As far as I’m aware the social work system is slowly collapsing even with the unpaid carers.
[deleted]
It’s a really difficult decision to make when your unborn child is diagnosed with a life altering condition. We treat animals more humanely sometimes.
The simple problem is carers are not paid enough even though the companies that employ carers charge the world.
I have first hand experience of this my mum has worked in care for years and for the work she was doing and an absolute pittance run ragged and always going above and beyond because she won’t see people suffer alone.
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Different care company same location were asked how much it would be to have carers come in 3 times a day for my Gran on my dads side who recently passed away and what the agency wanted to charge was astronomical.
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The government can’t simply throw money at the problem unless it can be guaranteed that the money is going to filter down to those doing the actual work. If you compensate and acknowledge the properly the fantastic work that these people do on the front line of the care system you will over time begin to fix the labour shortage.
Additionally Gemma if your out there are reading this by some miracle you are an absolute star and you went above and beyond to the last day to make sure Gran was comfortable and although by the end she could not express it I know not a second of your time was unappreciated you are worth far more than you would ever ask for.
It’s the financial disparity that saddens me the most. Unpaid carers don’t get close to the same funds and grants that **paid** carers have access to and utilise – the amount of paperwork that lumps both carer/unpaid carers together right up until the *expenses* part is shocking- there’s also a massive lack of knowledge in the duties, role and responsibilities of *unpaid* carers and most of the **professional** social care staff I’ve dealt with are utterly clueless to the difference of the two.
It’s sinful and has been happening for years.
The Tories have made a real mess of our social care system.
One of the reasons I’m desperate for the Lib Dems to have more influence in the next Parliament. Sir Ed Davey is a carer himself and has been most of his life. He understands the hardship of the role and the importance of these people to our heath and social system.
People who need carers should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps /s
Translation: we need to enslave people to do the work we have always thought beneath ourselves
Isn’t the popular expression that the NHS would collapse without the good will of its staff?
Seems like that’s the case for many public services across the board. Education is reliant on teachers going above and beyond, and social care is very reliant on unpaid or poorly paid workers doing a lot of work out of the goodness of their heart.
People would be surprised/ disgusted if they saw some of the salaries’ of the CEOs of charities/not for profits etc.. When I worked for one, it wasn’t unusual for care workers to be on around £10/hr (about 50p above min wage), no extra from overtime/night shift etc, agency staff would be getting around £15, up to £25 depending on overtime/bank hols etc, and the agency themselves would be charging £50+ for this. And the further up the chain you go, the higher the salary and the more removed from the actual important work (as is true with most job)… Then you get people leaving all their money in a will, or spend their life fundraising etc, expecting it’ll do good, help change the world.. no, it just goes towards paying £150k+ salaries.
Don’t even get me started on the actual unpaid carers or those expected to make do with £76 a week for Carers’ Allowance…
4m MINIMUM. I see partners, often with severe health issues themselves, caring for even sicker partners every day.
Social care sucks in this country just look at how many people with autism and the likes are still stuck in hospital as there’s fuck all to get them out
Sounds more like we just don’t actually have a social care *system*, just a lot of people picking up the slack out of their own moral obligation.
unpaid carers aka family members..
​
this is the equivalent of saying the foster care system would collapse without unpaid carers of kids..aka their parents
I also feel this will hit the young generation harder.
The economy now requires both partners to be working full time. Young people have a mountain of debt for housing and studies. And then we’re seeing a rapid increase in health issues that require full time care, ranging from autism in kids and Alzheimer’s hitting more people younger. Add to that the divorce rates of the parent generation, meaning care more often falls on the kids than the parents.
I have a friend in her late 20s that finished her studies a couple years ago (huge debt) and just got married. She’s an only child, and now her divorced dad got early onset Alzheimer’s.
Let’s get this very important news to 20 thousand upvotes peeps! Just like the transgender cyclist story..
Looks like it’s time to recruit some unpaid superheroes then!
I guess we’ll have to start paying those unpaid carers then, huh?
