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Since my Dad passed away a month ago, I have taken on the role of my mums primary carer. She suffers from Marie Charcot tooth disease which is a muscle degeneration disorder, she is confined to a wheel chair and relys on me for 90% of her daily tasks. After a couple of weeks off, I returned to work a fortnight ago and despite working 45 hours a week we are coping fairly well. Centerlink however are proving rather difficult to get along with, basically assuming that I am trying to claim a carers allowance for my own purposes. They also had the audacity to suggest that I work too many hours and earn too much (I am a low income earner) to be eligible for any financial assistance. Does anyone have any advice for me with regards top my situation, as there is no doubt some carers who post on this site. Cheers.

I did a quick search online and you'll probably already know of these people but just in case here's a link. Sounds like it might be a useful starting point for info/advice if nothing else...

http://www.carers-sa.asn.au/statistics.htm

Their links page has a fair few sites that sound like they might be useful to you.

Regards
JAS

Thanks JAS, much appreciated.

LBT wrote:Thanks JAS, much appreciated.

LBT get all teh info you can and if you still ahve problems, go to your local MHR.

Perhaps give Leon Byner a call on 5AA, he seems to have a pretty substantial list of people that he can call on for referrals and will likely be able to point you in the right direction?

Perhaps instead of going to your MHR or Leon Byrner you might want to see what the actual rules dictate (unless you're ringing them to find out other areas of support for people in your situation that aren't eligible for Centrelink payments).

If you're supposed to be a carer you're supposed to be there close to full time, if you're working full time as well its obvious you aren't there close to full time and aren't eligible.
On top of that your definition of Low Income Earner might be a little different to that of Centrelinks.
Find out what the rules are, if in your opinion the rules have been broken by Centrelink staff then there is an appeals process that has several tiers.

A quick scan of the Centrelink website tells me Carer's Allowance is not taxable or income tested and is $105.10 pf.
It also tells me there's a "25 hour rule" and if you're away from the person you're supposed to be caring for for more than 25 hours (which I'd imagine would be the case if you're working 42 hours a week) then you do not come close to qualifying for it.
If you don't come close to qualifying I can understand why they're being difficult.

Its a payment for people who care for someone full time, not part time.

I would suggest if your caring duties don't stop you from working then there may not be a payment for you, some would say that's probably fair enough too.

Good luck anyway, I'm about to start dealing with Centrelink tomorrow for my old man.

Rang up Centrelink today and they were fantastic, very nice to deal with an organisation where I can actually understand the other person on the phone. Told me exactly what I needed, exactly what I needed to get to them and the exact requirements of the rules and how they work.
Turns out my old man is going to get over $20,000 bonus when he claims the Age Pension which Im happy about as it means he can pay me back some money with interest!
Well done Centrelink!
Thailand here I come again!

I believe there is a carer allowance and a carer pension - carer pension is for full-time carers, carer allowance is to help cover cost of taking patient to appointments and the like (or it could be the other way around)