Tackling child poverty delivery plan 2022-2026 - annex 5: impact of policies on child poverty

Scottish Carer's Assistance including Carer's Additional Person Payment

To provide consistent support for unpaid carers to allow them to continue caring, if they wish to, in good health and wellbeing, allowing for a life outside of caring. Replaces Carer's Allowance.

• Income from social security and benefits in kind

Enhanced life chances (e.g. health, wellbeing, capabilities, longer term goals)

Potential size of impact

Over 80,000 unpaid carers currently receive Carer's Allowance. Proposals for Scottish Carer's Assistance will expand the number of people who may benefit in future. Carer's Additional Person Payment will support carers in receipt of Scottish Carer's Assistance who are caring for more than one person who is getting a disability benefit.

Type of impact

Direct impact upon carers through social security payment, providing extra financial support to carers, which also impacts upon those for whom they care.

Certainty of impact

Uncertain of direct benefits on child poverty; further actions will be considered to effectively evaluate the impact on poverty as part of wider evaluation.

Priority families targeted by policy:

• Lone parents
• Disabled

Targeted at unpaid carers of people getting disability benefits, particularly carers with the most intensive roles, who tend to be on lower incomes. It is estimated that around 90% of those who receive the current Carer's Allowance benefit live in a household with a disabled person. Lone parent families are estimated to account for around 11.5% of recipients. Data on the proportion of recipients who have children or fall into each of the other priority categories is not available, although around a quarter of CA recipients are caring for a disabled child. The benefits are not specifically targeted at children in or at risk of poverty, but are targeted at those on lower incomes and may benefit a number of people in the priority families. Take-up of Scottish Carer's Assistance will be difficult to measure as the criteria mean it is challenging to work out the number of those eligible who do not apply. However, Scottish Government is committed to maximising carers' take-up of all available support as identified by our Benefit Take-up Strategy.

Tracking progress

The reach of the benefit will be monitored using Social Security Scotland statistics. A broader range of equality information will be collected for Scottish Carer's Assistance than for Carer's Allowance. The planned evaluation approach for the benefit will be similar to that set out in the evaluation strategy for devolved benefit. This is likely to include commissioned qualitative research with carers and quantitative research making use of available data gathered by Social Security Scotland.