19 comments
As far as I’m aware the social work system is slowly collapsing even with the unpaid carers.
[deleted]
It’s a really difficult decision to make when your unborn child is diagnosed with a life altering condition. We treat animals more humanely sometimes.
The simple problem is carers are not paid enough even though the companies that employ carers charge the world.
I have first hand experience of this my mum has worked in care for years and for the work she was doing and an absolute pittance run ragged and always going above and beyond because she won’t see people suffer alone.
​
Different care company same location were asked how much it would be to have carers come in 3 times a day for my Gran on my dads side who recently passed away and what the agency wanted to charge was astronomical.
​
The government can’t simply throw money at the problem unless it can be guaranteed that the money is going to filter down to those doing the actual work. If you compensate and acknowledge the properly the fantastic work that these people do on the front line of the care system you will over time begin to fix the labour shortage.
Additionally Gemma if your out there are reading this by some miracle you are an absolute star and you went above and beyond to the last day to make sure Gran was comfortable and although by the end she could not express it I know not a second of your time was unappreciated you are worth far more than you would ever ask for.
It’s the financial disparity that saddens me the most. Unpaid carers don’t get close to the same funds and grants that **paid** carers have access to and utilise – the amount of paperwork that lumps both carer/unpaid carers together right up until the *expenses* part is shocking- there’s also a massive lack of knowledge in the duties, role and responsibilities of *unpaid* carers and most of the **professional** social care staff I’ve dealt with are utterly clueless to the difference of the two.
It’s sinful and has been happening for years.
The Tories have made a real mess of our social care system.
One of the reasons I’m desperate for the Lib Dems to have more influence in the next Parliament. Sir Ed Davey is a carer himself and has been most of his life. He understands the hardship of the role and the importance of these people to our heath and social system.
People who need carers should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps /s
Translation: we need to enslave people to do the work we have always thought beneath ourselves
Isn’t the popular expression that the NHS would collapse without the good will of its staff?
Seems like that’s the case for many public services across the board. Education is reliant on teachers going above and beyond, and social care is very reliant on unpaid or poorly paid workers doing a lot of work out of the goodness of their heart.
People would be surprised/ disgusted if they saw some of the salaries’ of the CEOs of charities/not for profits etc.. When I worked for one, it wasn’t unusual for care workers to be on around £10/hr (about 50p above min wage), no extra from overtime/night shift etc, agency staff would be getting around £15, up to £25 depending on overtime/bank hols etc, and the agency themselves would be charging £50+ for this. And the further up the chain you go, the higher the salary and the more removed from the actual important work (as is true with most job)… Then you get people leaving all their money in a will, or spend their life fundraising etc, expecting it’ll do good, help change the world.. no, it just goes towards paying £150k+ salaries.
Don’t even get me started on the actual unpaid carers or those expected to make do with £76 a week for Carers’ Allowance…
4m MINIMUM. I see partners, often with severe health issues themselves, caring for even sicker partners every day.
Social care sucks in this country just look at how many people with autism and the likes are still stuck in hospital as there’s fuck all to get them out
Sounds more like we just don’t actually have a social care *system*, just a lot of people picking up the slack out of their own moral obligation.
unpaid carers aka family members..
​
this is the equivalent of saying the foster care system would collapse without unpaid carers of kids..aka their parents
I also feel this will hit the young generation harder.
The economy now requires both partners to be working full time. Young people have a mountain of debt for housing and studies. And then we’re seeing a rapid increase in health issues that require full time care, ranging from autism in kids and Alzheimer’s hitting more people younger. Add to that the divorce rates of the parent generation, meaning care more often falls on the kids than the parents.
I have a friend in her late 20s that finished her studies a couple years ago (huge debt) and just got married. She’s an only child, and now her divorced dad got early onset Alzheimer’s.
Let’s get this very important news to 20 thousand upvotes peeps! Just like the transgender cyclist story..
Looks like it’s time to recruit some unpaid superheroes then!
I guess we’ll have to start paying those unpaid carers then, huh?