Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department provides on deciding whether a full-time carer should be expected to look for work despite their caring responsibilities or be placed in the no-conditionality group under regulation 89 (b) of the universal credit regulations.

Operational guidance is supplied to MPs and deposited in the House of Commons Library. It outlines that claimants who provide regular and substantial care for at least 35 hours per week for a severely disabled person will be placed in the no work-related requirements regime. They will not be expected to look for or be available for work.

Further guidance can be found in the Advice for Decision Making staff guide which is available online at

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advice-for-decision-making-staff-guide

Chapter F6 deals with the Carer element and Chapter J3 relates to the work-related requirements.