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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2019 20:24:07 GMT 7
Carer feels like 'criminal' after Centrelink payment cut off - again
Judy Beddoe has dedicated her life to caring for Peter Verschuren. She cooks, cleans, organises his medication, picks up his groceries, and plays cards with him to keep him company. They live apart in separate houses, suburbs away from each other, but Judy provides constant care to Peter every day – morning, afternoon and night.At 87 years of age, Judy had been relying on the Carers Payment and Carers Allowance to support herself and the help she provides. Now, she spends most of her time fighting for those payments after Centrelink cut her off, saying she's ineligible for them. Judy has cared for Peter for years. "I feel like a criminal, absolutely. It has ruined me, my reputation, everything. I've worked all my life and cared for Peter for twenty-two years, and they do this to me," Judy told A Current Affair's Martin King. In documents viewed by A Current Affair, Centrelink claim Judy "no longer provides constant care to another person" and that Peter "does not meet the daily care requirements" to be eligible. Judy disputes this, claiming she is "looking after him more than ever." But, this isn't the first time Centrelink has cancelled Judy's payments. In 2003, after seven years of caring for Peter, Centrelink suddenly decided she was not entitled to the carers payment. A Current Affair stepped in to help. "I was so happy to get it back, you have no idea. I've worked so hard with Peter, he's been through so much. And they had the cheek to say I wasn't helping him," Judy said.
A Current Affair last spoke to Judy in 2003. Now history has repeated itself and Judy has been cut off again. Michael Bleasdale is the CEO of ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service, and he thinks Centrelink has made a mistake. "A successfully negotiated community-based arrangement has been interrupted now by a rather clumsy decision made by a government bureaucracy," he said. The Department of Human Services declined to speak on camera to A Current Affair but confirmed that "this matter is being further reviewed". www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/carer-feels-like-criminal-after-centrelink-payment-cut-off-again/ar-AAIJ5Wj
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Post by Denis-NFA on Oct 14, 2019 21:18:14 GMT 7
If ACT C/Link have or are putting an 87 year old on Newstart then Its Time's like these that a Minister or 2 deserve a kick up the arz.
If they, C/Link, are saying you do not meet the criteria as carer but will be put on OAP then C/Link may as well just euthenaze her now because her motivation is to be a carer.
What is the payment and benefit difference between the Carer Payment and the OAP, does anyone know?
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Post by isleboy on Oct 15, 2019 4:19:08 GMT 7
If ACT C/Link have or are putting an 87 year old on Newstart then Its Time's like these that a Minister or 2 deserve a kick up the arz. If they, C/Link, are saying you do not meet the criteria as carer but will be put on OAP then C/Link may as well just euthenaze her now because her motivation is to be a carer. What is the payment and benefit difference between the Carer Payment and the OAP, does anyone know? We need to remember, that C/Link doesn't make an automatic decision just by itself. It's made by individuals working there & the info they put in their systems/computers. Whoever made, or triggered the crazy decision above, must be a thoughtless, ignorant & irresponsible idiot fool or something. |
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Post by latindancer on Oct 15, 2019 6:35:20 GMT 7
What is lacking is a sense of proportion.
Machines will NEVER have this. Only humans ever will.
Unfortunately some humans only have a partial sense of proportion.
Once again, I say that a big issue with bureaucracy in general is "sense of proportion".
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2019 7:18:45 GMT 7
If ACT C/Link have or are putting an 87 year old on Newstart then Its Time's like these that a Minister or 2 deserve a kick up the arz. If they, C/Link, are saying you do not meet the criteria as carer but will be put on OAP then C/Link may as well just euthenaze her now because her motivation is to be a carer. What is the payment and benefit difference between the Carer Payment and the OAP, does anyone know? I don't know what the difference between the two is......however we've got a thread relating to getting DSP with Carer's Allowance on here somewhere. From memory it can be received, just maybe not the full amount. I think tasjo knows for sure, but hopefully that's what the lady was on; OAP+Carers. Or maybe it's just another-up media beat-up, considering the source and it's the second time they've gone in to bat for her for the same issue. Cheers bear P.S. Over the years there's been plenty of injustices! Now that people are starting to get vocal they just want to be on what they think may be the winning side i.e. The People. In general though the media don't give the average person any more thought than a politician does. We just a bunch of un newsworthy whinging plebs as far as they are concerned, for the most part anyhow. IMHO! |
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Post by mspurple on Oct 15, 2019 14:49:35 GMT 7
I think you will find that full carers (payment and allowance) will be a lot more than full OAP.
