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Advice for carers: a practical guide
- Author:
- AGE UK
- Publisher:
- Age UK
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 43p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This guide provides advice for carers on the support that is available for them. It includes practical advice on: the benefits that are available for carers; disability benefits for the person being cared for and how to claim them; how to arrange flexible working hours; and how to organise respite care. It also includes information on the emotional side of caring and the impact it may have on the carer’s health and social life. Advice is also given on being actively involved in the care of someone who lives a long way away. As far as possible, the information given in this guide is applicable across the UK.
Public support for older disabled people: evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing on receipt of disability benefits and social care subsidy
- Authors:
- HANCOCK Ruth, MORCIANO Marcello, PUDNEY Stephen
- Publisher:
- University of East Anglia
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 35
In England, state support for older people with disabilities consists of a national system of non-means-tested cash disability benefits and a locally administered means-tested system of social care. Evidence on how the combination of the two systems targets those in most need is lacking. This study estimates a latent factor structural equation model of disability and receipt of one or both forms of support. The model integrates the measurement of disability and its influence on receipt of state support, allowing for the socio-economic gradient in disability, and adopts income and wealth constructs appropriate to each part of the model. This paper finds that receipt of each form of support rises as disability increases, with a strong concentration on the most disabled, especially for local-authority-funded care. The overlap between the two programmes is confined to the most disabled. Less than half of recipients of local-authority-funded care also receive a disability benefit; a third of those in the top 10 per cent of the disability distribution receive neither form of support. Despite being non-means-tested, disability benefits display a degree of income and wealth targeting, as a consequence of the socio-economic gradient in disability and likely disability benefit claims behaviour. The scope for improving income/wealth targeting of disability benefits by means testing them, as some have suggested, is thus less than might be expected. (Edited publisher abstract)
Assessing the distributional impact of reforms to disability benefits for older people in the UK: implications of alternative measures of income and disability costs
- Authors:
- HANCOCK Ruth, PUDNEY Stephen
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 34(2), 2014, pp.232-257.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
The UK Attendance Allowance (AA) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are non-means-tested benefits paid to many disabled people aged 65 + . They may also increase entitlements to means-tested benefits through the Severe Disability Premium (SDP). The authors investigate proposed reforms involving withdrawal of AA/DLA. Despite their present non-means-tested nature, they show that withdrawal would affect mainly low-income people, whose losses could be mitigated if SDP were retained at its current or a higher level. The authors also show the importance of the method of describing distributional impacts and that use of inappropriate income definitions in official reports has overstated recipients' capacity to absorb the loss of these benefits. (Publisher abstract)
The distributional impact of reforms to disability benefits for older people in the UK
- Authors:
- HANCOCK Ruth, PUDNEY Stephen
- Publisher:
- University of Essex. Institute for Social and Economic Research
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 26p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Colchester
The UK Attendance Allowance (AA) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are non means-tested benefits paid to many disabled people aged 65 and over. They may also increase entitlements to means-tested benefits through the Severe Disability Premium (SDP). This report investigates proposed reforms involving the withdrawal of AA and DLA. It uses data from the Family Resources Survey to simulate the losses which current AA and DLA recipients would incur if AA and DLA were curtailed. It also considers the extent to which these losses could be mitigated if the SDP were to be retained or increased. It examines how average losses vary across the income distribution using different definitions of income and investigates the impact of potential reforms on the proportion of older people with incomes below various thresholds. The report finds that the abolition of AA and DLA would have a large impact on the poorer parts of the older population. Retaining or increasing the SDP within means-tested benefits could mitigate these losses to some extent. The report also shows the importance of the method of describing distributional impacts and that use of inappropriate income definitions in official reports has overstated recipients’ capacity to absorb the loss of these benefits.
Older people's participation in disability benefits: targeting, timing and financial wellbeing
- Author:
- ZANTOMIO Francesca
- Publisher:
- Institute for Social and Economic Research
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 44p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Colchester
This report on the targeting, timing and financial wellbeing associated with older people’s participation in UK disability benefits is from the Institute for Social and Economic Research Working Paper series. Comprised of a non-technical summary, introduction, and sections entitled, ‘claiming and receiving Attendance Allowance’ (AA), ‘the British Household Panel Survey data’ (BHPS), ‘ empirical analysis of receipt: targeting and timing’, ‘the impact of AA’ and ‘conclusions’, statistical analyses, relating to 17 waves of data, on the same people over time, are presented. The effectiveness of AA in practice is assessed by measuring, firstly, how responsive benefit receipt is to changes to disability status, secondly, the delays to first receipt and thirdly by comparing later outcomes of those who were, or were not, entered onto the program. Findings showed that “entry is highly responsive to previous changes in disability, and that the program enhances persistently recipients’ financial wellbeing.” But, receipt suffered “considerable delays” - up to 4 years. Also, “evidence of characteristics unrelated to eligibility influencing the assignment mechanism”, such as other people familiar with the benefits system in the household, suggests that the AA cash support system of could be improved for those without such help.
