Carer’s Allowance: Call for Evidence Responses

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Thursday 29th October 2026 Written Statements

[The Minister for Social Security and Disability (Sir Stephen Timms)]

On 7 July 2026 the Government launched a call for evidence on the modernisation of carer’s allowance. We received more than 3,805 responses, and I want to thank everyone who responded and shared their experiences.

Today we are publishing the findings of those responses which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/carers-allowance-call-for-evidence. Alongside research into the impact of the increase in the carer’s allowance earnings limit in April 2025 to match 16 hours at the national living wage which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carers-allowance-increased-earnings-limit-evaluation

The findings are varied, but there is broad consensus around the need to modernise the treatment of earnings and to reduce the risk of overpayments. These findings— alongside those of the Sayce review into overpayments of carer’s allowance linked to earnings—have informed the Chancellor’s announcement in the Budget of work to remove the cliff-edge earnings rule in carer’s allowance once the necessary infrastructure is in place. This will include changes to automate earnings data, and to provide greater predictability in how earnings are treated in the calculation of carer’s allowance.

We are providing regular updates to the Work and Pensions and Public Accounts Committees on progress in implementing the Government response to the Sayce review and will keep Parliament informed of progress with these longer-term reforms to adapt carer’s allowance to modern patterns of care and work.

[HCWS429]