If I remember correctly it is nearly double what the OAP would be. I do remember that my grandfather got a hell of a lot less than I did which shocked me so much I went in to see them to double check they had not made a mistake that would cause me to have an over payment and debt or a mistake that was causing my Grandfather to be getting less than he should have been as the differences did not seem right. I am thinking it was approx $700 a week I was getting for being his carer.
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Post by mspurple on Oct 15, 2019 15:19:57 GMT 7
If ACT C/Link have or are putting an 87 year old on Newstart then Its Time's like these that a Minister or 2 deserve a kick up the arz. If they, C/Link, are saying you do not meet the criteria as carer but will be put on OAP then C/Link may as well just euthenaze her now because her motivation is to be a carer. What is the payment and benefit difference between the Carer Payment and the OAP, does anyone know? I don't know what the difference between the two is......however we've got a thread relating to getting DSP with Carer's Allowance on here somewhere. From memory it can be received, just maybe not the full amount. I think tasjo knows for sure, but hopefully that's what the lady was on; OAP+Carers. Or maybe it's just another-up media beat-up, considering the source and it's the second time they've gone in to bat for her for the same issue. Cheers bear P.S. Over the years there's been plenty of injustices! Now that people are starting to get vocal they just want to be on what they think may be the winning side i.e. The People. In general though the media don't give the average person any more thought than a politician does. We just a bunch of un newsworthy whinging plebs as far as they are concerned, for the most part anyhow. IMHO! Can you receive DSP payments and carers payment or allowance at the same time? I thought if you were deemed unfit enough to be granted DSP that they did not deem you fit enough to be caring for anyone else. I do not even know where I get this thought from but it is there for some reason. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2019 15:24:30 GMT 7
I think you will find that full carers (payment and allowance) will be a lot more than full OAP. If I remember correctly it is nearly double what the OAP would be. I do remember that my grandfather got a hell of a lot less than I did which shocked me so much I went in to see them to double check they had not made a mistake that would cause me to have an over payment and debt or a mistake that was causing my Grandfather to be getting less than he should have been as the differences did not seem right. I am thinking it was approx $700 a week I was getting for being his carer. Perhaps that's where I'm not thinking straight mspurple . Full Carer's Allocation of payment & allowance as two separate incomes that a career can get it they qualify. I definitely remember two payments somehow being possible. Cheers bear |
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Post by Denis-NFA on Oct 15, 2019 15:29:57 GMT 7
No wonder they are having another go at taking carers off her then. But glory be, both my Grandmothers at 87 could run rings around folk 20years younger than themselves. LOL. They both died in their mid 90's and nomadic one of them was still having a bet on the horses up until she passed on and the other was still looking after wayward grand kids and great grand kids who were looking for time out in their lives. |
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Post by mspurple on Oct 15, 2019 15:30:56 GMT 7
Yes there is a payment for full time care (because the carer can not work due to giving the care) and an allowance for a smaller payment......I can not remember what the eligibility requirements for allowance are but a lot of full time carers meet the requirements for both payment and allowance. I think the allowance could be payable to people who do work too but do also provide some care for another and the allowance is to cover things like transport phone calls etc- at least I am thinking that is how it works. Been a while since I received the payments and queried what the differences were.
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Post by tasjo on Oct 15, 2019 18:57:27 GMT 7
I'll try to briefly explain...
The care receiver can receive DSP in their own right.
The carer can receive either carers payment/OAP or DSP. Only one 'payment' can be received.
Some people will choose to stay on their primary payment rather than move onto carers because of the other criteria associated with carers payment (mostly the restriction on hours worked by a carer because they are classed as having a full time role caring for the other person).
In addition to one payment a carer can also receive carers allowance (about $120 a fortnight per adult) for up to 2 adults. This doesn't have the work criteria of carers payment and isn't income assessed.
As far as I am aware there is no reason someone on DSP cannot receive carers allowance, but it is not possible for someone that has a carer to be a carer for someone else, even if the care needs are significantly different (or physical vs mental/intellectual)
The care receiver also has to meet the criteria for having a carer... Which I suspect in this case 'may' be what has changed. If significant care is received from outside sources I believe the carers allowance/payment 'may' be cancelled... As is the case if the person is in residential care.
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Post by Denis-NFA on Oct 15, 2019 20:31:04 GMT 7
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2019 5:23:56 GMT 7
tasjo Denis-NFA I've copy, pasted, pinned & locked the post in "General" under the heading:- "Carers Allowance: general outline" Although it shows as posted by "bear", the entire post has been pasted, so credit still goes to tasjo . Nice work BTW! Cheers bear I think this thread's done & dusted with the explanation as to why she may have been cut off, so without further ado 
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