If you have jumped through the many hoops that Government puts in front of you the ‘successful unpaid carer’ will receive the Carers allowance of £76.75 per week. Because you need to work at least 35 hours a week this equates to £2.19 per hour!
IN THE 21ST CENTURY CAN THIS BE RIGHT?
Let us take a more detailed look at the figures
The Carers Allowance of £76.75 per week is only given if you care for 35 hours per week (which equals to £2.19 per hour). Let’s compare that with the minimum wage (for a 23 year old) which is £10.42 per hour.
UNPAID CARER: Receives a weekly payment of £76.75 for 35 hours
MINIMUM WAGE EARNER: Receives a weekly payment of £364.70 for 35 hours
As of August 2020 the Government statistics state that there were 1,300,000 claiming Carers Allowance. If we were to pay these unpaid carers the minimum wage it would cost the Government over an (extra) £19bn!
A huge amount of money but as it is estimated that Unpaid Carers save the treasury each and every year an estimated £139bn then an extra £19bn should be looked at in perspective! It represents only 13.67% of what our army of unpaid carers save us.