Social Security - Scottish Carer's Assistance consultation: Scottish Government response - easy read

What is a Consultation?

The law says that the Scottish Government has to ask people their views before important changes are made. When the Scottish Government asks people for their views it is called a Consultation.

The Scottish Government asked for views on Scottish Carer's Assistance in 2022. This report sets out the Scottish Government's response to the results of the Consultation.

What was this Consultation about?

Carer Support Payment will replace Carer's Allowance for unpaid carers in Scotland.

Unpaid carers are people who look after a family member or friend who needs help. This could be because of an illness or a disability. They are not paid for the care they give.

The reason for the consultation was to tell people about our new Scottish benefit for carers and ask how it could work better for carers.

We are also thinking about how our new benefit and any changes we make will fit in with other things we are doing to help carers, like the National Care Service and the Minimum Income Guarantee.

Almost 200 people and organisations gave their views. Nearly all the people who took part were unpaid carers or worked in an organisation which supports carers. You can read more about the Scottish Carer's Assistance consultation results here.

Naming our new benefit

We asked carers, carer organisations and our Experience Panel members to choose a name. The new name for the benefit replacing Carer's Allowance in Scotland will be Carer Support Payment. We will begin to test Carer Support Payment by the end of 2023. This is known as a 'pilot' and introduce the benefit in Spring 2024.