r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	iRobyn
Comment	Kinda reluctant to post about this because people on UC get a bad rep, but maybe more people need to hear this? I'm a full time carer for my disabled, wheelchair bound dad. I'm 30, he's 72. His disability is from spinal damage while in the army, and he has COPD and hearing loss. I don't work, and the most I could work is 12 hours a week, and at that point they would cut my benefits for trying to work. We also have my disabled sister living here who is 16. The benefits he receives, go towards our living costs - electricity, food, and other household bills such as internet and home insurance (we rent from Wheatley). Now because I can't work because he needs full time care, I get the pleasure of receiving £70 a week on carers allowance. I don't see a penny of this. It goes towards our heating costs, and sometimes towards my dads care because the NHS have deemed him ineligible for certain help. On the weeks we can't afford to put the heating on, I have to wrap my 72 year old disabled father in blankets and pray the emergency credit gets us through the night. I also get Universal credit, which roughly works out to be £50 a week. Phone bill for me is currently £40, bus pass is £56 and then a small amount towards debts around £20, leaves me a grand fucking total of £21 per week to spend on myself. Now people usually tell me one of two things. 1 - You need to learn to budget better. My response is usually "kindly fuck off" and "actually for a 30 year old who got thrown into this position pretty much overnight, I budget quite well and keep my family going", or 2 - You need to ask for extra help. There is no extra help available. The government put £66 a month on our electricity meter, but that finishes in February next year. What happens then? Because at the current rate we need £100 a month towards keeping the house with electricity and keeping my dads breathing machine on. Call citizens advice? Great, done that. Two week fucking wait to speak to an advisor who tells you they don't have any food bank vouchers available. Try SSAFA? Great, done that. They assign you a caseworker who is never available, and judges you for making expenditures on things that aren't necessary such as the christmas tree. Check for extra benefits? Already done it, there's none. So here I sit, a university educated, 30 year old woman, with £24.90 in my bank thinking to myself "I done it, I saved a bit of money". The ones who could help us have turned their backs on us. It's a broken system meant to keep us down, they don't actually want me to work. If I get a full time job, I'd have to pay out of pocket for home care to come help my dad and sister. If I try and go part time, anything over 8 hours would cut my universal credit, and I'd be on exactly the same amount of money each month. Sorry this was so long to read, but it's exhausting. Right now, we're stable enough. We've got the heating on tonight, and enough electricity for the next week. There's people out there so much worse and I just sit here thinking, if I'm struggling, how the hell are they getting through it??
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/zlzris/heating_bills/j093qx6/
Created	Wed 14th Dec 2022 11:16pm
Status	normal ()

Kinda reluctant to post about this because people on UC get a bad rep, but maybe more people need to hear this?

I'm a full time carer for my disabled, wheelchair bound dad. I'm 30, he's 72. His disability is from spinal damage while in the army, and he has COPD and hearing loss. I don't work, and the most I could work is 12 hours a week, and at that point they would cut my benefits for trying to work. We also have my disabled sister living here who is 16.

The benefits he receives, go towards our living costs - electricity, food, and other household bills such as internet and home insurance (we rent from Wheatley). Now because I can't work because he needs full time care, I get the pleasure of receiving £70 a week on carers allowance. I don't see a penny of this. It goes towards our heating costs, and sometimes towards my dads care because the NHS have deemed him ineligible for certain help. On the weeks we can't afford to put the heating on, I have to wrap my 72 year old disabled father in blankets and pray the emergency credit gets us through the night. I also get Universal credit, which roughly works out to be £50 a week. Phone bill for me is currently £40, bus pass is £56 and then a small amount towards debts around £20, leaves me a grand fucking total of £21 per week to spend on myself.

Now people usually tell me one of two things. 1 - You need to learn to budget better. My response is usually "kindly fuck off" and "actually for a 30 year old who got thrown into this position pretty much overnight, I budget quite well and keep my family going", or 2 - You need to ask for extra help. **There is no extra help available.** The government put £66 a month on our electricity meter, but that finishes in February next year. What happens then? Because at the current rate we need £100 a month towards keeping the house with electricity and keeping my dads breathing machine on. Call citizens advice? Great, done that. Two week fucking wait to speak to an advisor who tells you they don't have any food bank vouchers available. Try SSAFA? Great, done that. They assign you a caseworker who is never available, and judges you for making expenditures on things that aren't necessary such as the christmas tree. Check for extra benefits? Already done it, there's none.

So here I sit, a university educated, 30 year old woman, with £24.90 in my bank thinking to myself "I done it, I saved a bit of money". The ones who could help us have turned their backs on us. It's a broken system meant to keep us down, they don't actually want me to work. If I get a full time job, I'd have to pay out of pocket for home care to come help my dad and sister. If I try and go part time, anything over 8 hours would cut my universal credit, and I'd be on exactly the same amount of money each month.

Sorry this was so long to read, but it's exhausting. Right now, we're stable enough. We've got the heating on tonight, and enough electricity for the next week. There's people out there so much worse and I just sit here thinking, if I'm struggling, how the hell are they getting through it??