"It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn't matter who gets the credit"
Harry Truman.
Who or what is a Carer?
A "Carer" is defined as, "A person who looks after someone who
has a disability, illness, mental health problem or frailty due to age, and who is not in
paid employment in that role."
This definition clearly excludes those who already have
a recognised title such as nurses, doctors and other health professionals. It also
specifically excludes those who provide care in residential care homes or in
domiciliary settings (i.e.; in the disabled person’s own home) and who are paid for the
work they do as part of their employment. These people are often known as
care-workers or care-assistants etc.
Carers save the UK about £70 + billion per year by
the work that they do, but they are largely ignored and patronised by those with the
power to help. We seek to change this by becoming a powerful voice for carers,
certainly in the UK but also if possible world-wide.
Why separate those in paid employment from other carers?
In the UK those in paid employment have various rights that are denied to carers.
For example, there is the European working time directive which limits the amount of
hours any individual can work, whereas Carers may be expected to, and very often do,
work up to 24 hours a day without any reasonable break.
For all paid employment in the UK there is the introduction of minimum wage legislation as from April 01 1999.
For many Carers the opposite is true, for in effect, a maximum income is imposed
upon them. Many carers are forced to live on Government benefit payments, due to
the fact that caring takes up all their time, and therefore other work is not an option.
The rules under which these benefit payments are paid have the effect of placing a
maximum income upon carers. This is because if they actually get paid for anything
else that they may do, it is taken into account when calculating their level of benefit
payment. In reality, they can only increase their income by about £20 per week ( about
30 US dollars or Euro's), any income above that figure is deducted from their benefits.
There is legislation on minimum paid holiday entitlement for employees, each employee either
is, or will be soon be, entitled to a minimum of 4 weeks paid leave every year.
Carers, or the disabled person that they care for, are expected to pay for short breaks/respite so
the carer can have a holiday. This can often cost more than £100 per week. In
addition, the carer can face the prospect of losing some benefit payments, which are
paid directly to carers, during the period of short/break/respite-care. So before they
can have a holiday, carers have to add the cost of any short-break/respite-care to the
cost of their holiday, whilst at the same time face losing part of their income also.
In addition, there are laws that regulate the age of people employed to work in the caring
professions, in the UK this is between 16 and 65 years old. By contrast the majority of
carers in the UK are over 65 years old and, it is disgraceful that in a rich, powerful
developed nation, many young people under 16 years old have to fulfil the caring role
for a member of their family. Some young carers have been identified who are only 8
years old. If an employer allowed the employment of such young persons, they would
be fined heavily and could even face the prospect of going to jail.
In America they use the term "caregiver" to refer to all those who
provide care, whether paid or not. Is it not time for America to come into line with the
rest of the world and take up the term "Carer" and differentiated between the paid
care-worker and un-paid carer? | 