Carers allowance petition to increase to level of minimum wage

[Victoria_1806]

Increase Carer's Allowance to equal minimum wage - Petitions.

Just seen this while researching something - March 2025 response from government is

This petition closes May 5
I totally missed this but hope @Michael_CarersUK and Carers UK team have seen the response
The stricter criteria on benefits that may lead to some carers being ineligible for the Carers allowance…
The misperception and lack of understanding about care in this response
…UGHHH
THIS statement clearly states that caring for a loved one is less valuable than paid wage work, AND less valuable than payment for the services of caring…!!
Lacks understanding that we are the backbone of the health service in the community

and that without social care investment and reforms the UK working population will BEcome the unpaid carers now and tomorrow. Shooting the economy in the foot, the other foot and both arms comes to mind

ANGRY

@Michael_CarersUK @Paola_Carers_UK and Emily - personally I think this deserves a response by Carers UK

Government responded

This response was given on 11 March 2025

Carer’s Allowance provides some financial recognition that an unpaid carer may not be able to work full-time. It is part of a range of support based on individual needs, rather than a wage.
Read the response in full

This Government fully recognises the invaluable contribution that unpaid and family carers make in providing significant care and continuity of support to their loved ones. Unpaid carers play a vital role in the lives of their family and friends. We acknowledge the challenges they are facing, and we are determined to provide unpaid carers with the support they need and deserve. That is why we are expecting to spend around £4.2 billion this year to support them through Carer’s Allowance.

Unpaid carers are overwhelmingly caring for a family member or friend, rather than someone unknown to them. The amount of unpaid caring they undertake, and its intensity, will differ from carer to carer, as will their reasons and motivation for accepting caring responsibilities. Many can successfully combine caring with some employment, so will continue to have income from paid employment. Those unpaid carers who do need financial support may be able to get help from the benefits system – and not only from Carer’s Allowance, but from a range of means-tested benefits as well.

It is important to emphasise that Carer’s Allowance is not intended to be a replacement for a wage nor payment for the services of caring and is therefore not comparable with either the National Minimum Wage or the National Living Wage. The principal purpose of Carer’s Allowance is to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who are not able to work full time because of their caring responsibilities. It is not, and was never intended to be, a carer’s wage or a payment for the services of caring. It is also not intended to replace lost or forgone earnings in their entirety and this Government has no plans to change that principle. Instead, successive Governments have supported carers through allowances and benefits as well as wider cross-government actions.

A National Insurance Class 1 credit is generally awarded for each week that Carer’s Allowance is paid to a working-age carer. Class 1 credits can help towards the conditions of entitlement to all contributory benefits, as well as the new State Pension. Receipt of Carer’s Allowance also exempts the carer from the benefit cap.

Carer’s Allowance permits carers to undertake some part-time work if they are able to do so, without this affecting their entitlement. The earnings limit recognises the benefits of staying in touch with the workplace, including greater financial independence and social interaction. From April 2025 the Carer’s Allowance Earnings limit will increase from £151 to £196 per week, the biggest increase in the limit ever, net of allowable expenses, this is pegged at 16 hours National Living Wage and will increase as the National Living Wage increases.

Carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit, alongside Carer’s Allowance. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. Currently, the Universal Credit carer element is £198.31 per monthly assessment period. The additional amount for carers in Pension Credit is £45.60 a week. Around 880,000 (May 2024 data) carer households on Universal Credit can receive around an additional £2,400 a year through the Carer Element. The Government has chosen to focus extra support on those carers who need it most.

The Government will pay around £4.2 billion in Carer’s Allowance in 2024/2025. By 2028/29, the Government is forecast to spend just over £4.9 billion a year on Carer’s Allowance.

Department for Work and Pensions

[selinakylie]

@Victoria_1806 I honestly do not know how ANY carer can work full time - even part time in many cases would be a huge challenge. Care needs are often unpredictable and likely to get worse as the person ages or the illnesses progress…

[bowlingbun]

I stopped reading part way through, too annoyed to continue! No understanding that being an unpaid carer is NOT a choice!

[Jen_2105]

@Victoria_1806

Unpaid carers are overwhelmingly caring for a family member or friend, rather than someone unknown to them.

“We rely on your sense of duty towards and love for the person you are caring for, or even that you are trapped in an impossible position with no alternatives. Cheers!”

[Chris_22081]

Interestingly enough I had a discussion with Graham yesterday. As he started to recover form his stroke my plan was to care for him and work part time… With the cascade of other health issues his Care Needs have changed dramatically and are totally unpredictable. One day he can manage fairly well and move around OK. The next day he can look and be completely drained - grey pallor, hardly able to get out of a chair, and continence completely out of control. How is anyone expected to PLAN for that and hold down even a part-time job?

