The lowest paid carers of all
16 April 2007
There is a controversy around Government policies aimed at getting women and carers back into the workforce.
Unpaid family carers are usually entitled to a number of days of Carer Support which will give the carer a break from their caring responsibilities. But they are not allowed to work during their break, says Complex Carers Group coordinator Jan Moss.
“Despite the Government’s policy [of getting people back into the workforce], Disability Services Directorate guidelines for Carer Support state that this ‘subsidy’ should not be granted where the full-time carer is engaged in paid work. This is not perceived to be a break for the carer,” Moss says.
“You can’t get Carer Support if you are using that time to work – which I think is interesting given that it’s supposed to be to support carers and many carers would agree that working provides them with a welcome break from caring and some normality in their life,” she says.
Family carers definitely fall into the low income bracket of society, she says.
“Carer Support is paid at a flat rate regardless of the needs of the person with the disability therefore those who care for a person with very high needs are required to ‘top up’ the subsidy in order to get help. Being limited by the Carer Support criteria and your availability because of your caring role only jeopardises you further.”
Changing the limitations on Carers Support to allow carers to work would be a great help, says Moss. “It would at least acknowledge the right of carers to work. There seems to be a societal acceptance that people will care for family members without any choice.”
Disability Services national operations manager Trish Davis says Carer Support is designed to assist the unpaid primary or full-time carer of a disabled person (as defined by the Ministry of Health) to take a break from caring for that person. “The purpose of offering the carer a break is to enable them to continue to provide the required care to the disabled person and to maintain that person in the community for as long as practicable,” she says.
Carer Support can be paid to friends, some family members or neighbours who provide relief care or to people who provide relief care in a formal setting, like a rest home. It cannot be used while the full-time carer is at work, she says.
Moss spent 10 years on the DPB caring fulltime for a daughter with disabilities. She now works with a group she helped set up called Complex Carers Group, which supports families facing the same difficulties she had.
“I’m on the Disability Advisory Group for one of the District Health Boards which employs a person to promote the Disability Strategy, however while they promote the need for work options for people with disabilities, they hadn’t previously thought to look at carers. They never saw carers as part of the disability sector.”
Carers Strategy announced
The government announced recently that it will develop a national Carers Strategy.
Carers New Zealand director Laurie Hilsgen welcomed the initiative, which aims to help the 15 percent of New Zealanders who provide care for sick or disabled family members.
A review of existing policy and legisation has confirmed what people in the voluntary care sector already know, Hilsgen says. "The focus of New Zealand health care delivery is on the person needing support, without adequate regard for the wider family and those in 24/7 caring roles," she says.
Population trends mean that New Zealand is relying more on family carers to provide unpaid care for loved ones. “Often carers are unable to fully participate in the workforce.”
Voluntary carers feel their lives are negatively affected by the pay and conditions experienced by their counterparts in the professional care sector.
A poll conducted by Carers New Zealand showed that a high proportion of voluntary carers placed a high priority on achieving equitable conditions and fair pay for professional carers. “While the paid carers don’t get a fair deal, unpaid carers will continue to be pushed even lower down.”
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Carers New Zealand suggests that family carers at home need:
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Disability Issues minister Ruth Dyson has announced that the government will be working with the Carers Alliance to develop a national Carers Strategy by 2008.