Scottish Carer's Assistance: consultation

Background

This section sets out information on the support available for unpaid carers – in social security benefits and elsewhere – as well as what we have already done to improve this support. It provides information on key things we need to think about when we are making decisions about Scottish Carer's Assistance. These include how it affects other support, and how it could help address inequality and poverty. Finally, it sets out the aims we have worked with carers and others to develop – for what we want our new benefit to do.

The story so far on carer benefits

The Scottish Government has made improving support for Scotland's unpaid carers a priority since it was agreed that the Scottish Parliament should have some powers over carer benefits^[6].

We have invested over £188 million in the Carer's Allowance Supplement since its launch in September 2018^[7]. This new payment from the Scottish Government for carers who get Carer's Allowance was introduced at a rate of over £440 per year^[8] to ensure carers received the same level of financial support as those in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance. The Carer's Allowance Supplement is paid twice a year – in June and December^[9] – and it has increased support for over 126,000 carers. Its rate is now £231.40 per payment, so it provided an extra £462.80 for carers in Scotland last year. To help with the extra pressures carers have faced as a result of the pandemic, an additional payment of the same value was made in June 2020, and another in December 2021.

Another new benefit introduced by the Scottish Government is the Young Carer Grant^[10]. This is the only benefit of its kind in the UK, and provides young carers aged 16 to 18 with an annual payment of £308.15 (2021-22 rate). We have invested £1.4 million since October 2019 supporting over 4,700 young carers since launch^[11]. This payment is designed to help young carers who are not in receipt of Carer's Allowance to improve their quality of life – by helping them take part in opportunities which young people who are not carers may be able to access more easily.

We know from our evaluation of these two new benefits that they are having a positive impact on the lives of unpaid carers^[12].

Carer benefits are just one element of the devolved social security system. Unpaid carers in Scotland can also benefit from the range of social security support we provide, to help low-income families with living costs, and to enable disabled people to live full and independent lives.

Although our powers are limited, in the three years since we have had the powers and laws to deliver social security we have introduced 11 benefits, seven of which are completely new. Our replacement benefits are more generous and easier to access. The Scottish Fiscal Commission – which is Scotland's official, independent economic forecasting body^[13] - has estimated that, by 2026/27, we will be investing £5.5 billion a year in social security^[14]. In 2022/23, we expect to invest £361 million more than the provisional funding we get from the UK Government to pay benefits^[15]. This is an investment in the people of Scotland and is key to our national mission to tackle poverty.

Wider support for carers

Social security benefits are only one part of how we can improve the lives of Scotland's unpaid carers. We are looking at how we improve carer benefits as part of wider work to improve all of our support for unpaid carers and the people they care for.

Through the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016^[16], every carer is entitled to an 'Adult Carer Support Plan' or 'Young Carer Statement' which sets out their needs as a carer, and the support they can get from their local authority. Local authorities have to consider whether this support should include short breaks from caring. They also have a duty to provide information and advice services for carers, including advice on money.

We invest in work to put the Carers Act into practice, including in local carers centres, support for third sector organisations to provide short breaks, and targeted support for young carers. We have increased this investment in response to the impacts of the pandemic on unpaid carers. We also fund the Carer Positive scheme^[17], which encourages employers to support unpaid carers to stay in work.

We are working on changes recommended by the Independent Review of Adult Social Care^[18] in February 2021, which involved hearing from unpaid carers and the people they care for. The recommendations include creating a 'National Care Service'. The National Care Service would oversee how care is delivered in Scotland, improve standards of care, and provide better support for unpaid carers. We ran a public consultation on a National Care Service from August to November 2021, including on a right to breaks from care for unpaid carers^[19]. Analysis of the responses to the consultation found a majority in favour of establishing a National Care Service^[20]. The responses also highlighted the risks which could emerge from such significant reform, but the need for change in the immediate and longer term was a key theme. We will provide an update on our plans soon.

The results of this work and of this Scottish Carer's Assistance consultation will be incorporated into a Carers Strategy which we will publish in late spring this year. It will focus on unpaid carers and their needs, setting out how policies across the Scottish Government can work together with other public bodies to support carers as we recover from the pandemic and beyond. In developing the strategy we will work with unpaid carers, so it is shaped by those who best understand the challenges.