Carer Support Payment: business and regulatory impact assessment

Scottish Firms Impact Test

Scottish businesses, including third sector organisations, were given the opportunity to respond to the public consultation on Carer Support Payment (formerly ‘Scottish Carer’s Assistance’) earlier this year and to the 2016 consultation on Social Security in Scotland. A total of 41 third and public sector organisations responded to the consultation, from a range of local authority, welfare rights and advocacy advice services. The consultation proposals were generally well received by organisations, especially in relation to the proposed future changes.

A number of stakeholder events were also run alongside the consultation to increase its awareness and engagement, and for organisations to provide initial thoughts and increase their members’ engagement with the consultation proposals. This included stakeholder groups such as the Coalition of Carers, Engender, Carers Scotland and ALLIANCE.

As noted previously, as with creating any new benefit, widening eligibility, and changing elements of how the benefit works, it is expected that there will likely be impacts to carer support services and welfare advice agencies, as carers adapt to Carer Support Payment and the widened eligibility requirements and consider applying for this new support. Similarly, it is expected that the transfer of benefits for some clients from Carer’s Allowance to Carer Support Payment could cause some additional requests for information and support from existing advice services.

It should also be noted that third-sector welfare advice services may also still be feeling the impacts of the recent pandemic and an overall increase in demand for services^[35], so we will take proactive steps to alleviate these impacts. This will be achieved by continuing to work with stakeholders from a range of organisations to ensure that we provide clear information, communications and support in advance of the launch of Carer Support Payment, case transfer, and future changes. This work has included user research and testing of decision-making guidance with third sector organisations who provide welfare advice. As with the introduction of other new devolved forms of social security, a number of public ‘roadshows’ will also take place to inform carers and wider stakeholders about the new benefit, the case transfer process, and encourage eligible carers to apply. By transferring client awards automatically, this will reduce the administrative burden on carers and support organisations, while communications to case transfer clients will contain signposting to further support from Social Security Scotland, so individuals fully understand the transfer process.

Following the launch of Carer Support Payment, an annual client evaluation is planned to monitor how the new benefit is working in practice, to identify any unintended consequences at an early stage, and to gauge any requirement for continuous improvement. The Scottish Government will also continue to ensure that carer voices and experiences are reflected in policy development by continuing to work with the Carer Benefits Advisory Group to monitor any arising issues raised by either group or in any Ministerial correspondence. This will be a continuous improvement process and where any unintended consequences are identified, steps will be taken to rectify them as early as possible.

The Scottish Government will also put in place a monitoring and evaluation plan for Carer Support Payment prior to implementation and will engage with stakeholder organisations in developing this plan. Our strategy for evaluating the initial policy impact of social security benefits devolved to Scotland were published in November 2019^[36] and a separate strategy for devolved disability assistance in October 2021^[37]. The approach set out in these strategies will allow us to consider the impact of key policy changes, maximising learning across the system.