Welcome to Waving not drowning’s October e-bulletin.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 28/10/2009 10:07:39 GMT Standard Time, Janet.Mearns@... writes:

October 2009

Waving not drowning, Working Families’ Project for Carers and Parents of Disabled Children who Work or Wish to Work

Welcome to Waving not drowning’s October e-bulletin.

Having listened to Waving not drowning network members, Working Families is planning a new publication about what you need to know when you’re re-thinking your family’s finances and working patterns when your disabled child becomes an adult. I would be very interested to hear your ideas on what topics should be included and if you have any advice to share about what to do or not to do. What about a snappy title? If you have any ideas I want to hear from you at janet.mearns@... or 020 7017 0072.

You can follow the experiences of three disabled freshers as they keep diaries of their experiences of starting college at http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/fact/disabled_student_diaries_2009.shtml

Some lower-income parents of disabled children in London who are moving into work can now claim back more of their childcare costs. The childcare element of your Working Tax Credit is 80% of your childcare costs and the maximum eligible childcare costs for a disabled child (low or middle rate care of Disability Living Allowance) has been increased to £215 a week and for a severely disabled child (high rate care of Disability Living Allowance) has been raised to £300 a week under a pilot scheme for selected families in the London area started in September. Ask your local Family Information Service (FIS) for more details.

MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools, has responded to Working Families’ survey about your experience of summer childcare for disabled children. Her letter starts, ‘Clearly, the provision of good quality childcare for disabled children is especially crucial, and it must be accessible throughout the year. Your report identifies that there is some ground to be made up to match the progress that has been made on mainstream provision. That 70% of parents of disabled children were reported as dissatisfied with the summer childcare available to them, whist many found nothing to meet their needs, is very disappointing.’

There has been much concern in the press about the new system of criminal records bureau (CRB) checks for people working or volunteering with children and vulnerable adults. Has it caused any hiccups in your arrangements? Has it allayed or increased any of your worries? I would be interested to hear about it. If the person you care for is an adult, do you or they have a view on the term ‘vulnerable’?

Particularly relevant to those of you whose children have food allergies is the Food Standards Agency’s new ‘Safer food, better business’ (SFBB) pack especially for childminders. It includes a diary and a three-monthly review sheet. To order a copy, telephone 0845 606 0667 or email: foodstandards@....

The address of the Government website for finding childcare in England has changed to http://childcarefinder.direct.gov.uk/childcarefinder. You can click through to the websites for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is for finding local childminders, nurseries, after-school clubs etc. Alternatively, ring 0800 2346 346 for your local Family Information Service (FIS).

You may have seen the reports of a disabled woman finding herself responsible for thousands of pounds back tax for her personal assistants because she and they, mistakenly, thought they were ‘self-employed’. If you pay care workers or personal assistants they are probably your employees and you’re responsible for their tax and National Insurance. If you use an agency they may be employees of the agency but if you or the care workers themselves think they may be self-employed it is worth taking advice from HM Revenue & Customs, www.hmrc.gov.uk, about the rules they use. If you use Direct Payments you should also get support around your responsibilities as an employer. (Childminders working in their own homes are self-employed.)

There is an article on children with autism in the October/November edition of Who Minds the magazine of the National Childminding Association (NMCA), with information for childminders about how to recognise autism, guidance on communication and ideas for play. Does your childminder belong to the NMCA?

There is now a Waving not drowning Facebook group. If you’re already on Facebook, join the group and add your comments and questions about combining paid work and caring. If you want to join Facebook go to www.facebook.com. Signing up is very straight forward. (A computer–phobic colleague has just done it without hassle but please contact me if you have any problems.) The group is a closed group so I have to approve everybody’s membership. I’ll deal with applications promptly, but bear in mind I only work here part-time.

I’ve made it easier for you to download Working Families’ booklet Getting into Work from Working Families’ website. www.workingfamilies.org.uk. Please let me know if you experience any difficulties. You can get a hard copy by sending me an A5 stamped (76p), addressed envelope. If you work with parents or carers contact the Working Families office for the postage and packing costs for bulk orders.

You can download Working Families’ factsheets about working and caring at http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content & view=article & id=413 & Itemid=469 or phone 0800 013 0313 for a paper copy. Advisers and other professionals are welcome to photo-copy them for clients. If the factsheets don’t answer your question you can ring me on 020 7017 0072.

Please remember to let me know at janet.mearns@... when you change email address so that you always get my email bulletin. Similarly, if you move house make sure you notify me so that you continue to get your copy of Waving not drowning.

If, for any reason, you don’t want to receive the email bulletin, just email me at janet.mearns@... and I’ll take you off the mailing list.

Janet Mearns

Disability Adviser

Parents of Disabled Children Project

Working Families (formerly Parents At Work and New Ways to Work)

October 2009

Waving not drowning,

Working Families’ Project for Carers and Parents of Disabled

Children who Work or Wish to Work

Welcome to Waving not drowning’s October

e-bulletin.

