Charity Status Bid By Carers Support Group

A Penrith man who runs a support group for carers across Britain is trying to attain charitable status for his organisation. Clive Arnold, 48, set up UK Carers in mid-2005 and has so far received almost a million hits on the group’s website.

Now he wants to make even more people aware of the plight of those who care for friends and family by registering UK Carers as a charity – and he is appealing for help in raising the necessary cash.

He said: “To become a charity we need £1,000 or the firm pledge of that amount to have the application go through. Some of our members have offered to donate a week’s worth of Carer’s Allowance, but I really don’t want to do that – £46.95 doesn’t buy much as it is. Being registered as a charity would give us credibility – show that we know what we are talking about. Other caring charities have paid employees who don’t have any real insight into what carers go through or how it affects their lives.”

And Clive certainly has insight into the life of a carer. He has cared for his wife for 13 years, 24 hours a day, since giving up his job as a painter and decorator. As well as caring for his wife full time, Clive campaigns with his fellow members for the rights of carers and lobbies MPs for the rate of Carer’s Allowance to recognise that what they do amounts to a full-time job, if not more.

Clive says he would not benefit financially from the charity, and would use any funds to raise awareness of the issues through advertising and promotional gimmicks such as T-shirts, badges and car stickers.

He added: “When people think of charities they might think of disabled people, but we are the people behind the disabled – the Cinderellas of the disabled system. We are shadows and no-one takes any notice of us, but we intend to change that. For what we do, a social services care worker would get a set amount of hours, pay and holidays. Carers do the job 24 hours a day and we have to do everything ourselves.”

To make a donation or offer your help, call Clive on 01768 895 755 or email him on [email protected] For more information visit UK Carers at www.ukcarers.org.uk