Petition for carers 14th Nov 08 deadline

Details of Petition:

“In the Welfare Green Paper No One Written Off: Reforming Welfare to Reward Responsibility the Government proposes to transfer working age carers on Carers Allowance and Income Support to Job seekers Allowance. Carers are amongst the most responsible members of society. Without their contribution our NHS and social care systems would collapse. Transferring carers to job seekers allowance , a benefit that suggests carers are not working, are not contributing to society and are available for work is an insult and a contradiction of the government’s claim to ‘recognise’ carers’ ‘immense contribution’ to society (estimated to be worth £87 billion a year). Carers’ valuable social input should be recognised by keeping carer benefits separate from the rest of the benefit system.”

Read the Government’s response
We have listened to those who took the time to send responses to our proposals in the Green Paper ‘No one written off’. In the recently published White Paper ‘Raising expectations and increasing support: reforming welfare for the future’ we stated that we will not move existing groups from Income Support (IS) to a modified Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) until we have a clear and detailed plan setting out how we will reform the benefit system over the longer term. We will though take powers that enable the abolition of IS at a later date.

The proposal in ‘No one written off’ was to abolish IS, when resources allow, and move existing customers who do not migrate to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to JSA. The main groups affected by this proposed move would be lone parents with a child under the age of 7 and carers.

Recognising that these groups have responsibilities that take priority over job seeking, the proposal was to modify JSA so as to mirror the level of conditionality that is currently applied within IS. As benefit rates are also identical in JSA, the only actual change for both groups would be the name of their benefit.

Throughout the consultation period we received many responses from carers and their representatives opposing any move to JSA. Some of these were based on a misunderstanding of the proposal: some people thought we intended to move carers from Carer’s Allowance, which is not the case, whilst others thought they would be subject to the full job seeking requirements of JSA. A common thread running through the majority of responses was that the name of JSA itself was an insult to carers and suggested that their caring role is not work.

We recognise the important contribution that carers make to society and respect the work that they do. Moving to a modified JSA was not intended to suggest that caring is not work. The needs of carers will be central to our consideration of the future reform of the benefits system. We will ensure that proposals for a future system of support make appropriate provision for carers and fit well with the outcome of the Department of Health review of the care and support system.

Petition for carers 14th Nov deadline

We need more people to sign this petition and make it known to all.
If you agree please click on the link below which is The official site of Prime Ministers Office.
Elaine.

This is what it reads.....


We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to withdraw the proposal to transfer carers on carers allowance and income support to job seekers allowance and to recognise carers' valuable social input by keeping carer benefits separate from the rest of the benefit system.

Submitted by Philippa Wood of Carer Watch –
Deadline to sign up by: 14 November 2008



Here is the link
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/caringiswork/