The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that in May last year there were 936,766 people receiving weekly payments of £69.70 for Carer’s Allowance, including 81,682 living in Scotland.
Carer’s Allowance will rise in line with inflation from April and increase from £69.70 per week to £76.75, however, claimants will still not be eligible for the means-tested cost of living payment announced in the Autumn Statement last November. The additional financial support will be worth £900 in 2023/24 and split into three lump sums of £301, £300 and £299, in order to include as many people on a low income as possible over three potential qualifying periods.
Several MPs have asked DWP if it has “made an assessment of the potential merits of providing a cost of living payment to unpaid carers” since the support began last July, to which the response has always been sympathetic, but unwavering on the eligibility rules, often explaining how statistically, some 60 per cent of unpaid carers are living in a household where someone is in receipt of a qualifying means-tested benefits.
