Clive

I suppose I'd better say who I am and why I started this.
OK, I'm Clive, I founded an online support group called UK Carers as I didn't' feel that Carers in the UK were getting a good deal from anyone, that includes the 2 main Carer charities. Carers on the whole are having to give up any semblance of a normal life to care for a disabled wife, husband or relative, they give up their careers and jobs, in the process they save the country over £57 BILLION pounds a year, it's a lot of money I think you would agree?
What reward do they get? Well precious little, there is a Carers Allowance which amounts to £46.95 a week for providing a minimum 35 hours care a week, it's normally more. I forgot to say, out of the 6 million Carers in the UK only around half a million are eligible for this amount, most get nothing, some get a little, when you retire and pick up your pension your Carers Allowance is taken away EVEN IF you are still caring, pretty shitty I think you would agree.Carers get no help at all, most live in poverty, social isolation and poor health BECAUSE OF their Caring role (some reward huh?)UK Carers has become the most popular support group for Carers, we constantly challenge the government over the level of income (good example is foster carers get a guaranteed minimum income of over £130 a week for something they choose to do, Carers are mostly forced into their Caring role and receive a pittance for being forced to give up their jobs) We want something approaching the same level of income and acknowledgement of what we do and what we save the country. Our website has had over 750.000 'hits' in the first 18 months of it's existence which is impressive for a place run by Carers for Carers, we'd like to do better.