Social Security Experience Panels - Scottish Carer's Assistance: main report

Annex B: Experiences of Carer Benefits

Which benefits respondents had received

The selected Panel members were asked if they have ever received any of the carer benefits shown in Table 23. A total of 241 respondents answered this question. More than three in five respondents (62 per cent) reported receiving Carer's Allowance and over a third (36 per cent) mentioned receiving Carer's Allowance Supplement. 10 per cent said they received the Carer's Premium of other benefit, and a third reported not receiving any of the benefits.

Why had respondents not received a carer benefit

Respondents who said that they received none of the above benefits were asked to explain why they have not received them (see Table 24). The three most common reasons they noted were: they receive State Pension or other overlapping benefit (28 per cent), they earn above the earning limit (25 per cent), and the lack of information or understanding about carer benefits and eligibility (23 per cent). 22 per cent stated "other" reasons why they have not received any carer benefits.

The "other" reasons for not for having received carer benefits which were noted by survey respondents and interview participants included variations on the options already provided in the survey question. In particular, experiences with overlapping benefits and having an income above the earnings limit. This included those who were above the earnings threshold due to receiving state pension. However, it is worth noting that concerns around overlapping entitlements also included those taking the decision not to apply for carer benefits to avoid negatively affecting the benefits that the cared for person receives.

"I'm kind of, stuck there, because the Child Tax Credits are more valuable. It's definitely better to be on child tax credits […] You're doing all this caring, but you can't be recognised as a dual-carer because you have underlying benefits. It seems grossly unfair and makes me feel like a second-class carer." (interview participant)

"Other" reasons for not receiving carer benefits mentioned by respondents and participants were: only one carer receives Carer's Allowance even though there are two adults providing care in one household, the cared for person is going through a disability benefit appeal process, and the carer does not want to interact with DWP.

"My wife and I care for our adult daughter. My wife received Carer's Allowance when eligible. Now, we are both pensioners, we receive no Allowance and are ineligible." (survey respondent)

" I remember phoning [to DWP] to enquire about it [CA's award] once and I remember being told if you are lying this could affect your relative's other benefits. What personal actually says this? You become quite, you have to prioritise what is important. You'll always get by, we fortunately did. I know people who can't afford to get by without having CA applications. But the stress it puts people under to wait for a decision…" (interview participant)

A small number of participants highlighted they did not have information about benefit entitlements and eligibility criteria for carers until they looked for help due to being in financial difficulties.

"For Carer's Allowance I have applied for yeah. I applied very late, basically when I had no money left, I didn't know there was such a thing as Carer's Allowance […] It's only when I couldn't pay my mortgage; that's when I went for help basically." (interview participant)

A few interview participants highlighted their previous negative experiences of benefit application processes. They described negative experiences when communicating with DWP staff. They also described the application forms as complex and said that they needed support to complete them correctly as otherwise they would have had their application rejected.

"We got told [by advisors from support organisation] under no circumstances to fill out the form without their advice to apply for the benefit. And we got told that if we didn't get the form right or we didn't do things properly then we wouldn't get the benefit for it. When there's somebody telling you are having intense scrutiny and saying if you don't get things right then you can't get anything. there's no turning back, it's quite overwhelming. I just hope that it doesn't feel as though I will be getting tripped up at every hurdle to apply for a benefit when this shouldn't be how benefits are applied for." (interview participant)