@Shaz51, we do the shoeboxes here too. 🙂 I keep a lookout for clearance prices on toys, stationery, toiletries etc.through the year. Everything is meant to be new, so I look around the oppies for toys and clothes still in their packaging or with tags on, and if anything hasn't got its package/tag, it gets closely checked to make sure that it really is in new condition. 🙂 But last year I was so much running on empty that it was starting to feel like a chore.. I don't want to stop, but maybe I should ease up a bit, and if I've packed a few but have surplus bits and pieces, maybe pass them on to our local co-ordinator to take down to the central warehouse in the big smoke. There's always boxes that come in there a little on the empty side, or with something unsuitable that needs to be removed, so they put any extra "fillers" to good use.
Re.Carers Payment- refusal is honestly very unlikely to be any reflection on you. Eligability is dependant on care requirements of the caree, the amount of time the carer has to put into meeting those requirements, and finacial position of the carer. Mental health issues can be notoriously difficult to get Carer's Payments for, because the kind of care you're giving doesn't fit the categories on the paperwork. It's easy to prove that someone needs physical help to have a shower. It's harder to prove that someone's phobia of water means that they need other stimulii reduced to a bare minimum, including other people being completely out of the way, so that they can shower without the added fear of interruption. It's easy to prove that someone has difficulty getting a spoon to their mouth, or swallowing food. It's harder to prove that OCD kicks in, and they can't eat if the food isn't placed exactly the right way on the plate. (Yeah, speaking from experience...)
Regarding your Mum's care, the issue there may simply be that, until recently, she was pretty capable. They may be treating it as if her current problems could be short term.
Either way, I reckon it would be worth your while trying again, and getting as much professional evidence to back you up as possible. You can submit specialists' reports that detail the nuts and bolts of the care required, even if it doesn't exactly fit the tick box categories in the paperwork.
