‘Benefit reforms fit for are not purpose’

new charter, which is a national first, clearly out what kinship carers can rightly expect m the council and from other services which ght be commissioned, respecting the role ey play in caring for and supporting children who may often be vulnerable ”

Pauline Thornley, project co-ordinator for Liverpool Kinship Carers, said: “Being the first ity in the country to adopt a charter is a roud moment for all those families who have ndlessly campaigned over the years to bring out change ” n Byrne, MP for West Derby and member of cross-party parliamentary taskforce on kinship said: “I look forward to highlighting this ent nationally with all involved and using it as a template for kinship to roll out to other local authorities ”

It is estimated that there are about 180,000 children in the UK being looked after in a kinship family

Juggling jobs with loved ones

THE number of carers who are juggling employment with high levels of care has increased alarmingly over the past decade

Those in work who are spending between 20 and 49 hours a week caring for loved ones and friends has almost doubled, according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics

In all, there are now 2 5m unpaid carers who are trying to balance employment and caring duties

Emily Holzhausen, director of policy and public affairs at Carers

UK, said: “Around half a million unpaid carers providing 20-49 hours of care a week are also in work, while 400,000 providing more than 50 hours of care a week are managing to squeeze in time to work as well

“During a cost of living crisis when every pound counts, and when access to social care is so limited, it is vital that this group of carers is adequately supported by Government and employers to manage both roles

“For those carers providing more than 35 hours of care a week and receiving Carer ’s Allowance, it is vital that the earnings threshold is raised so that they are not penalised for working more hours We also want Carer ’s Allowance raised ” n Helpline: 0808 808 7777

The stark figures: l 1 5m are caring for 19 hours or less l 500,000 are caring for 20-49 hours l 400,000 are caring for over 50 hours l 43,000 are full-time students who are in employment l 1 2m are retired l 625,000 are looking after family or home l 217,000 are long term sick or disabled l 117,000 are unemployed and seeking work/waiting to start work (excluding students) l 1 4m are women; 1m are men

CAMPAIGNERS

Have Slammed Controversial New Disability Benefits Reforms

They were giving evidence as part of a Commons women and equalities committee inquiry into the Government’s National Disability Strategy

They mostly focused on plans in the Transforming Support white paper to scrap the work capability assessment (WCA), and to tighten the benefits sanctions regime

Under the WCA plans, sick and disabled people who cannot work would only be able to qualify for a new health element of universal credit if they also received the extra costs benefits personal independence payment (PIP) or disability living allowance

This would mean that responsibility for deciding if a disabled person had to carry out work-related activity would be handed to work coaches, who would be likely to have no healthcare qualifications

Bad practice

Fazilet Hadi, head of policy for Disability Rights UK, said that leaving it to individual work coaches to decide what work-related activity a disabled person should carry out would leave disabled people exposed to bad practice

She claimed there would be people who were not fit for work but would not qualify for PIP and therefore be ineligible for the new health element of universal credit under the new system

Martin McLean, senior policy adviser for the National Deaf Children’s Society, said: “It’s frustrating that disabled young people have not been considered because they can face the biggest barriers in terms of moving into work ”

The disabled Conservative peer Lord Kevin Shinkwin said: “In effect, it is one step forward, two steps back in terms of creating concern and anxiety among disabled people

“I don’t think the PIP assessment was designed to be fit for purpose for what it is now being proposed it should be used for ”

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