Scottish Carer's Assistance: consultation

Section 2: Extra money for carers in Scotland

Since passing the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, we have already launched two new forms of support for Scotland's unpaid carers that are unique in the UK. Carer's Allowance Supplement provides extra support for those getting Carer's Allowance and has been paid since 2018. Carers continuously in receipt of Carer's Allowance and Carer's Allowance Supplement will have received over £2,270 more than carers in the rest of the UK. This includes two additional payments paid during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Young Carer Grant launched in 2019 and is a £300 a year payment which supports young carers.

Unpaid carers looking after children may also benefit from the new support provided from the Scottish Child Payment^[56] and Child Winter Heating Assistance^[57], as well as the Best Start Grants (in addition to Child Disability Payment^[58] or Disability Living Allowance).

We will continue to invest in providing this extra support for carers through Carer's Allowance Supplement and Young Carer Grant. We are also committed to creating another new payment for unpaid carers in Scotland – to provide extra support for people who are getting Scottish Carer's Assistance and caring for more than one person in receipt of disability benefits. We know that these carers face extra pressures and that extra support could help make a difference to their wellbeing.

This section sets out more information on Carer's Allowance Supplement and asks for your views on how this payment should be made in future.

We are also looking for feedback on how our proposed new payment – known as 'Carer's Additional Person Payment'– should work.

Carer's Allowance Supplement

Carer's Allowance Supplement is a unique payment from the Scottish Government. It is paid to carers who are receiving Carer's Allowance and living in Scotland. Payments are made by Social Security Scotland using information from the Department for Work and Pensions.

It was introduced as a temporary measure to increase support for carers before Scottish Carer's Assistance replaced Carer's Allowance. It is paid every six months and the payment amount this financial year (2021-22) is £231.40^[59].

An evaluation of Carer's Allowance Supplement, which included interviews with people who had received payments, was published in December 2020^[60]. This found that the payments had had a positive impact on the carers who received them, in terms of their finances and their wellbeing, with those who were struggling financially feeling the biggest impacts. Carers were able to spend the money on things they would not have been able to afford without it, or to pay for household bills they would have struggled with. Carers typically liked that it was paid in two lump sums a year but also said they mainly felt the benefit during months the payments arrived. Carers also said it had helped them feel more recognised by the Scottish Government.

To support the safe and secure transfer of benefits for people already getting Carer's Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions, once Scottish Carer's Assistance is launched, we plan to continue making payments of Carer's Allowance Supplement in the same way as now, until the process of transferring carers' benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions to Social Security Scotland is complete.

Carer's Allowance Supplement payments will remain separate from payments of Scottish Carer's Assistance. This is because Scottish Carer's Assistance is counted as income in deciding eligibility for some benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions, but Carer's Allowance Supplement is not. Payments of benefits like Universal Credit are not reduced by Carer's Allowance Supplement payments. Once all eligible carers are getting Scottish Carer's Assistance we will consider how it could be paid differently.

Options for future payment of Carer's Allowance Supplement

In future, Carer's Allowance Supplement could be paid at the same time as a carer's regular Scottish Carer's Assistance payments, while still being separate. Most carers currently get Carer's Allowance payments weekly or every four weeks. This would give carers a higher regular income which would help with their budgeting. This may be particularly important for carers on lower incomes. It would also allow any change of circumstances to be reflected in a carer's award more quickly, making over or under payments less likely. However, getting smaller payments more frequently may be more complex for carers who need to report their income to the Department for Work and Pensions or HM Revenue and Customs.

Carer's Allowance Supplement could be paid in a way which is similar to the process now, a payment every six months for example. We know that some carers like this. It could also be simpler for carers who need to tell the Department for Work and Pensions about their income. However, it would mean we would still need to use qualifying dates for payments. This could mean some carers missing out on support. If payments were made in arrears, carers could be underpaid if their caring role ends just before a qualifying date. Changes of circumstances during the period between payments – if a carer exceeds the earnings threshold, or the person they care for has an extended stay in hospital – could not be reflected in the award, which would also lead to overpayments.

We propose that payments of Carer's Allowance Supplement are made with Scottish Carer's Assistance payments in future. This would have a greater impact on carers' regular incomes and help ensure carers get the right amount of support. We would work with carers and support organisations to help make any reporting to the Department for Work and Pensions as simple as possible.

Question 16: Do you agree or disagree that Carer's Allowance Supplement should be paid alongside carers' regular payments of Scottish Carer's Assistance in future? [Agree, Disagree, Unsure.]

Question 17: Please write the reason why you agree or disagree that Carer's Allowance Supplement should be paid alongside carers' regular payments of Scottish Carer's Assistance in future, or any other information you want to share on this question.

Question 18: Please give us any other views you want to share on the proposals for Carer's Allowance Supplement.

Carer's Additional Person Payment

We previously committed to provide extra support for carers who get Scottish Carer's Assistance and are caring for more than one child who is getting a disability benefit. This is because having more than one caring role can have a bigger impact on carers' health and wellbeing.

We now propose to extend this £10 per week payment to carers getting Scottish Carer's Assistance who are caring for more than one person of any age, who is getting a disability benefit. While we know there are particular challenges in caring for more than one child, we have also heard from carers and the organisations who support them that there are also extra pressures on carers looking after more than one adult, or an adult and child. Also, in many situations, where a child who is getting a disability benefit turns 18, there is no change in the care they need.

We plan to make the extra payments part of Scottish Carer's Assistance. Joint work is underway with the Department for Work and Pensions, as set out in the background to this consultation, to help us to understand the work that is needed to deliver Scottish Carer's Assistance. The current Carer's Allowance benefit has complex links with other benefits, including benefits that will still be provided by the Department for Work and Pensions, and we need to make sure that we build our benefit so that it will still have these links. The joint work we are doing with the Department for Work and Pensions will allow us to see how quickly we can deliver Scottish Carer's Assistance and Carer's Additional Person Payment, and we hope to have agreement on timings soon.

Who Carer's Additional Person Payment will be for

To be able to get Carer's Additional Person Payment, carers must be eligible for Scottish Carer's Assistance, and receiving payments. This means that all of the eligibility criteria for Scottish Carer's Assistance set out in section 1 will already apply.

Carers will also need to be caring for at least two people who are in receipt of a Scottish Carer's Assistance qualifying benefit. Both caring roles would need to be significant, so we are proposing that carers should be providing at least 20 hours of care a week for each additional person they are applying for Carer's Additional Person Payment for. They wouldn't need to be providing this care separately from the care they provide for the person they get Scottish Carer's Assistance for – for example, many people caring for two children would be looking after both at the same time.

We do not propose a cap on the number of additional people a carer could receive the additional payment for. So, for example a carer caring for three children who are all getting a disability benefit would be able to receive two awards of Carer's Additional Person Payment.

As we want the Carer's Additional Person Payment to provide extra support for people with more than one significant caring role, we do not propose that the hours spent caring for a number of different people could be added together to meet the eligibility criteria. It would remain the case that 35 or more hours of care a week will need to be provided for the person the carer is getting Scottish Carer's Assistance for.

We will consider changes which could allow carers to add together the hours they spend caring for more than one person to get Scottish Carer's Assistance in the future and more information on this is in section 3.

Question 19: Do you agree or disagree with the proposed eligibility criteria for Carer's Additional Person Payment? [Agree, Disagree, Unsure.]

Question 20: Please write the reason why you agree or disagree with the proposed eligibility criteria for Carer's Additional Person Payment, or any other information you want to share on this question.

Carer's Additional Person Payment – amount and frequency of payments

The payment would be the equivalent of £10 per week and will be 'up-rated' each year using the same measure of increases in costs that we use for other Scottish benefits^[61].

We are proposing that Carer's Additional Person Payment will be paid at the same time as Scottish Carer's Assistance payments. Most carers currently get Carer's Allowance payments either weekly or every four weeks. We looked at whether Carer's Additional Person Payment could be paid as a lump sum instead, or if carers could be offered the choice to get a lump sum payment.

To make lump sum payments, for example every six months, we would need to use qualifying dates, which could mean carers are more likely to be either overpaid or underpaid. Or, we would need to check carers' eligibility every six months before making payments, which could mean extra work for the carers, and require more resources from Social Security Scotland. For carers getting more than one award of Carer's Additional Person Payment, these checks and payments could happen at different times for each payment, which would add further work and complexity.

Question 21: Do you agree or disagree with the proposed payment frequency for Carer's Additional Person Payment? [Agree, Disagree, Unsure.]

Question 22: Please write the reason why you agree or disagree with the proposed payment frequency for Carer's Additional Person Payment, or any other information you want to share on this question.

Carer's Additional Person Payment – impact on other benefits

At the moment, getting Carer's Allowance can reduce the amount of money carers will get in income-based benefits like Universal Credit and Income Support, but the Scottish Government and UK Government have an agreement which means new benefits like Carer's Additional Person Payment will not reduce the amount of support carers can get in these other benefits. This means Carer's Additional Person Payment would not be counted as income when working out whether a carer can get other benefits from either the UK or Scottish Governments, or how much they will get.

Whether or not carers could be taxed on payments of Carer's Additional Person Payment is still to be agreed with HM Revenue and Customs. Decisions about what income should be taxed are made by the UK Government. At the moment, carers can be taxed on their Carer's Allowance if they are earning over a certain amount. In practice, it is unlikely Carer's Allowance recipients will pay income tax, due to the earnings limit^[62].

Targeting Carer's Additional Person Payment at carers getting Scottish Carer's Assistance

As set out above, Carer's Additional Person Payment will be paid to people who are getting payments of Scottish Carer's Assistance, and caring for more than one person who is getting a disability benefit. This means it would not be paid to people who have 'underlying entitlement' to Scottish Carer's Assistance, or who get the Universal Credit Carer Element instead. This is how the Carer's Allowance Supplement works now.

Carers with 'underlying entitlement' to Carer's Allowance are those who would be eligible for it but are getting another 'overlapping' benefit instead which is paid for the same purpose. The reason that Carer's Allowance Supplement and Carer's Additional Person Payment are targeted at people getting payments of Scottish Carer's Assistance is that 'overlapping benefits' are paid at a higher rate, and people getting Universal Credit Carer Element can receive Carer's Allowance unless they are earning over the earnings limit. This means that carers receiving payments of Scottish Carer's Assistance are likely to be on lower incomes.

We know that there are some carers getting the Universal Credit Carer Element who don't apply for Carer's Allowance at the moment, but could be better off if they did – because of Carer's Allowance Supplement and, in future, the Carer's Additional Person Payment. We want carers to get all the financial support they are entitled to, so we will use communications about the launch of Scottish Carer's Assistance and the Carer's Additional Person Payment to encourage carers in Scotland who are getting Universal Credit, or applying for it, to find out if they would be better off if they applied for Scottish Carer's Assistance too.

We have also heard the concerns of carers who have only 'underlying entitlement' to Carer's Allowance or who are unable to get support because of the earnings limit. We have looked at a number of options for future changes to Scottish Carer's Assistance, including to the earnings limit, and to support those with 'underlying entitlement' only and more information on this work and our plans is set out in section 3.

Question 23: Do you agree or disagree with the proposal to target Carer's Additional Person Payment to carers who are getting payments of Scottish Carer's Assistance? [Agree, Disagree, Unsure.]

Question 24: Please write the reason why you agree or disagree with the proposal to target Carer's Additional Person Payment to carers who are getting payments of Scottish Carer's Assistance, or any other information you want to share on this question.

Question 25: Please give us any other views you want to share about the proposed Carer's Additional Person Payment.