Having listened to Waving not drowning network members, Working

Families is planning a new publication about what you need to know when

you’re re-thinking your family’s finances and working patterns

when your disabled child becomes an adult. I would be very interested to

hear your ideas on what topics should be included and if you have any

advice to share about what to do or not to do. What about a snappy title?

If you have any ideas I want to hear from you at janet.mearns@...

or 020 7017 0072.

You can follow the experiences

of three disabled freshers as they keep diaries of their experiences of

starting college at http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/fact/disabled_student_diaries_2009.shtml

Some lower-income parents of disabled children in London who are moving

into work can now claim back more of their childcare costs. The childcare

element of your Working Tax Credit is 80% of your childcare costs and the

maximum eligible childcare costs for a disabled child (low or middle rate

care of Disability Living Allowance) has been increased to £215 a week and

for a severely disabled child (high rate care of Disability Living

Allowance) has been raised to £300 a week under a pilot scheme for

selected families in the London area started in September. Ask your local

Family Information Service (FIS) for more details.

MP, Parliamentary

Under Secretary of State for Schools, has responded to Working

Families’ survey about your experience of summer childcare for

disabled children. Her letter starts, ‘Clearly,

the provision of good quality childcare for disabled children is especially

crucial, and it must be accessible throughout the year. Your report

identifies that there is some ground to be made up to match the progress

that has been made on mainstream provision. That 70% of parents of

disabled children were reported as dissatisfied with the summer childcare

available to them, whist many found nothing to meet their needs, is very

disappointing.’

There has been much concern in

the press about the new system of criminal records bureau (CRB) checks for

people working or volunteering with children and vulnerable adults. Has it

caused any hiccups in your arrangements? Has it allayed or increased any

of your worries? I would be interested to hear about it. If the person you

care for is an adult, do you or they have a view on the term

‘vulnerable’?

Particularly relevant to those of you

whose children have food allergies is the Food Standards Agency’s

new

‘Safer food, better business’ (SFBB) pack especially for

childminders. It includes a diary and a three-monthly review sheet. To order

a copy, telephone 0845 606 0667 or email:

foodstandards@....

The address of the Government

website for finding childcare in England has changed to http://childcarefinder.direct.gov.uk/childcarefinder.

You can click through to the websites for Wales,

Scotland and Northern Ireland.

It is for finding local childminders, nurseries, after-school clubs etc.

Alternatively, ring 0800 2346 346 for your local Family Information

Service (FIS).

You may have seen the reports

of a disabled woman finding herself responsible for thousands of pounds

back tax for her personal assistants because she and they, mistakenly,

thought they were ‘self-employed’. If you pay care workers or

personal assistants they are probably your employees and you’re

responsible for their tax and National Insurance. If you use an agency

they may be employees of the agency but if you or the care workers

themselves think they may be self-employed it is worth taking advice from

HM Revenue & Customs, www.hmrc.gov.uk, about the rules they

use. If you use Direct Payments you should also get support around your

responsibilities as an employer. (Childminders working in their own homes

are self-employed.)

There is an article on children

with autism in the October/November edition of Who Minds the magazine of the National Childminding

Association (NMCA), with information for childminders about how to

recognise autism, guidance on communication and ideas for play. Does your

childminder belong to the NMCA?

There is now a Waving not drowning Facebook group. If

you’re already on Facebook, join the group and add your comments and

questions about combining paid work and caring. If you want to join

Facebook go to www.facebook.com. Signing up is very

straight forward. (A computer–phobic colleague has just done it

without hassle but please contact me if you have any problems.) The group

is a closed group so I have to approve everybody’s membership. I’ll

deal with applications promptly, but bear in mind I only work here

part-time.

I’ve made it easier for

you to download Working Families’ booklet Getting into Work from Working Families’ website.

www.workingfamilies.org.uk.

Please let me know if you experience any difficulties. You can get a hard

copy by sending me an A5 stamped (76p), addressed envelope. If you work

with parents or carers contact the Working Families office for the postage

and packing costs for bulk orders.

You can download Working

Families’ factsheets about working and caring at http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content & view=article & id=413 & Itemid=469

or phone 0800 013 0313 for a paper copy. Advisers and other professionals

are welcome to photo-copy them for clients. If the factsheets don’t

answer your question you can ring me on 020 7017 0072.

Please remember to let me know

at janet.mearns@...

when you change email address so that you always get my email bulletin.

Similarly, if you move house make sure you notify me so that you continue

to get your copy of Waving not drowning.

If, for any reason, you

don’t want to receive the email bulletin, just email me at janet.mearns@...

and I’ll take you off the mailing list.

Janet Mearns

Disability Adviser

Parents of Disabled Children Project

Working Families (formerly Parents At Work and New Ways to Work)

Registered office

1-3 Berry Street

London EC1V 0AA

Direct line: 020 7017 0072

Office Tel: 020 7253 7243 Fax: 020 7253 6253

www.workingfamilies.org.uk

janet.mearns@...

My usual working days are: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

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