Ministers urged to overhaul and raise carer’s allowance

Full-time carers pay a typical financial penalty of 10% compared with non-carers, the thinktank says. Photograph: Pixel Youth Movement/Alamy

The carer’s allowance benefit should be overhauled and the basic rate of payment increased to lift more unpaid carers and disabled people out of financial hardship, according to a living standards thinktank.

The Resolution Foundation said unpaid carers on low incomes were paying a “very heavy price” – a typical penalty of 10% or as much as £7,000 a year compared with non-carers – for looking after loved ones full-time.