Recommendation 23

HM Government · verbatim extract Accepted in Part

The Government acknowledges that the current system which requires a person to claim Carer’s Allowance (CA)—which for most pensioners will not be payable alongside the State Pension—in order to qualify for an additional amount in Pension Credit is confusing and potentially may mean a delay for some carers in getting all the financial support available to them. We are considering what more can be done to improve the link between Carer’s Allowance and Pension Credit as well as ways to improve Pension Credit application routes to better highlight to pensioners with caring responsibilities the information they need to make a claim. In Universal Credit, a carer does not need to make a claim for CA in order to qualify for the carer element, but it should be noted that they still need to satisfy the CA entitlement conditions (apart from the earnings rule) to get the extra amount. Adopting a similar approach in Pension Credit would require a thorough redesign of how DWP administers and decides claims to Pension Credit for carers. Adding questions to the Pension Credit application about caring responsibilities would lengthen the claims process and add complexity. It would also potentially require Retirement Services staff to acquire expertise on the eligibility conditions for CA, or existing staff with that expertise would need to be redeployed from the Carers Allowance Unit. As indicated during the Committee hearing, the Government has no objection in principle to building a carer assessment into Pension Credit. But it would require legislative change and careful planning to ensure, for example, that Pension Credit staff are able to safeguard the position of the person with care needs, as is currently the case with colleagues administering Carer’s Allowance. This is because the current system is also there to protect the disabled person – DWP staff need to make sure that the person who is presenting themselves as a carer is providing the care to a disabled person, and that another person is not already providing that care. In considering any future changes we will want to ensure we take account of any relevant lessons from the experience of implementing the carer element in Universal Credit.