Her Way Forward · Good to know
The word applies to you
You collect her prescriptions. You sit in on the appointments because she gets flustered. You cook twice, once for home and once to take round. If somebody asked, you would say you were her daughter, or her daughter-in-law, or her wife. You would not say you were a carer.
That word does very little for how you feel about any of it. It does two specific things elsewhere, though, and both of them are worth knowing about, because neither will be offered to you unless somebody works out that the word applies.
In Wandsworth, 17,705 people told the last census they look after somebody without being paid. Just over 8,000 of them do more than twenty hours a week. Most of those people have never filled in a form about it.
The first thing is an assessment
A carer's assessment
This is a legal right, not a favour. Under the Care Act 2014, if you look after somebody, you can ask the council to assess your needs, and the council has a duty to do it.
- FreeIt costs nothing and there is no means test to get one.
- YoursIt is about you, not about the person you look after.
- No thresholdYou can have one whatever your income and however many hours you do.
Wandsworth Council describes it as a conversation about the impact caring is having on your life, and whether you are able and willing to carry on. It can lead to things like respite, equipment, or a route into support you did not know existed. It can also lead to nothing much. Plenty of women have one and find the useful part was simply being asked.
Where to ask, in Wandsworth
Wandsworth Adult Social Care
020 8871 7707 · accessteam@wandsworth.gov.uk
Wandsworth Carers' Centre
020 8877 1200 · 46 Balham High Road, SW12 9AQ
The Carers' Centre is a separate charity and can help you through the process. If you would rather somebody came with you the first time, ask us.
The second thing is money
Carer's Allowance
A weekly payment from the government. The rules are strict and specific, so it is worth checking all four before you decide it is not for you.
- £86.45Per week, at the current rate.
- 35 hoursA week, caring. Appointments, shopping, bills and washing all count.
- £204The most you can earn a week, after tax, National Insurance and expenses.
- Her benefitsThe person you look after has to already receive a qualifying benefit, such as Attendance Allowance or the daily living part of PIP.
That last condition is the one that stops most claims, and it is worth turning round the other way. If the person you look after is not getting any of those, the question is not whether you can claim. It is whether she should have been claiming something all along.
Please get advice before you claim
Claiming Carer's Allowance can reduce the benefits of the person you care for. This catches people out and it can leave a household worse off overall.
It is not a reason to avoid claiming. It is a reason to have somebody run the numbers on both of you together first. Citizens Advice do this for free and so does the Carers' Centre.
The part nobody puts on a form
There is a national survey of carers that asks whether they have as much contact with other people as they would like. Fewer than a third say yes.
That survey only reaches carers the council already knows about. If you have never had an assessment, never claimed anything, and never called yourself a carer, you were not asked.
Am I allowed to want a couple of hours off?
Yes. It is also a completely ordinary thing to feel guilty about, and feeling guilty about it does not mean you are wrong to want it.
Communi-TEA was built for exactly this. Our own page describes it as a couple of hours where you do not have to be anything for anyone, which is about right. There is tea, there are other women, and there is a quiet corner doing simple health checks like blood pressure if you want one. Nothing is compulsory. You can sit and drink your tea and that is plenty.
Dates go up on this site and in our WhatsApp community a few weeks ahead, so you can work out the cover.
Where this comes from
Benefit rates and rules change. These were checked against GOV.UK on the date below, and you should check the current figures before relying on them.
- Right to a carer's assessmentCare Act 2014, section 10. Local authorities have a duty to assess any carer who requests it or appears to need support, regardless of financial circumstances or level of need.
- Carer's Allowance: £86.45 a week, 35 hours, £204 earnings limitGOV.UK, Carer's Allowance and Carer's Allowance eligibility.
- Claiming can affect the other person's benefitsGOV.UK, Carer's Allowance. "It can affect the other benefits that you and the person you care for get."
- 17,705 unpaid carers in Wandsworth, 8,138 caring over 20 hours a weekCensus 2021, Office for National Statistics.
- Fewer than a third of carers have as much social contact as they would likeSurvey of Adult Carers in England 2023–24, NHS England Digital. The figure was 30.0%. This survey samples only carers known to their council.
- Local contactsWandsworth Borough Council adult social care, and Wandsworth Carers' Centre, a registered charity independent of the council.