replacement carer for a carer with cancer

Former Member
Former Member
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Hi - my mum is my dad's carer (they're both retired) and she has just started claiming attendance allowance for him - however, as she has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and is due to start chemotherapy next week, she needs to finance additional care for him (they don't have much in savings and the attendance allowance barely covers it) however we've been told that it will take 6 weeks for a social service claim to be processed to finance the care - is there anything we should/could be doing to speed this up? Thanks

  • Hello  

    Thanks for getting in touch. 

    We have a dedicated group of Welfare Rights Advisers who can see if there is any financial support your parent are eligible for. Unfortunately, the Welfare Rights Advisers don’t currently have a presence on Ask an Expert but you could speak to them by phone. You can contact them on freephone 0808 808 0000 and they’re available Monday to Friday 8am – 8pm and weekends 9am – 5pm. If you’d prefer you can also contact them via webchat here by selecting “Chat to us” and then the “Welfare Benefits & Grants” option. 

    They will ask you for some financial details such as your parents household income, amount of any savings, cost of rent/mortgage, council tax and utilities just to see if any other help is available.

    If there are care costs your Dad needs the Local Authority will carry out a care and support needs assessment to find out what help is needed. They will also carry out an assessment of the person’s finances to determine what costs will need to be met by them and which will be met by the local authority. Sometimes a Local Authority might be able to provide support services before the assessment is complete if they believe the need is urgent, it might be worth speaking to the Local Authority to see if this is something they can do.


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    Kind regards,

     

    Calum

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  • Former Member
    Former Member in reply to Calum - Macmillan

    Thanks Calum - I was at a bit of a loss as to who to ask - I will get in touch with the Welfare Rights people