There are mornings when I think ‘great I can do X Y Z today’ and it all goes out the window when I have to clean him up, change the bed, do all the washing, help him with basic tasks, prepare food, change him a couple of times… Oh and try to get five minutes breathing space for ME.

We fall outside any help which is means-tested so til we spend all our reserves (that bit we managed to put away to support ourselves in retirement like good workers saving to help ourselves) we are left floundering. G worries terribly if we can afford the minimal private care we are now buying in, but you all know that without that I was on the road to going BANG! Even our GP has said repeatedly that he MUST keep me well as there’s no-one else to look after Graham.

I KNOW the National Finances are in a total mess but how many times does the Government have to have it pointed out how much Unpaid Carers save the Country and yet all we get is “the government is spending this much on you” (so shut up and be grateful, is the unspoken bit!). Increasing the amount we can earn from employment makes no difference to most of us.

That’s it - am going to try to get Buster out for a walk before my head explodes with anger.

[bowlingbun]

Caring is not always about looking after elderly relatives!
I had 16 years without one child free day, and my health was ruined forever.
My second son, M, had severe learning difficulties. At his worst he was so hyperactive when little I had to lock him in his bedroom at 11pm to do housework before going to bed. He woke twice in the night for up to an hour and he usually woke at 5am! No Social Services respite carers could manage him! My GP told Social Services he MUST go to boarding school when he was 16, after I had 14 courses of antibiotics in 12 months.
I was offered the post of head of Special Needs courses at a local college with an excellent salary, which would have given me financial security, but there was no one to look after him in school holidays, and his school operated a 4 term year, not the same as the college, no respite meant I couldn’t accept the job!
I’ve also cared for other relatives, especially my housebound disabled mum.
Fast forward to me at 73, widowed, no private pension. On the other hand my best friend with identical qualifications and a career behind her has a good pension. Without some life insurance from my husband and money mum left me I would have to sell my house.
If the state will pay a non relative to care for a disabled person why won’t they pay a relative to do the same work, better?
The idea that paid carers are better than family carers is rubbish. Now my son lives in his own flat with carer support,his care package is over £50,000 a year, but he has to come home to me to do the things they won’t, or can’t. Holidays, bike rides, steam rallies, even making crumble mixture to go on his own rhubarb is beyond them although he has a Kenwood Chef and Magimix at his flat.
I

[selinakylie]

Agree totally. I would have LOVED to have done a part time job or even done vol work so if I needed a paid job I would have had something to put on my CV. But @Chris_22081 is so right needs are so unpredictable. Husband often says that he is feeling ill when I am about to leave the house and may call GP. At his age, never really know if he means it or not. This ‘rash’ issue may be urine related or a fungal/bacterial infection which will need quick action if there is a risk of cellulitis. Pharmacist mentioned this. How would I cope being at work not knowing if I had to dash off home at short notice? His needs have increased as he has got older and I frankly do not think he could manage to call 111/999 or the GP Surgery without me being there as he is so deaf and wont wear his Hearing Aids. I will NOT go for for a Financial Assessment as I am pretty sure I will be expected to use some of my private pension which I am trying not to take, to fund the running of the house. I cannot see how Carers can help as he wont do things at set times. Best thing for me would be for him to go into a Care Home as then I would be free to look for a job. But he would not be self funded as his private pension will run out. So I am left not being able to care for him in a way I consider safe for MY mental and physical health. But I have no other choice. Thankfully I have relatively good health and a close circle of close friends so can get out, albeit with huge compromises and for short periods.
I feel increasingly bitter with regard to how family carers are treated. I honestly think I prompt MUCH more than any paid carer would do for him to take his tablets and change his pads.

[EEG]

The Govt could never admit openly that the role of unpaid carers and those receiving Carers Allowance, is just as valuable as paid wage work, even though they know it is more valuable. Because let’s face it, it saves them billions of £ a year by not having to invest more in the NHS and social care infrastructure. Both of which we know would totally collapse if carers downed tools and insisted on the state stepping in. But they rely on the fact that we won’t. Our unwillingness to do so is cleverly used against us in order to keep the rates of Carers Allowance lower than every other benefit.

If the changes to the PIP benefit (and by extension, Carers Allowance) is allowed to go ahead, thousands if not millions more people will suddenly be calling on the NHS and social care services for support. the Govt clearly haven’t thought the ramifications of this one through.