The Chancellor gives with one hand and takes away with the other. That’s the way it might feel to many unpaid carers at the moment.
Undeniably, carers were one of the winners in Chancellor Rachel Reeve’s first budget. The changes to Carer’s Allowance were significant and very welcome, demonstrating that the new ministers, including the Chancellor herself, get the importance of the millions of unpaid carers who are keeping our health and social care system alive.
The biggest change announced is to something called the ‘earnings limit’, which previously meant that somebody providing at least 35 hours per week of care was only allowed to earn £151 per week before their Carer’s Allowance was cut off. This has now been raised to £196 per week, the equivalent of 16 hours work at living wage. This is set to benefit at least 60,000 carers across England and Wales (with the Scottish Government expected to follow suit).
The Chancellor also mentioned in her speech the problem of the ‘cliff edge’ whereby claimants lose the full value of Carer’s Allowance as soon as their earnings exceed the maximum threshold. This makes us hopeful more change is coming. Frankly, Carer’s Allowance has been a Cinderella benefit for decades and needs fundamental reform. But this is a start and we’re thankful for it.
And yet we charities are rarely satisfied and it is the same with this budget. Carers Trust runs a network of over 130 local carer services providing essential support to the nation’s carers. We reached over 1.1 million people last year through a mix of respite, advice, counselling, local groups, etc. We support young carers helping a family member with an addiction through to people in their 90s caring for a partner with dementia. Take our services away and carers might not be able to continue.
The Chancellor will be faced with many calls for exemptions from the National Insurance increase and will no doubt not want to accede to these. But let us be very careful about imposing this increase on local carer services. They are already struggling to meet soaring demand for help from carers on ever diminishing resources. In an environment where there is precious little social care available, unpaid carers are picking up the slack. Yes, they need better Carer’s Allowance, but they also need practical support from their local carer service. Take that away at your peril.
