Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure eligible people over State Pension age are aware that they may be entitled to Carer's Allowance.

Information on the availability of Carer’s Allowance is widely available, including online via GOV.UK and from places such as Carers Trust and Citizens Advice. DWP continually seeks to improve the information it makes available so as to encourage people to claim Carer’s Allowance where they may be entitled.

Although there is no upper age limit to claiming Carer’s Allowance, it cannot normally be paid with the State Pension. It has been a long-held feature of the GB benefit system, under successive Governments, that where someone is entitled to two benefits for the same contingency, then whilst there may be entitlement to both benefits, only one will be paid to avoid duplication for the same need. Although entitlement to State Pension and Carer’s Allowance arise in different circumstances they are nevertheless designed for the same contingency – as an income replacement. Carer’s Allowance replaces income where the carer has given up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to care for a severely disabled person and is unable to undertake full time employment due to their caring responsibilities, while State Pension replaces income in retirement. For this reason, social security rules operate to prevent them being paid together, to avoid duplicate provision for the same need.

However, if a carer’s State Pension is less than Carer's Allowance, State Pension is paid and topped up with Carer's Allowance to the basic weekly rate of Carer's Allowance which is currently £81.90.

Where Carer’s Allowance cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to the benefit. This gives access to the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit of £45.60 a week and potentially other means-tested support. Around 125,000 people are receiving the Carer Premium with their Pension Credit. And even if a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, they may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.

Social Security is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland.