Category Archives: family

60,000 grandparents forced to give up work to bring up grandchildren

An estimated 60,000 grandparents have had to give up work to bring up their grandchildren to stop them being taken into care by social services, a study suggests.

 

An estimated 60,000 grandparents have had to give up work to bring up their grandchildren to stop them being taken into care by social services, a study suggests.

8:28AM BST 12 Jun 2012

 

Every year around 9,000 grandparents abandon their careers to look after grandchildren only to face a lack of support and recognition from the Government, according to the research.

Unlike new parents or adoptive parents, working age grandparents and family carers are not entitled to paid leave from work or financial help from their local authority and are forced to rely on benefits or their own savings to make ends meet.

Ministers to pledge free holiday to family carers as part of new plans to reform care system

White paper detailing changes to care system to be published later this month

  • Care services minister says current arrangements aren’t working
  • An estimated 1.25million people spend more than 50 hours a week caring for family member

PUBLISHED: 01:51, 9 June 2012 | UPDATED: 01:53, 9 June 2012

 

Carers looking after vulnerable relatives will be entitled to respite holidays paid for by the Government.

The ‘sandwich generation’, which juggles looking after  elderly parents with supporting children, will be given greater help under the plans.

Ministers will require councils to arrange support for carers including short holidays away from the person they care for, assistance with transport and training in care techniques.

Change: Carers looking after vulnerable relatives will be entitled to respite holidays paid for by the Government

 

A White Paper detailing the reforms to the care system will be published later this month.

Anger as lone parents face benefit cuts

Short notice of welfare shake-up hits 124,000 now under increased pressure to find work

 

A young mother with her daughter outside her home on a council estate in Bristol.

Charities have spoken of their fury over changes to the welfare system which from tomorrow will force unemployed single parents with children about to start school to find a job or risk losing part or all of their benefits.

These 124,000 single parents with children aged five and six were given only eight weeks notice of the fact that they would have to move from income support to jobseeker’s allowance (JSA). Previously, lone parents of older children have been given up to 12 months notice, giving them a greater chance of planning ahead and improving their skills and qualifications.