Scottish Carer's Assistance: consultation

Introduction

Unpaid carers provide vital support to the people they care for. They also have a huge impact on Scotland as a whole. Carers UK have estimated that the value of unpaid care in Scotland could be around £10.8 billion each year^[1]. Changes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic may mean more people are now providing care, and more hours of care than before, which would increase the level and value of unpaid care being provided^[2].

Caring can be a positive experience for unpaid carers and the people they care for. But it is also linked to poor mental and physical health. Unpaid carers of working age, who are caring for long hours, can also be at a higher risk of poverty^[3]. Caring roles may also stop unpaid carers from being able to take part in education, training, or paid work they would like to do. Unpaid carers also report having less time for themselves and can feel lonely or isolated.

The Scottish Government's vision for unpaid carers is set out in our draft Carers Strategic Policy Statement^[4]. The Statement is a document that brings together what we are trying to do for carers across the work of government and public services, and sets out key principles for how policies to support carers should be designed and delivered.

Our vision is that all unpaid carers 'are supported on a consistent basis to allow them to continue caring, if that is their wish, in good health and wellbeing, allowing for a life of their own outside of caring'. Scottish Carer's Assistance, our replacement for Carer's Allowance, will be an important part of how we achieve this.

What we are consulting about

In 2015, it was agreed that the Scottish Parliament should have some powers over carer benefits. These powers are set out in the Scotland Act 2016^[5]. Through this, we created new support for carers, the Carer's Allowance Supplement in 2018, and our Young Carer Grant in 2019. We are now designing a new benefit which will replace the current Carer's Allowance benefit for carers in Scotland. We are calling this 'Scottish Carer's Assistance' for now.

Carer's Allowance, which is paid by the Department for Work and Pensions, provides support to unpaid carers who meet certain criteria and provide 35 hours or more of care a week for people receiving certain disability benefits. It is £67.60 a week in 2021-22. This consultation asks for views on proposals for how Scottish Carer's Assistance could be different from Carer's Allowance.

The background section sets out information on the support already available for unpaid carers and some changes we've already made to improve this support. This section also explains our aims for Scottish Carer's Assistance, how we developed them, and some of the key things we need to think about in making decisions about changes. We then split the document into three main sections. These are:

1. Scottish Carer's Assistance when it first launches.

This section sets out proposals for how our new benefit will work when it first opens for new applications, including who will be eligible for support, how benefit processes will work better, and how we could link carers to wider services and support.

2. Extra money for carers in Scotland.

This has questions on how Carer's Allowance Supplement should be paid in future, and on proposed new support for people getting Scottish Carer's Assistance and looking after more than one person in receipt of disability benefits. We are calling this extra support 'Carer's Additional Person Payment' for now.

3. Changes to Scottish Carer's Assistance

After we have launched Scottish Carer's Assistance, we can begin transferring benefits so people in Scotland who are getting Carer's Allowance can get Scottish Carer's Assistance instead. This process is known as 'case transfer'. The third section sets out changes we propose to make to the benefit once this process is complete. The proposals are based on our work with carers and support organisations to look at how Carer's Allowance could support more carers.

Following this we ask for your views on how the proposals could affect different groups of carers and businesses in Scotland, and what we can do to make sure our new benefit works for everyone.