Carers urged to get help in their caring role on Carers' Rights Day

Carers' Rights Day is on Friday 2 December, and all carers in Greenwich are being encouraged to make sure that they are getting help and support in their caring role.

There are a range of services to assist carers in the borough.

These include:

• Benefits Advice Line that borough residents can ring for advice and information about benefits, both for themselves and the person they are looking after.
• Jobcentre Plus provides extra support for carers who want to move into paid employment. In some cases this can include funding for respite care while the carer undertakes training - telephone 0845 604 3719 and ask for a carers appointment at your local office.
• Council services for carers, including a carer's assessment if you are providing substantial care for someone else and support to set up an emergency plan for the person you care for. Contact 020 8921 2304.
  
• Greenwich Carers Centre is a service for all carers living in Greenwich, or who care for someone living in the borough. Visit Greenwich Carers Centre website.
  

Make sure you don't miss out

Many carers miss out on extra weekly income because they do not know they can claim. The benefit system is complex and can be difficult to understand and there are also regular changes to benefit rules - so make sure you don't miss out!

The main benefit for carers is Carer's Allowance, but there is a range of other benefits and payments that may be claimed. Working carers may be able to get Carer's Allowance if their earnings (after some deductions) are below £100 a week. Carers with higher earnings may still be able to claim other benefits, depending on their circumstances.

To find out if you are missing out on extra help, call Greenwich Council's Welfare Rights Service on 020 8921 6375 (or 18001 020 8921 6375 for textphone users).

One carer's success story

Over 200 carers have contacted the service since April this year, extra benefits were identified for more than half of them.

One local carer who'd been forced to give up work to care for his elderly mother ended up £186.38 better off a week. He was assisted with claims for Pension Credit, Carer's Allowance and Council Tax Benefit. As well as the weekly benefit gain, he also received over £1,000 in backdated benefits.