mardi 19 décembre 2017

UK - Grandparent carers in debt due to grandchildren

My eye was caught by this BBC article which IMO has the usual combination of real issue and hyperbole:

http://ift.tt/2CzEs4Q

The headline case is an interesting one. A grandmother looked after her grandchildren due to her daughter having a drug issue. The grandchildren are grateful but sadly the grandparent is now declaring bankruptcy due to the £20k in debts she has run up.

Then again, according to the article:

Quote:

She spent on credit cards so the children could go on school trips and holidays, and is currently going through bankruptcy to clear her £20,000 debt.
...so another way of putting it was that someone made poor spending decisions and bought things she couldn't really afford.

There does seem to have been problems early on because the grandparent didn't seem able to access the benefits (welfare for US readers) to which she should have been entitled:

Quote:

Eventually Ms Seed got family allowance and child tax credits, and fought for residency payment from the council, at £40 per child, per week.
...but then in part that could have been a function of the possibly informal nature of the arrangement early on.

That said, there does seem to be an issue for "kinship carers" not having access to benefits but I can also see there being scope for benefits fraud with a grandparent claiming to be a kinship carer but splitting any benefits with their children.

Quote:

There is no statutory entitlement to financial support for kinship carers - local authorities decide what support is available in individual cases.

Registered foster carers are entitled to financial support but kinship carers have no equivalent entitlement.

Help is difficult to access if the carer is looking after the child as a private arrangement with no legal order.
I'm not sure what the solution is. As long as the grandparent is a good carer then I can certainly see the benefit both financial and social for keeping it in the family but in that case I think that a formal arrangement needs to be made to limit the scope for misunderstanding and benefits fraud.

Then again, perhaps it's just a symptom of today's fractured society that it's even considered unusual for grandparents to be carers for grandchildren. A century ago, with more multi-generational households, it might have been considered quite usual.


via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2BeKImA

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