Carers Trist welcomes The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee launching an inquiry to examine whether working-age benefit levels in the UK meet needs adequately.
What ‘essentials’ should working-age benefits in the UK cover? Are current working-age benefit levels sufficient to cover those needs?
Working-age unpaid carers may be able to claim some benefits, including:
However, due to eligibility criteria, too few carers are eligible for Carer’s Allowance. For instance:
Carer’s Allowance is set at a lower financial rate than other work replacement benefits, meaning unpaid carers face lower levels of financial support. Unpaid carers have consistently told Carers Trust that benefits, such as Carer’s Allowance, are insufficient to cover their needs. As part of Carers Trust research in 2022, almost half (46%) of UK adults did not agree that Carer’s Allowance is a fair level of support for an unpaid carer looking after a family member or friend for a minimum of 35 hours a week. 44% of unpaid carers said that Carer’s Allowance is not enough to meet their needs as a carer.
Many unpaid carers said that Carers Allowance inadequately recognises the number of hours they spend on their caring role and that the payment is not enough, given the complexity of needs carers have to deal with. This is leaving unpaid carers feeling undervalued.
In 2017, the ONS estimated that unpaid carers provide social care worth £57 billion, however, as part of Carers Trust research in 2022, almost half of the carers we spoke to were worried about being able to afford food, and 14% of unpaid carers said they either had or were currently using a food bank. Unpaid carers should not be driven into poverty as a result of their caring role due to the additional costs of caring through higher energy bills, transport costs and specialised equipment, but also in not being able to access employment due to a lack of replacement care on offer.
Carers Trust surveys contain all too familiar stark findings on some of the financial challenges unpaid carers are experiencing, alongside low levels of financial support. Carers Trust research found that unpaid carers who receive Carer’s Allowance are more likely to be experiencing financial hardship:
The eligibility criteria for Carer’s Allowance must be revisited, and Carer’s Allowance should be increased to reflect the cost of caring and unpaid carers often have to give up work or spend savings to pay for costs associated with caring. Carers Trust recommends that:
Carers Trust are one of 90 organisations that have signed up to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s campaign urging the Government to adopt the Essentials Guarantee which would ensure that the basic rate of Universal Credit must at least cover life’s essentials, such as food, utilities and vital household goods with support never being pulled below that level.
Are working-age benefit levels appropriately set to encourage people who are able to work into work?
The current Carer’s Allowance provision appears to be restricting unpaid carers’ choices when it comes to employment, as many unpaid carers are concerned about the earnings threshold and low level of entitlement by Carer’s Allowance.
Research from Carers Trust’s Working for Carers Programme demonstrated that the risk of losing Carer’s Allowance deterred some unpaid carers from increasing their working hours due to the difficulties in offsetting the loss of this benefit against work. The evaluation evidence showed that a worker on the minimum wage would need to work an additional seven hours per week to match the corresponding loss in Carer’s Allowance.
Carers Trust recommends that Carer’s Allowance be reformed; the following considerations should be made as they have particular implications on work incentives for unpaid carers:
It must be noted that a carer’s ability to work is also dependent on having access to good quality social care and support to meet their care needs, and if appropriate, replacement care, which gives unpaid carers more flexibility to pursue employment.
What lessons can be learned in respect of benefits provision more generally from the £20 uplift to Universal Credit, introduced during the pandemic?
Carers Trust welcomes the additional financial support put in place for low-income households, such as extra cost of living support for those on disability benefits. However, unpaid carers are shut out of additional support, as Carer’s Allowance is excluded from the benefits listed as qualifying for extra one-off payments for those greatest in need. As evidenced previously, unpaid carers are at particular risk of financial hardship due to their need to often give up paid work due to their caring role, or reduce their hours. The UK Government should follow the example of governments in Wales and Scotland who have targeted unpaid carers who receive Carer’s Allowance with extra financial support to recognise how their vital caring roles have all too often pushed them into financial hardship. The UK Government should also identify unpaid carers as a priority group in its guidance on new funding for local authorities on the Household Support Fund. Unpaid carers should be a priority group for extra financial support.
What should be the purpose of working-age benefits?
Many unpaid carers are either experiencing or are at risk of being in poverty or facing financial hardship as a result of their caring responsibilities. Many unpaid carers have to either leave or reduce their hours in the workplace as a result of their caring responsibilities. In Carers Trust’s 2022 research, I feel like I’ve disappeared, 41% of unpaid carers surveyed told us that they have had to give up their job or paid work because of their caring role, and a further 23% said they had to reduce the number of hours they work.
