Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to allow those not in receipt of housing benefit or pension credit, to continue to receive carer’s allowance once they reach state pension age.

There is no upper age limit to receipt of Carer’s Allowance provided the conditions of entitlement are satisfied. It has been a long-held feature of the UK’s benefit system, under successive Governments, that where someone is entitled to two benefits in broadly the same circumstance (and this includes Carer’s Allowance and State Pension) then only one will be paid in full. This means while many pensioners receive an underlying entitlement to Carer’s Allowance, which can help them qualify for an additional amount in Pension Credit, they do not actually receive any payment of Carer’s Allowance.