Unpaid carers have reported that they are unable to pay for petrol to visit their loved ones and can't afford basic items
An emergency appeal has been launched to provide a financial lifeline to unpaid carers.
The Carers Trust has launched an emergency appeal to help unpaid carers who are struggling to cope with the enormous impact of coronavirus and self-isolation while still providing care and support to family members and friends.
All donations made online by the public will go straight into the trust’s Carers Emergency Fund. The fund will be used to ramp up Carers Trust’s existing grants programme, providing more small grants more quickly to those carers who need them most. It will provide grants of any amount up to £300 directly to carers, helping them overcome the hurdles that the virus is throwing up on a daily basis.
The charity has been receiving a huge upsurge in communications through its network from carers looking after people, young and old, whose lives have been made extremely challenging as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. One Carers Trust network partner has reported a 100% increase in the number of emails it is receiving from carers since the outbreak. The same partner has seen a 177% increase in people visiting its website (an average of 466 visitors per day). All communications from carers, whether calls or emails, are prompted by concerns about coronavirus.
Examples of problems facing carers
• Lack of money for petrol from a carer whose 98 year-old father was released from hospital after 28 days battling Coronavirus. The carer did not want paid care workers coming into the house and risking re-infection. With her only income being Carers Allowance of £67.25 per week, however, she could not afford to make the 18 mile round-trip three times a day to care for him properly.
• The lack of money to meet the cost of purchasing a small tablet so that an unpaid carer can keep in regular contact with the person they care for, reducing their loneliness and isolation and ensuring their health doesn’t deteriorate.
• A carer had no money to buy a cooker after ordering one from Bright House just before they went into administration. She had no further funds to get one in any other way. The carer has three children with disabilities who need very particular
foods.
Carers Trust’s chief executive Gareth Howells said: “Unpaid carers are the backbone of our society, providing huge levels of care to family members that are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. But all too often the commitment and sacrifices they make go unnoticed.
“At Carers Trust we are constantly hearing about the daily struggles of unpaid carers and how their lives have now been thrown into turmoil as a result of Coronavirus. Some unpaid carers simply cannot find food because food banks have closed. Others are spending considerable amounts of money caring for their family members because it’s not safe for the social care workforce to do so.
“That’s why we are launching the Carers Emergency Fund. It will increase the number of grants we are able to make and ensure this happens as quickly as possible to ease the pressures on unpaid carers.”
“This fund also shows Carers Trust’s determination to stand by these heroes, keeping them afloat so they can continue to care for their loved ones. I’d urge anyone able to do so to visit the Carers Trust website to donate and show their support for unpaid carers who really are the backbone of our social care system.”
You can donate to the emergency fund online.
Gareth Howells using the "heroes" nonsense is patronising. He knows sod-all about our (carers) lives and pushed the lie that there are 7 million carers. We don't need a charity to speak for us, we are NOT charity cases