Working-age benefits such as Carer’s Allowance are supposed to contribute towards helping with the cost of caring and to support unpaid carers and the enormous contribution they make to society and the health and social care system. Carer’s Allowance is a vital component of unpaid carers’ household income and helps many unpaid carers to provide care. However, too many unpaid carers, including those who claim Carer’s Allowance, are struggling financially and are either experiencing or at risk of poverty as a result of their caring responsibilities and benefits, such as Carer’s Allowance being too low and eligibility criteria needing reform.
In relation to Carer’s Allowance, The Scottish Government and the Welsh Government have provided unpaid carers with an additional payment beyond the base level of Carer’s Allowance, with the Scottish Government committing to ongoing and fuller reform when they roll out Carer Support Payment (replacing Carer’s Allowance) in 2024 and the Welsh Government providing a one-off payment for 2022.
Carer’s Allowance Supplement in Scotland is disregarded as income for the purpose of eligibility to wider UK social security benefits. However, is still taxable, as Carer’s Allowance is a taxable benefit.
When Scottish Government introduces Carer Support Payment in 2024, from launch they are committed to:
Scottish Government plan to make a range of further improvements once case transfer is complete and post launch of Carer Support Payment in Spring 2024. Scottish Government are committed to:
The current Carer’s Allowance provision appears to be restricting unpaid carers’ choices when it comes to employment, as many unpaid carers are concerned about the earnings threshold and low level of entitlement by Carers Allowance. Research from Carers Trust’s Working for Carers Programme demonstrated that the risk of losing Carers Allowance deterred some unpaid carers from increasing their working hours due to the difficulties in offsetting the loss of this benefit against work. The evaluation evidence showed that a worker on the minimum wage would need to work an additional seven hours per week to match the corresponding loss in Carer’s Allowance.
Carers Trust recommends that Carer’s Allowance should be reformed, the following considerations should be made as they have particular implications on work incentives for unpaid carers:
The Family Resources Survey (2022) found that only 53% of unpaid carers are in employment, which is well below the national rate of 75%. Furthermore, 25% of unpaid carers are economically inactive. Estimates for the cost to the economy of unpaid carers’ withdrawal from the labour market range from £1.3 billion to £2.9 billion, whilst the potential gain of enabling unpaid carers to work has been estimated to be £5.3 billion per year.
Furthermore, young adult carers are three times more likely to be NEET (not in education, employment or training) than other young people. In Carer’s Trust 2022 survey of over 2,600 unpaid carers, almost two-thirds (64%) had to either give up work altogether or reduce their hours. Furthermore, as part of the 2022 Carers Trust report ‘Being a young carer is not a choice’, Carers Trust surveyed 1,109 young carers and young adult carers, in which of those who work, 45% said they either ‘always’ or ‘usually’ struggle to balance caring with paid work.
Policy interventions designed to incentivise work must include employability and pre-employability support for unpaid carers to help move them closer to employment. Some considerations should include:
Furthermore, policy interventions must also focus on workplaces in conjunction with unpaid carers to help unpaid carers find work. For instance, workplaces should become accredited as carer-friendly with the necessary policies and processes to support unpaid carers and reduce the stigma of caring in the workplace. This may include flexible working and feeling comfortable accessing and asking for in-work support, which may help with job performance, satisfaction and wellbeing and help reduce the number of unpaid carers considering reducing their hours or work, leaving their jobs or turning down promotional opportunities.
Carers Trust welcomes the Carers Leave Bill which would give carers the right to take Carer’s Leave. However, Carers Trust believes Carer’s Leave must be strengthened by:
Furthermore, within policy interventions designed to incentivise work, considerations should also be made as to which organisations are best placed to support unpaid carers and where unpaid carers go for employment support. Learning from the Carers Trust Working for Carers Programme found that most of the Working for Carers programme referrals were made by local specialist carer support organisations. Relatively few unpaid carers came into contact with the project through social media, online channels or seeing a poster, leaflet or article, and very few referrals were generated by Job Centre Plus.
Reviews of the role and perceptions of Job Centre Plus are essential to consider in policy interventions aiming to incentivise and support unpaid carers into work. Job Centre Plus must have staff within the organisation with the necessary training and support to identify and support carers proactively. Carers Trust supports the need for Carers Leads within Job Centre Plus, and the voluntary sector, such as local specialist carer organisations to be highlighted within policy interventions as being particularly effective in reaching people such as unpaid carers who may consider participation in employment support programmes.
May 2023