Carers Chill4us | Carers message board

A thought when the caring role has ended and the estate is being dealt with and something that the caring community should discuss....

if you are working full time as a carer unpaid for a family member and look at claiming  from the estate during probate one could reasonably ask for a minumum wage £6.50 (2014 rates) 24 hours over 365 days
=£ 56940 a year,  but ! this would shock the other family members but when I put this to a solicitor he seemed to think this was reasonable. Especially when you had no other income other than carers allowance.

And looks reasonable if you look at care home costs £600 per week *52 weeks a year = £31200

I did not follow this route but claimed all my expenses and costs that came from my account, which was accepted by solicitor.

There is a great sadness at the loss of a loved one.

To help carers after care has ended and probate is being dealt with - I received some useful advice recently -

it would be acceptable to claim from the estate the amount saved from using a care home by providing your free care role at home, if there is a another family member involved in the probate -then you could claim 50% -

ie. if care home fees would have been £30,000 and there were two beneficeries in the estate settlement - you could claim £15,000 etc along with all your other costs during your care role.

This may help carers in recovering their lives after all Carers Allowance is not much to live on. 

Age UK National Helpline is useful for this 0800 917 5303
and Citizens Advice
and your local solicitors offer free help for an hour

thank you Dave for this information
Wendy

tha22222