Government is 'ignoring our reality,' says unpaid carer from Winchmore Hill

Mary Griffin-Porter has spent 44 years as a full-time carer for her son and has now launched a petition calling for major reform of the carers allowance system, reports Anna-Louise Adepegba

A full-time unpaid carer from Winchmore Hill has launched a petition calling for major reform of the carer’s allowance system.

Mary Griffin-Porter has been caring for her son Daniel for 44 years, since he was left brain damaged from six months of chemotherapy used to treat his neuroblastoma – when he was just a year old.

She started her parliament.uk petition earlier this year in the hope of bringing attention to the “unfair” carers allowance system and to push the government for reform.

So far, more than 3,000 people have signed it, but the government will only issue a response if it passes 10,000 signatures.

Mary calculated that she has worked over 300,000 hours as an unpaid carer for Daniel, saving the government millions of pounds, but she says politicians are “ignoring our reality”.

Her petition calls the government to reconsider the current carers allowance system, which pays carers £86.45 a week but is then completely cut if the carer earns a penny over the earnings cap of £204.

Mary became frustrated with this system when she had to let go of a creative business idea, realising that two sessions of teaching painting would take her over the earnings limit.

She told the Dispatch: “I am tired of successive governments completely side-stepping carers and ignoring our reality. If a carer is doing 138 hours a week keeping a human being alive, any outside earnings they manage to make to survive should be entirely none of the government’s business.”

“We want a clean break from these restrictive earnings caps and to be left alone,” Mary added.

The government is currently reviewing the carers allowance, and is considering bringing in an ‘earnings taper’ to replace the cliff edge of £204. Rather than withdraw the allowance at this point, it would reduce people’s carers allowance in proportion to how much they earn over the cap.

But Mary believes this is a poor solution and continues to ignore the needs of unpaid carers, refusing them the right to earn extra money on top of their allowance.

Mary said: “As someone who has spent a lifetime in this system, I am saying clearly that a taper is just another bureaucratic trap designed to keep the state’s hands in our pockets.”

To support her cause, Mary has been in touch with a number of health organisations and charities, such as Carers Trust, Carers UK, Mencap, Scope and Parkinsons UK. However, most have said they don’t support individual petitions, and others claim they do supportive work behind the scenes.

Mary argues their “soft marketing” on trying to make carers more “seen” is no longer enough.

She said: “The needs of carers are much deeper than that now, we don’t just need to be recognised, but supported enough to let us. Now, carers need top corporations to also push the government in properly financially supporting the demographic.

“I want them to co-ordinate a display of empty wheelchairs and walking frames to visually signify the thousands of exhausted carers who would want to protest but cannot leave their loved ones. If these organisations truly represent us, they need to stop doing paperwork and start forcing the government to look at the reality of our empty chairs.”

Mary’s regular routine consists of taking Daniel to day care, collecting him, before caring for him intensively until the end of the day.

She said: “I have always thought the carers allowance was unfair and wrong, but as carers, we push this to the back of our mind, and continue to do so. We’re caring for someone we love, so we essentially become financially trapped, we’re not going to say no to any help we receive.”

Mary’s petition needs to reach 10,000 signatures by Saturday, 24th October to force a response from the government.

To sign Mary’s carers allowance petition:
Visit petition.parliament.uk/petitions/765364

Follow Mary on Instagram:
Visit instagram.com/mcgp_2022

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