Carers Allowance is ripping off our young carers
I would have liked to have clapped my hands in joy as Argyll MSP Jennie Minto seemed to do last week in your paper (“Apply for new carer support Payment, urges Argyll MSP”).
Ms Minto, announcing the added expansion throughout Scotland of 1,500 carers who currently study for exams, while at the same time provide care for a loved one or friend.
The current benefit is named Carers Allowance. A rebranding to Carer Support Payment. The payment is for financial support and is the very least legally the government can do.
People claiming Carer’s Allowance receive £76.75 each week for providing 35 hours of care for a family member or friend. Being an unpaid carer is a full-time job, and this should be reflected in the rate of Carer’s Allowance.The National Living Wage is worth £10.42 per hour for people aged over 23. Someone working 35 hours each week would receive £364.70, or £1,458.80 before tax and National Insurance deductions.
Carers Allowance/Carer Support Payment is £76.75 equal to an eye-watering £2.19 per hour. This is almost £300 less than someone earning the National Living Wage would be entitled to.
If this young carer studying and looking after a loved one or friend didn’t have to take this care on, the young carer would be like other students holding a part-time/ full-time job and earning at least the minimal wage. There is nothing to cheer for or banner wave, in ripping off the young with this derisory £76.75 per week and causing them further financial hardship whilst caring and studying.
There is a petition in Parliament asking to increase Carer’s Allowance to 35 hours a week at the minimum wage. We want the Government to increase the amount of Carer’s Allowance to match pay for a full-time job – petition.parliament.uk/petitions/640062
If MSP Minto were to support the above petition it would indeed warrant a banner headline and a clap of the hands until then its just another SNP cheap rip of which the care community are well used to seeing.
Angus Files, Kilmelford.
Short Term Licensing pain is just the start of it…
Last week my life was made miserable by my wife. She is a chartered surveyor and still struggled to complete and download the Short Term Licensing application form. Over the last few months it was a challenge to get tradespeople, and when they came they charged well over their normal rate. Downloading the paperwork required a visit to a young cousin for tech help. With the job done, apart from the £2,000 cost the pain is over for now.
As a Highland Councillor my inbox has been full of messages from upset and angry people.
An 80-year-old lady who rents out her spare room for a couple of months in the summer, people with pods furious that they had to apply for each separately.
Guesthouse owners complaining that the hotel next door with the same number of rooms didn’t have to do it. Many struggling with getting plans drawn or finding tradespeople.
There will be a massive shortage of accommodation available next summer which will in turn hit restaurants and visitor centres, and available beds will be at a higher price.
As Humza Yousaf claims he is trying to reset the SNP’s troubled relationship with business, he has scored several home goals in alienating tens of thousands of small businesses in the hospitality industry.
I can’t help but believe that one of the major reasons for this intrusive and painful exercise to have taken place is so that an extra tax can be imposed on us hospitality owners in due course.
Angus MacDonald, Highland Councillor.
Lack of ‘control’ is going to leave thousands in the cold
We would like to draw your attention to what has escalated to be a massive problem in the Highland and Islands.
People have without consent or knowledge been switched from being SSE customers, to OVO, a company which is notorious for bad customer service.
Many people in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland have complex meters, such as Total Heating, Total Control, or even older meters. These meters and storage heaters are now outdated and potentially becoming dangerous.
Many people are choosing between heating and eating because they can’t control when the meter is activated and when it goes off. Soon OVO won’t be able to control that either as the Radio 4 signal that operats the tariff will be switched off, potentially leaving over 100,000 Highland residents without hot water or heating – many of whom are elderly and vulnerable.
When these people have contacted OVO regarding swapping their meters for a smart meter (which the government wants to phase in for everyone), they are told either to wait until the new year for any updates, or that they will face outrageous costs involved.
Apparently this radio tele-switch system will stop functioning after March 31 next year, however it was scheduled for the same date this year in 2023 and has been pushed back. Many experts expect it to be pushed back again.
This is a massive problem which SSE is refusing to deal with, considering OVO took over residential energy services. It appears OVO didn’t deliver adequate due diligence during the buyout and are clueless when questioned about a solution.
We have formed a group which currently has hundreds of affected members from the Highlands.
Although we are specific to the Highlands, where we are told there is a shortage of engineers to change the meters, (really? Couldn’t some be trained?), we know this is a problem which extends throughout Scotland.
We demand to know what OVO is doing about this problem which is about to blow up into phenomenal proportions.
In expectation of a prompt satisfactory reply we write on behalf of this growing group of customers, Amanda Darling and Katie Miller, Corpach.