PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Carer's Allowance (19 February 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a £20 per week supplement for people receiving carers' allowance as part of Budget 2021.

Asked by:
Sir Alan Campbell (Labour)

DWP Ministers and officials regularly discuss support for carers with their counterparts across Government. The proposed table of benefits / pension rates for 2021/22, including Carer’s Allowance, was published on 4 December 2020 in the House Library, following the Secretary of State’s annual review of benefit rates. Since 2010, the rate of Carer’s Allowance has increased from £53.90 to £67.25 a week, meaning around an additional £700 a year for carers. Between 2020/21 and 2025/26 real terms expenditure on Carer’s Allowance is forecast to increase by nearly a third (around £1 billion). By 2025/26, the Government is forecast to spend just over £4bn a year on Carer’s Allowance.

Answered by:
Justin Tomlinson (Conservative)
24 February 2021