Carer Support Payment: fairer Scotland duty assessment - summary

The Fairer Scotland duty impact assessment summarises potential impacts of the Carer’s Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 on socio-economic inequality. It builds on, and should be read alongside the equality impact assessment.


Footnotes

1. When the consultation launched, our working title for the new benefit was ‘Scottish Carer’s Assistance.’ Since then, we have worked with carers, carer organisations and our Experience Panel members to choose and test a preferred name for the new benefit. We can confirm that the chosen name for the benefit replacing Carer’s Allowance in Scotland will be ‘Carer Support Payment.’

2. National Care Service (Scotland) Bill (2022) Financial Memorandum (paragraph 72)

3. Jackie Drake successfully argued that the exclusion of married women from Carer’s Allowance, where married men residing with their wives were not excluded, constituted a clear example of direct discrimination on the grounds of sex.

4. Summary official statistics for Carer’s Allowance Supplement to April eligibility date in 2023, published in August 2023

5. Young Carer Grant: high level statistics to 30 April 2023, published in August 2023

6. Most respondents to our 2016 consultation on social security, supported the goal we set for Scottish Carer's Assistance, that it would be 'not a payment for care [but] provide some financial support and recognition for those who choose to, or who have had to give up or limit their employment or study because of caring responsibilities'. Analysis of written responses to the consultation on social security in Scotland

7. Carer’s Allowance is an ‘income-replacement’ benefit so carers may not be earning more than £132 per week (2022/23 rate) from employment, after tax, National Insurance, and some expenses. More information on is available at: Carer’s Allowance Carer's Allowance: Eligibility

8. Scottish Carer’s Assistance discussion paper

9. National Carers Strategy

10. After deductions

11. Carer’s Allowance Supplement will continue to be paid in the same way as now until we safely and securely transfer the awards of carers in Scotland receiving Carer’s Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to Social Security Scotland.

12. Scottish Carer's Assistance: consultation

13. Carer Benefits Advisory Group is made up of representatives of organisations with an interest in informal caring including national and local carer support organisations, welfare rights providers, and local government. It includes groups with a particular focus on equalities groups: women (Engender), disabled people (Inclusion Scotland), BAME and gypsy traveller communities (MECOPP)), and single parents (One Parent Families Scotland).

14. Scottish Carer's Assistance - Scottish Government - Citizen Space

15. Scottish Carer's Assistance: consultation analysis

16. Social Security: Scottish Carer's Assistance Consultation: Scottish Government Response

17. Social Security Experience Panels - Scottish Carer's Assistance: visual summary

18. See findings from DWP case transfer survey and Social Security Experience Panels – designing the benefits transfer process report

19. New Policy Institute (2016) Informal carers and poverty in the UK :an analysis of the Family Resources Survey

20. Carers UK research briefing - Under Pressure - Caring and the cost of living crisis.pdf, published March 2022

21. National Policy Institute, 2016, Informal Carers and Poverty in the UK

22. Poverty rates for informal carers | JRF , 2022

23. Carers Trust: Experiences of Older Adult Unpaid Carers in Scotland, published March 2023

24. State of Caring in Scotland 2022 (CarersUK)

25. Can refer to groups of people who share an experience. For example, consideration of the impact of strategic decisions on people who have experienced homelessness, or the care system may help develop a deeper understanding of possible socio-economic impacts. Those who share one or more of the protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010 can also be considered communities of interest. Those who share an identity – for example, lone parents – can similarly be communities of interest too (Fairer Scotland Duty: guidance for public bodies).

26. Going without: deepening poverty in the UK | JRF, published July 2022, very deep poverty means below 40% of median income after housing costs.

27. (CarersUK) The experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic carers during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

28. Refers to people who are bound together because of where they reside, work, visit or otherwise spend a continuous portion of their time. For example, people in particular rural, remote and island areas face a particular set of circumstances which exacerbate disadvantage (Fairer Scotland Duty: guidance for public bodies).

29. Scottish Health Survey 2018

30. Hirst, M. (2005) Health Inequalities and Informal Care - End of Project Report. University of York

31. Scottish Government (2023) Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22, Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2017-20: further supported by recent One Parent Families Scotland report on single parents and Cost of Living: almost all (97.9%) of participants said they felt the impact of rising costs. 92% of single parent households are headed by women.

32. Scottish Government (2023) Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22

33. Annual Population Survey January – December 2019

34. Scottish Government (2016) Race equality framework for Scotland 2016 to 2030

35. Scottish Government (2023) Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22

36. (CarersUK) The experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic carers during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

37. (CarersUK) by loneliness and financial stress during the pandemic

38. Estimated from 2019-20 Family Resources Survey information.

39. (University of Leicester) The Energy Penalty: disabled people and fuel poverty

40. Disability and poverty: Why disability must be at the centre of poverty reduction

41. Scottish Government (2023) Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22

42. Child Disability Payment Amendment Regulations: draft fairer Scotland assessment

43. Papworth Trust

44. Child Disability Payment Amendment Regulations: draft fairer Scotland assessment

45. Child Disability Payment Amendment Regulations: draft fairer Scotland assessment

46. Supporting documents - Scottish house condition survey: 2019 key findings

47. Young Carer Grant: island communities impact assessment

48. Analysis using Family Resources Survey 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.

49. StatXplore benefit combinations dataset (latest being Feb 2022)

50. Petrillo, M., Bennett, M.R., and Pryce, G. (2022) Cycles of caring: transitions in and out of unpaid care. London: Carers UK

51. Carer's Allowance Supplement: evaluation

52. Short-term assistance is a new form of assistance in the Scottish benefits system. It is paid at a level which maintains the support the person was getting before the decision to stop or reduce their benefits. This is to make sure people are not put off from challenging decisions by having to manage, for a period of time, with a lower income. At the moment, there is no short-term assistance available from the DWP.

Contact

Email: CarerSupportPayment@gov.scot

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