Scottish Carer's Assistance: consultation - easy read

Section 3 Changes to Scottish Carer's Assistance

To start with we are not making big changes to who can get Scottish Carer's Assistance. This is to make sure people already getting Carer's Allowance are treated fairly. But we know there are things that carers would like to change.

When all carers in Scotland are getting Scottish Carer's Assistance instead of Carer's Allowance we plan to make changes. These are longer term changes. They will not happen when Scottish Carer's Assistance is first introduced. We would need to speak with the Department for Work and Pensions about these changes."

We will keep looking for ways to make changes sooner than this if possible.

We will not be able to make all of the changes people want. This is because:

• Carer's Allowance has links with other benefits. Many carers rely on support from the Department for Work and Pensions which is linked to Carer's Allowance.

• We need to think about the costs of making changes. We need to make sure we spend money where it will make the most difference.

We are also working to create a National Care Service.

We are working to see if we can have a Minimum Income Guarantee for everyone. This is an agreed amount of money that people need to live on. We would need to make sure that no-one's income was below that level.

The National Care Service and a Minimum Income Guarantee could have a big impact on the everyday lives of carers.

To decide which changes to make and when, we worked with carers and support organisations and people in government. We made a list of options that would meet our aims for the new benefit.

What we have suggested below is based on what we found out from this process.

1. We want to remove education limits from Scottish Carer's Assistance.

At the moment, carers in education for 21 hours or more a week cannot get Carer's Allowance. This may stop carers from studying full-time.

Changing the rules could allow more carers to study.

Question 14: Do you agree or disagree with the change to allow carers in full-time education to get Scottish Carer's Assistance?

Agree / Disagree / Not sure

Please tell us more about your answer in the box below.

2. We want to allow carers to add up hours spent caring for two people to reach the 35 hours per week caring requirement.

Carer's Allowance is only paid where 35 hours or more of care is provided each week for one person. This means:

• If someone is caring 35 hours or more a week for two or more people, they will not get Carer's Allowance

• Where two people are sharing care for the same person, only one of them can get Carer's Allowance.

At this stage we are saying that hours could be added together for two cared for people. We would then look at how this works before we allow hours to be added across more people.

Question 15: Do you agree or disagree with the change to allow carers to add together hours spent caring for two people?

Agree / Disagree / Not sure

Please tell us more about your answer in the box below.

3. We want to keep paying Scottish Carer's Assistance for 12 weeks after a cared for person has died.

When a cared for person dies, Carer's Allowance payments stop after eight weeks. Carers have told us this is not long enough.

An extra four weeks of support would give carers more time to adjust. We would also help carers to find other support at this time to help them cope with the end of their caring role.

Question 16: Do you agree or disagree with the change to continue to pay Scottish Carer's Assistance for 12 weeks (rather than 8 weeks) after the death of a cared for person?

Agree / Disagree / Not sure

Please tell us more about your answer in the box below.

4. We want to keep paying Scottish Carer's Assistance for 12 weeks when a cared for adult goes into hospital or residential care.

Carer's Allowance payments also stop after 4 weeks when a cared for person goes into hospital. We know this is a difficult time for carers.

Paying Scottish Carer's Assistance for 12 weeks when a cared for person goes into hospital or residential care would give carers a more stable income.

Question 17: Do you agree or disagree with the change to continue to pay Scottish Carer's Assistance for 12 weeks when a cared for person goes into hospital or residential care?

Agree / Disagree / Not sure

Please tell us more about your answer in the box below.

5. We want to increase the amount carers can earn and still get Scottish Carer's Assistance.

Carers cannot earn more than £128 per week and still get Carer's Allowance. This is the amount for this year and may change in future. We have heard from carers that this is too low.

If carers earn £1 over this amount, they lose all of their Carer's Allowance award.

We could increase this to allow carers to work 16 hours a week and be paid the Real Living Wage. This would mean carers could earn £158 a week and still get Scottish Carer's Assistance.

We want to bring in rules that would mean carers keep getting payments for some weeks after they earn over the limit. Payments could then reduce more slowly to help them adjust. This could also help carers who have earnings which change weekly.

Question 18: Do you agree or disagree with the change to increase the earnings limit for Scottish Carer's Assistance? This would allow carers to work 16 hours a week and be paid the Real Living Wage?

Agree / Disagree / Not sure

Please tell us more about your answer in the box below.

Question 19: Do you agree or disagree with the idea after a carer earns over the earnings limit for some weeks?

Agree / Disagree / Not sure

Please tell us more about your answer in the box below.