The significance of welfare benefit issues in the development of extra-care sheltered housing
- Author:
- BESSELL Bob
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Care Services Management, 2(4), September 2008, pp.334-341.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Elderly disabled people who, because of a variety of reasons, are having difficulty in remaining in their family home have generally believed that they have no alternative to being admitted to a care home, which has involved paying full fees until the value of their house has been used up. This paper shows how someone who has only a modest home and no income other than their state retirement pension, but who qualifies for Attendance Allowance, may well be able both to buy and live comfortably in extra-care sheltered housing, where they will be able to retain both their independence and their financial assets, principally represented by the value of their home.
Informal carers
- Authors:
- POWELL Andy, et al
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons Library
- Publication year:
- 2020
- Pagination:
- 45
- Place of publication:
- London
This briefing paper provides information about the number of informal carers in the UK and the issues they face. It also explains the rights, benefits and support available to informal carers as well as current and previous Government policy on caring. Specifically, the briefing covers: carers’ employment, incomes and earnings; benefits; older carers; parent carers of disabled children; young carers; carers’ health and wellbeing; access to health services; local authority assessments and health and social care support for carers, including respite breaks; past and future Government policy, including the proposed Carers Strategy and the forthcoming social care Green Paper. (Edited publisher abstract)
Disability and poverty in later life
- Authors:
- HANCOCK Ruth, MORCIANO Marcello, PUDNEY Stephen
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 44
- Place of publication:
- London
This report explores the relationship between disability and poverty among the older population. It provides an overview of the current system of disability support for older people which involves both nationally-administered disability benefits of Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance, and local systems of social care provision. It then looks at measuring poverty, emphasising the additional living costs that disabled people face, and the importance of taking disability costs into account when making assessments. The report considers three scenarios for the system of public support within the existing level of government spending which involve changes to levels of mean-testing and reach of support. It casts doubt on some of the suggestions that have been made for improving the targeting of public support for older disabled people. The report concludes that: effective targeting does not necessarily require an extension of means-testing; the present benefit and social care system is reasonably well-targeted, but falls far short of full support for the most severely disabled; there is a case for tailoring the structure of disability benefits more closely to the severity of disability; and there is a need for caution in considering proposals that would scrap national disability benefits in favour of an expansion of local authority social care funding. (Edited publisher abstract)
The bigger picture: understanding disability and care in England’s older population
- Authors:
- LLOYD James, ROSS Andy
- Publishers:
- Independent Age, Strategic Society Centre
- Publication year:
- 2014
- Pagination:
- 90
- Place of publication:
- London
Explores disability and care at a national, regional and local authority level in England. The report brings together data from Census 2011, DWP and HSCIC ‘administrative data’, as well as from Wave 6 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, to look at the prevalence of disability, need and care of different types, and to paint a picture of the lives of different groups. In particular, Chapter 3 provides a snapshot of disability and care in the older population in England, identifying key results. Chapter 4 looks in detail at the lives of older people with limited day-to-day activities, from their health characteristics to their living situation. Chapter 5 explores the characteristics of older people receiving unpaid and paid care including the overall adequacy of their care, as well as older people with substantial levels of disability who experience difficulty undertaking three or more ‘activities of daily living’. Chapter 6 explores the interaction of older people experiencing limited day-to-day activities with public support, i.e. disability benefits and the local authority care and support system. Chapter 7 examines the prevalence of unpaid older carers and the outcomes they experience, as well as the extent of local authority support for them. The report shows that around half of the 65+ population in England reported their day-to-day activities were limited. Of the 6.7 per cent of the older population living at home in England who reported difficulty undertaking three or more activities of daily living, around 70,000 did not receive any care, and could therefore be classed as experiencing substantial unmet need. Around 20 per cent of older carers experienced self-care (ADL) difficulties themselves. (Edited publisher abstract)
Pension, Disability and Carers Service annual report of quarterly satisfaction monitor 2009/10
- Authors:
- HOWAT Nick, NORDEN Oliver, GARBETT Erica
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions
- Publication year:
- 2011
- Pagination:
- 90p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The Pension, Disability and Carers Service (PDCS) is an executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions, and is responsible for delivering a range of age and disability related benefits. A customer survey was launched to monitor satisfaction with the service and to ensure that customer views were taken into account in operational and policy planning. This report presents the findings from the first year of the customer survey, which reflects information gathered in telephone interviews with customers who had contact with the service in the previous 6 months. It describes the methodology used and reports on findings for the PDCS as a whole, the experiences of Pension Service customers, the experiences of Disability and Carers Service customers, and an overview of customer characteristics. One of the key performance measures was overall customer satisfaction with the service, and the survey found that 92% were satisfied with PDCS as a whole in 2009/10.