowance. If you don’t you should put in for care element of universal credit. As carers allowance is treated as income and is taken of your universal credit .with carers element it says it is taken off £1 for £1 and you may end up with abit more money. Cab with know.

AI says living where you do the area you should get £475.00 a month on universal credit towards rent, if you rented a place lets say was £450 a month they would only pay the £450.That is capped for private rent. But if you move into social housing (council or housing association )the rules are different .universal credit will generally pay 100% of eligible rent regardless of private caps.

Also internet who are you with.your on benefits so should be on social tariff. If your with bt look up essential tariffs only about £15 a month for fibre broadband and unlimited calls. And because there social tariff the price does not go up with inflation it stays the same. Other providers will have social tariffs to .it depends who your with.

I hope some of this helps take care.

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Teddybear is correct. There is a “local housing allowance” which varies depending on the exact area you live. My disabled son has a lovely flat on the edge of the New Forest, the LHA pays 95% of his rent, but that’s OK. If you get Carers Allowance you are not required to look for work. Your life would be transformed with decent sleep. I think there are schemes to help people without a deposit? Definitely schemes to help people on benefits to move. Maybe draw up an Escape Plan, the basics you would need? Learn about Freecycle? I’m a great fan of good second hand stuff. This week I bought a lovely 8 drawer Ducal pine chest for my sewing stuff for very little, from Marketplace (part of Facebook). The owner just “fancied a change!

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@KellySue hiya Kellysue I wanted to ask you when you say you want to exit care and get a place of your own .may I ask do you mean now or in the future. Also when you said that you told the housing you wanted to leave because of extreme stress.and you said they deemed you in suitable housing but like you have said it is not suitable when you are suffering with extreme stress living there and they are taking advantage of you.if you ring your local citizens advice bureau like I suggested above and tell them this to they can help you to write a letter to the housing stating you are finding it difficult to live there due to these things and would like to put in for a social housing flat ( council or housing association) if that is what you want ,it would be cheaper than private flat I would imagine.or a private flat whichever works best for you ,you discuss it with them. That could help you with the housing a letter from them. Also if they have a waiting list they could get you put on it .another thing it says online is that you can get a grant from the council for £300 to purchase white goods like washing machine etc. now I don’t know if there is a place like this where you live but the citizens advice bureau would know I’ve just thought in the area I live there is a organisation/charity and they collect furniture from people who don’t want it anymore and donated it to them, they pick furniture up from everywhere in the area.then they either recycle it or sell it cheap . I remember someone I knew moved into a flat and they had nothing and I think it was done through the council this place took lots of things to the flat sofa and chairs furniture and furnished the flat.I don’t know if they picked them. But this place works with the council also to help people on benefits and it did not cost them anything they do the selling part to fund this part. There may be somewhere like that were you live. Like bowlingbun has said depends on the area you live. And there are also places like Facebook marketplace. I think there are schemes or something can be done about deposits for people in your situation like bowlingbun has said.and the CAB would know that and being your local one would know all things available in your area and what your council do. Take care.

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@KellySue here is some info.

Furniture.

Free low cost furniture in Crewe couple of options ,though need a quick referral from a support worker or council to unlock free items .ST PAULS CENTRE (furniture recycling scheme )this is the main community hub that provides essential furniture and white goods ( like beds ,sofas cookers and fridges free of charge or heavily discounted to low income households.

How it works cannot just walk in and ask for free items need referral from either universal credit coach, a social worker, housing officer or local support worker .they can send a quick referral form once referred they will arrange to supply you with what you need .often including free delivery.the citizens advice may be able to refer you to

2.The reuse warehouse. Located right in Crewe town centre .this charity specialises in provide affordable ,reused brand new furniture ,household appliances .

How it works they work closely with local councils and social housing groups to help individuals on benefits furnish there homes from scratch.they also offer an affordable community grocery store in the same building,

No deposit scheme (help with moving costs)if you have no savings or a deposit.

1.cheshire east council housing options (the bond scheme)Cheshire east council operates a deposit guarantee/bond scheme specifically to stop people becoming stuck in unsuitable housing.

How it works instead of handing over cash to a private landlord ,the council gives the landlord a written guarantee (a bond).if there is any damage or unpaid rent at the end of the tenancy the council covers it up to the value of a standard deposit.

How to get it. Before you sign a tenancy you need to contact the cheshire east housing options team and tell them you are low income carer trying to move into private tenancy but lacks deposit.

2.Universal credit budget advance.

A interest free loan from DWP.give you the money upfront and then automatically deduct small amounts from monthly universal credit payments over the next 12 months to pay it back.

To get the ball rolling it says the first step should be to send a message to universal credit coach via online journal saying something like. I am planning to move into a flat in Crewe I have no deposit ,no furniture .can the DWP refer me to St Paul’s centre or the reuse centre for furniture can we look into a council bond scheme or a budget advance.

Your local citizens advice bureau should be able to help you with all this and you could talk it all through with them. The above states for private flat, I don’t know if you need bond for social housing council /housing association flat. I don’t know the difference in price between a private one bedroom flat and council/housing association flat but I would imagine council/housing association would be a lot cheaper but I don’t know. Your local citizens advice will be able to advice and write a letter to the council with you like I said on my previous message to explain your situation and the need for a flat.

Hope this all helps.

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