Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of re-designating Carer's Allowance as a disability-related benefit rather than employment-related benefit, to enable carers who are in receipt of the State Retirement Pension to be eligible to claim Carer's Allowance.

The principal purpose of Carer's Allowance is to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who give up the opportunity of full-time work in order to provide regular care for a severely disabled person. For benefit purposes it is an income replacement benefit. State Pension is also an income replacement benefit, albeit awarded in very different circumstances. Nevertheless, it is a fundamental and long-standing principle of the benefit system under successive Governments that duplicate provision should not be made for the same contingency. The extra costs disability benefits are not intended for income maintenance, rather they are for the additional costs arising from a long-term health condition or disability. Accordingly, it would be anomalous to change the designation of Carer’s Allowance and there are no plans to do so.