13th Report - Employment support for carers

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government welcomes the report and points to existing and planned work on carers, while stating it is "not in favour of" a Carer's Allowance taper and that it is "not convinced" new civil service reporting on flexible working would be helpful.

• On Carer's Allowance, it gives reasons for not introducing a taper (concern about a disincentive to work and added complexity) and says it will "continue to keep the earnings rules in CA under review".
• On flexible working from day one, it describes its approach as "a little different" from the Committee's recommendation, placing responsibility on organisations to offer flexible working. It has set up a Flexible Working Taskforce and says an evaluation of the Flexible Working Regulations will be undertaken in 2019.
• On statutory carer's leave, it says it is "committed to explore the case" and has set up an official-level working group. It "notes" the request for a full impact assessment and says it is "not at that stage of policy development".
• As an employer, it launched a model carers' charter and a carer's passport in Carers Week 2018. It is "not convinced it would be helpful" to introduce new reporting on flexible working requests, and will "consider" adopting the 'Happy to Talk Flexible Working' logo.

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