Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of enabling carers receiving Carer's allowance who defer drawing state pension to receive the same uplift as those who do not.

Where a person has deferred claiming their State Pension, they cannot accumulate increments that will increase their State Pension amount if they have received certain social security benefits including Carer’s Allowance.

The underlying principle is to prevent a person earning an enhancement to their pension while drawing another benefit that would otherwise have not been payable had they been receiving their State Pension.

The Department encourages people to seek independent financial advice before making a decision not to claim their State Pension when they reach State Pension age and this is set out in GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/plan-retirement-income/get-financial-advice