Carer Support Payment amendment regulations: impact assessment considerations - policy note

Summary and conclusion

We have considered the demographics of people getting Carer’s Allowance in the different phases of each local authority area. We have then compared these against our existing EQIA for the principal regulations and DWP Stat-Xplore data. From the information available, we do not believe there to be any significant variation so would not expect any particular impact to be disproportionately felt by any one group. Any impacts to groups who will benefit from changes to Carer Support Payment and would not have been eligible for Carer’s Allowance, including students and people moving to Scotland, will be mitigated through special backdating rules. These rules will allow people who would have been eligible for Carer Support Payment in the earlier phases of the rollout to backdate to 19 November 2023, or 23 June 2024 in the case of students in certain exceptional circumstances. They would need to meet the eligibility criteria on their chosen start date and apply for support within 13 weeks of the benefit becoming available in their area, or later if they have good reason for not applying within 13 weeks.

Clear communications, including communications targeted to reach students and those who support them, will be employed to ensure that carers are aware of the special backdating rules in place to mitigate these impacts. Crucially, we will also provide clear communications on the 13 week window in which they must apply for backdated support to fully backdate their award, and around the ‘good reason’ provision for carers unable to apply within 13 weeks.

Following the pilot launch of Carer Support Payment, we are continuing to consider questions to include in both Social Security Scotland client surveys and future evaluation plans. This work is part of our ongoing approach to continuous improvement. This will include bespoke research undertaken as part of future evaluations and improvements to the availability of management information. This will enable us to monitor information on who is receiving the benefit and how we can address any ‘gaps’ in our data or address any arising issues as part of this work.