Ministers Urged To Overhaul And Raise Carer’s Allowance

The carer’s allowance use should beryllium overhauled and nan basal complaint of costs accrued to assistance much unpaid carers and abnormal group retired of financial hardship, according to a surviving standards thinktank.

The Resolution Foundation said unpaid carers connected debased incomes were paying a “very dense price” – a emblematic punishment of 10% aliases arsenic overmuch arsenic £7,000 a twelvemonth compared pinch non-carers – for looking aft loved ones full-time.

It called for nan basal complaint of carer’s allowance – presently nan lowest-value use astatine £83.30 a week – to beryllium raised to astatine slightest nan £92.05-a-week complaint of jobseeker’s allowance to thief amended miserable surviving standards for nan poorest carers.

It besides called for nan removal of nan notorious “cliff-edge” punishment connected carer’s allowance claimants’ earnings, presently capped astatine £196 a week, to alteration much unpaid carers to supplement incomes pinch part-time work.

The harshness of nan cliff-edge net penalty, coupled pinch failures successful nan handling of carer benefits by nan Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), caused hundreds of thousands of carers to unwittingly tally up immense overpayment debts successful caller years.

Resolution’s study comes arsenic nan disablement argumentation master Liz Sayce prepares to manus ministers her independent reappraisal of nan carer’s allowance – commissioned successful consequence to an award-winning Guardian investigation into nan treatment of susceptible unpaid carers by nan DWP.

Hannah Slaughter, nan Resolution Foundation’s elder economist, said ministers request to reappraisal support crossed nan committee for unpaid carers: “The inclination of rising levels of disablement crossed Britain, and nan request for unpaid care, isn’t going to end. It’s clip argumentation caught up pinch this reality,” she said.

About two-thirds of unpaid carers knowledgeable worldly deprivation – defined arsenic nan inability to spend basal items specified arsenic nutrient and power – while carer societal information benefits were often inadequate to protect family incomes, Resolution said.

Despite UK family members efficaciously providing £184bn a twelvemonth of unpaid attraction to loved ones, nan worth of carer’s allowance has fallen successful nan past 2 decades from 32% of full-time net astatine nan minimum costs to conscionable 19%, it found.

Bringing nan comparative worth of carer’s allowance backmost up to 1999 levels of 32% would boost nan use by £53.45 a week to £136.75, astatine a costs of £2.9bn a year, nan Resolution study said. An replacement would beryllium to raise carer’s allowance rates successful England and Wales to £94.60 a week, successful statement pinch nan enhanced rates successful spot successful Scotland.

Slaughter said: “There are now complete a cardinal working-age families successful Britain that see some a abnormal personification and an unpaid carer – and they are paying a dense financial value for these circumstances.

“More must beryllium done to boost nan surviving standards of abnormal group and their carers. Employers should amended their retention of abnormal unit and carers, and nan authorities should raise nan worth of unpaid attraction successful nan benefits strategy and widen carers’ leave.”

Emily Holzhausen, nan head of argumentation and nationalist affairs astatine Carers UK, said: “The grounds from nan Resolution Foundation’s study adds moreover much impetus for alteration to amended carers’ benefits, particularly aft nan ungraded of overpayments of carer’s allowance and imaginable cuts to use benefits.”

A authorities spokesperson said: “We understand nan immense quality carers make, arsenic good arsenic nan struggles truthful galore face.

“That’s why we person raised nan carer’s allowance net period by £45 a week to £196, benefiting much than 60,000 carers by 2029-30. This is nan biggest ever rate summation successful nan net period for carer’s allowance.

“We person besides launched an independent reappraisal into societal care, portion of which will research nan needs of unpaid carers who supply captious attraction and support.”