At 06:30am, BBC Scotland announces:
The cost of living crisis has left many unpaid carers feeling invisible, undervalued and under pressure.
Cut to the Director of the Carers Trust Scotland, Louise Morgan, who opens with a fact (alarm bells):
In Scotland we are slightly better off because there’s a carers allowance supplement.
By the 07:30 report, she’s gone, never to return after that.
I look forward with interest to see if and how she is reported later in the day.
Talking-up Scotland 
🤣 Well spotted… You’ll have a long wait as you well you know…
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The report also indicated that the number of registered carers had dropped significantly in the past 6 years. And, what happened 6 years ago? Brexit.
Could that be a factor in the reduction in numbers?
The Dog’s Arse has always muffled allusions to Br**** as a possible factor in various deteriorations because ‘Boris’ (sic) ‘got Brexit done’ and “Sir” Keir is going to ‘make Brexit work’. “Brexit ” can be mentioned in these contexts because they are ‘good’, but with regard to the damp squib that is the trade deal with Japan, Br**** is only for the listener to infer.
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This is about ‘unpaid carers’, not those working in the community who are paid a wage, albeit a very low wage. Unpaid carers are usually parents or other family members looking after a family member, or more than one, either at home, in supported accomodation, or sometimes in hospital. They are usually reliant on English government state support, (lol) which consists of carers allowance, £66 a week and some other benefit, like income support to take it up to a staggering £110 pw or so. In order to qualify for CA, they have to be caring for their family member for a ‘minimum’ of 35 hours pw! No holidays or respite allowed or you lose your ‘benefits’.
The problem with Brexit, is that many paid carers, who often support the person with disabilities, usually very part time, (seven hours pw in my case, as paid for by the local authority once social work have assessed the needs of the person requiring support with day to day living) has impacted that section of care and so it’s becoming more difficult to access adequate support, meaning unpaid carers have even less time to take a breather from their caring role. Exhausting, and don’t become ill. There are supportive charities etc, but of Covid has impacted that as well.
So Brexit is impacting the whole of the care sector indeed, which in turn, impacts unpaid carers ability to take a break for a few hours for example.
The Scottish government have awarded unpaid carers a ‘carers supplement’ for the past 2-3yrs, about £400 over the year, a massive help especially in winter, though I fear it may be impossible to carry on doing that, as there are sooo many carers and of course, budget cuts coming from the EngGov.
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BBC Scotland, don’t you just love them 🙂 China, Russia and North Korea could take lessons from this lot.
I am just waiting for Sally Magnusson presents the “news” with a Union Flag in the studio.
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“The cost of living crisis has left many unpaid carers feeling invisible, undervalued and under pressure”
So did BBC Scotland mention..
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/money/carers-allowance-extra-payment-date-28598617
“People on Carer’s Allowance set to receive an extra £245 payment next week
More than 81,600 unpaid carers could be due the cash boost on top of their monthly allowance.”
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Don’t know about ‘monthly allowance’ the DWP via EngGov pays carers allowance at £66 a week, and the CA supplement comes but twice a year, one payment in summer, one in winter. Not sure how much CA and the supplement works out per hour, it’s a ‘boost’ I guess if you need to buy things that are otherwise completely unaffordable.
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When I challenged Carers Uk about them not informing people in their news about the carers supplement in Scotland, they ignored me. They are Carers UK, but speak for England, and when campaigning for carers, their emphasis is Uk wide even though there are differences in Scotland with regard to how unpaid carers are respected and supported. They do not want to paint Scotland in a better light than England at all, as is the case with many organisations.
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Poor Louise clearly didn’t know that on Radio Scotland only castigation of our country is permissible. Anything positive or favourable would suggest that our country might just possibly be able to have control of its own affairs, and that would never do. Perhaps BBC Scotland means “British Broadcasters Castigating Scotland”
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