Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2025 to Question 59059 on Carer's Allowance, what (a) metrics and (b) criteria her Department uses to assess the adequacy of Carer’s Allowance in meeting carers' financial needs.

DWP monitors the operation of Carer’s Allowance (CA) and keeps the benefit under continual review to see if it is meetings its objectives, which are to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who are not able to work full time because of their caring responsibilities.

We will continue to spend record amounts on CA to provide unpaid carers with the help and support they need and deserve, with CA being uprated each year by the Consumer Price Index to help ensure it maintains its value. As set out in my answer to PQW/24-25/2025/54424, it is important to remember that unpaid carers can also receive means-tested benefits which contain additional amounts specifically to recognise the extra costs and responsibilities of being an unpaid carer.

Making international comparisons of benefits and other support is far from straightforward. There are a range of support measures introduced by national governments where caring is taking place. Sometimes their primary objective is to provide financial support for the older or disabled person to help meet the additional costs of needing care and are typically accessed through an assessment of the amount of help required by the disabled or older person. They are also frequently paid to the person receiving care, on the assumption that they will then pass them on to a family caregiver of their choice, sometimes with no formal requirement of how it should be used.

Many national schemes are funded through social health or protection insurance payments and the carer’s access to any support is often entirely dependent on the insurance entitlement of the individual or person receiving care. In other instances, ‘cash for care’ measures are aimed at offering consumer-style choice to older and disabled people. In such instances, benefitting carers, if at all, is a secondary aim. In both instances these measures differ widely in terms of target group, eligibility criteria, interactions with formal care service, payment levels and whether they are means-tested. Their impact on carers also varies, depending on local labour markets, the availability of formal long-term care services, and social attitudes towards the roles of families in caring for older and disabled people. Australia and Ireland have schemes which are most similar to the UK system in that they offer support directly to carers, but very importantly they are means tested, unlike CA.

We have no current plans to commission specific research into the adequacy of CA or its detailed impacts.