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If you signed my petition, thank you!👍👏You’ll be getting another bloody survey through on your inbox from Parliamentary Petition. Please open it and fill it in. It’s not long. 👍. Parliament is emailing people who signed my petition and other Carer’s Allowance petitions because on 15 October Alison Bennett MP is leading a Westminster Hall debate on support for unpaid carers. If you’re wondering what to write, don’t copy and paste somebody else’s response. Think about why you signed.
If you’re an unpaid carer, you might want to talk about:
• The Carer’s Allowance earnings cliff edge
• Wanting to work without losing the entire allowance
• Caring 35 hours, 60 hours, 100+ hours and the system barely distinguishing between them
• Having to give up work, reduce hours or sacrifice a career
• Carer’s Allowance and Universal Credit
• Reaching State Pension age and continuing to care
• Caring for more than one person
• Respite that exists but isn’t suitable for the person you care for
• Night care, supervision and constant availability
• Isolation and being effectively housebound
• Losing opportunities to build savings or a private/workplace pension
• Anything else that affects YOUR caring life
You don’t need to cover everything. Pick what matters to you and explain why.
NOT A CARER?
You still have something worth saying.
Perhaps you’ve seen how hard your friend’s mum or dad works caring for their disabled child.
Perhaps you’ve watched somebody give up work to look after their partner.
Perhaps you’ve seen an elderly parent caring for an adult disabled son or daughter.
Perhaps you simply read about the rules and thought, “That isn’t fair.”
That’s enough. Tell them what you’ve seen, what made you sign and what you think needs to change.
You don’t have to understand every benefit rule — I definitely don’t!
PLEASE DON’T COPY MY WORDS.
Twenty people describing what matters to them in twenty different ways tells Parliament far more than twenty identical answers.

Deadline: midday Wednesday 14 October.

They’ve asked for our experiences and opinions.
Let’s give them both. #thefacesofcare #t

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oscar via @lois_reflections

@oscarhartlandofficial #oscarhartland #oscarhartlandmusic #gavinandstacey #neilthebaby

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It’s 1 am on a Wednesday. Karen is sitting at her computer again. While most people are asleep, she is trying to find out what is happening with her mum’s care while she is in hospital.

Speaking into her phone camera, Karen describes another “awful few days” and recalls “breaking down again in a hospital” as she asks questions and tries to get answers about her mum’s care.

But getting those answers has become another task in itself. Karen is trying to navigate different services and piece together information at a time when she and her family need support.

Karen says her mum’s social worker, whom she had been dealing with, has “not answered anything or dealt with anything”. Then a new social worker appears. Karen finds herself having to repeat the same information and bring someone new up to speed.

“How do I explain the past nine months?” she asks.
By this point, Karen describes herself as “weary” and talks about “carer breakdown”.

Karen’s story is one all too familiar to too many families in the UK. Read the full story from @lois_reflections over on the Tether website.

https://www.tethermagazine.com/featured/1am-and-still-caring-the-hidden-work-of-unpaid-care/

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#thefacesofcare #togetherwearestrong #ukpolitics #updatecarersallowance #parentcarer Where is my private pension? Where is my safety net for old age?
Years of unpaid caring don’t just cost us now. We can still be paying the price in retirement. *** Carers can get National Insurance credits which help protect their State Pension. But that doesn’t replace the wages and other financial opportunities lost through years of caring.

This is another part of the true financial cost of unpaid care that I think needs talking about.

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A few bits from early December.

Still getting out of my comfort zone, supporting events/artists and enjoying more time with MT.

Ta to Meg from the @theoldcourts for pic 1.

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Printing in progress…

Thresholds is coming to life! This week we’re printing and laying out work for the exhibition.

Fri 28 November, 5:30–8:00 PM
P5 Gallery, Platform 5, Bolton Railway Station

Everyone welcome! No RSVP needed.
Optional attendance note / further info: S.Lovell@greatermanchester.ac.uk

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On the 30th of October, I had the pleasure of delivering my first speaking event at @wigan_libraries on the topic of policing, and how police officers are breaking and resigning.

As part of this, the up and coming independent journalist @lois_reflections did a piece on me.

Read it now on the @thehowfenjournal

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