Scottish Carer's Assistance: consultation

Replacing Carer's Allowance with Scottish Carer's Assistance

Scottish Carer's Assistance will replace Carer's Allowance in Scotland. The timing of this has been affected by the impacts of coronavirus, but we are making good progress. Launching the benefit will be our highest priority following the delivery of Adult Disability Payment in August this year, the extension of Scottish Child Payment by the end of the year, and our first low income winter heating benefit in winter 2022/23.

The current Carer's Allowance benefit is the most complex benefit that we will replace in terms of its links with other benefits, including benefits which will still be provided by the Department for Work and Pensions. We are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to understand what needs to be put in place between the two systems so our new benefit will have these links. This work will also help us understand how quickly we can deliver Scottish Carer's Assistance. We hope to have an agreement on timings soon.

We expect the build to take at least 18 months because it is vital that we make sure it works with UK Government systems in the same way as Carer's Allowance – so carers get the right amount of benefits and don't lose any support. During the process of designing and delivering the new benefit we will be engaging with carers to take their feedback and gather user research. We will deliver the new benefit in a way that is compassionate and considerate of people who will use it, and their needs.

When the benefit first launches it will be open to new applicants – people who are eligible for support but are not yet getting Carer's Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions. Once the benefit has been up and running for a period we will then begin transferring benefits so that carers in Scotland who are already getting Carer's Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions will start getting Scottish Carer's Assistance from Social Security Scotland instead. This process is known as 'case transfer'. When it is complete, all eligible carers in Scotland will be getting Scottish Carer's Assistance and not Carer's Allowance.

We have set out some key principles for how case transfer will work for all of our benefits which are replacing UK benefits^[21]. These are based on research with people with experience of the current benefits system. We will make sure that when benefits are transferred that no-one will be asked to re-apply for support they are already getting, and people will continue to get the right payment amount at the right time. We will also make sure carers get clear information about the transfer of their benefits, and aim to complete transfer as soon as we can.

What Scottish Carer's Assistance is for

When we consulted in 2016 about Scottish benefits, most people who responded agreed that Scottish Carer's Assistance should have a similar role to Carer's Allowance^[22] – that is, it should be a benefit to provide some replacement income for unpaid carers who are less able to take on paid work. It should not be a payment for the care provided, but would provide recognition for the caring role – by giving support with no requirement to look for work.

Scottish Carer's Assistance will also be 'non-means tested' in the same way as Carer's Allowance. This means that a carer's income (other than from paid work^[23]) and their household's income won't affect whether they can get the benefit, or how much they will get. The benefit will also still be targeted at carers who are caring for at least 35 hours a week for people getting certain disability benefits. This means it will be focused on unpaid carers with some of the most intensive caring roles and who are likely to be on lower incomes.

We have already increased the amount of support provided to carers through our Carer's Allowance Supplement, so carers getting Carer's Allowance in Scotland get around 13% more than carers in England and Wales. We are now looking at how we can support more carers, provide them with better support, and deliver extra support for those carers who need it most. Our aims for Scottish Carer's Assistance are set out later in this section.

Wider work to look at the incomes of all unpaid carers in Scotland, and the financial support available, will be part of the work to consider the potential for a Minimum Income Guarantee for all in Scotland. Carer representatives are involved in this work^[24], so that it considers the particular needs of unpaid carers. What a Minimum Income Guarantee will look like is yet to be agreed, and it is at an early stage of its development, but it has the potential to make a real and positive difference for unpaid carers in the longer term.