Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government from how many recipients of carer's allowance the Department for Work and Pensions is seeking repayment following overpayment of that allowance.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the maximum amount that the Department for Work and Pensions is seeking to recover from any individual recipient of carer's allowance as a result of overpayment of that allowance; and whether there is any cap on the total amount sought.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of Carer's Allowance are in paid employment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
Data from the Family and Resources Survey 2022/23 shows there were 150,355 households in receipt of Carer’s Allowance in the UK that also had someone in paid employment. This data is available on Stat-Xplore here.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has had discussions with (a) young carers and (b) advocacy groups on amending Carer's Allowance eligibility rules for people wishing to study more than 21 hours per week.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
The department regularly meets with groups of carers and those representing them at both Ministerial and Official level to discuss a range of issues, including Carer’s Allowance. Officials met a delegation of young carers, supported by the Carers Trust and the Learning and Work Institute, on 13 March.
Carer's Allowance was introduced principally to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who are not able to work full time due to their caring responsibilities.
The Government thinks it is right that people in full-time education should be supported by the educational maintenance system, via its range of loans and grants, and not the social security benefit system. That is why, as a general principle, full-time students are usually precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits.
There are currently no plans to change the full-time education rules for Carer’s Allowance, but carers are able to undertake part-time education and still receive Carer’s Allowance.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Carer's Allowance eligibility rules on young carers' ability to access (a) further and (b) higher education.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
The department regularly meets with groups of carers and those representing them at both Ministerial and Official level to discuss a range of issues, including Carer’s Allowance. Officials met a delegation of young carers, supported by the Carers Trust and the Learning and Work Institute, on 13 March.
Carer's Allowance was introduced principally to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who are not able to work full time due to their caring responsibilities.
The Government thinks it is right that people in full-time education should be supported by the educational maintenance system, via its range of loans and grants, and not the social security benefit system. That is why, as a general principle, full-time students are usually precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits.
There are currently no plans to change the full-time education rules for Carer’s Allowance, but carers are able to undertake part-time education and still receive Carer’s Allowance.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the Exchequer of exempting young adult carers aged 16 to 24 in further education from the 21-hour rule; and what the budget for carer's allowance is for the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
It is not possible to provide such an estimate as there is no collated figure on the number of full-time students who are also providing unpaid care. And even if there were, DWP would not know how many were potentially eligible for Carer’s Allowance and could meet the basic eligibility criteria (including on the number of hours of care they were providing and for whom, and whether they were undertaking any work etc).
DWP is forecast to have spent £3.7 billion on Carer’s Allowance in 2023/24.
Jul. 13 2009
Source Page: Table showing Carer's Allowance - cases in payment Caseload : Local Authority of claimant for the years 2004 to 2008. 8 p.Found: Table showing Carer's Allowance - cases in payment Caseload : Local Authority of claimant for the years
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment has the Department for Work and Pensions made of its own culpability in issuing overpayments to recipients of carer's allowance.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what changes the Department for Work and Pensions has made to its procedures to ensure that the overpayment of carer's allowance to recipients cannot occur in the future.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Carer's Allowance overpayments to people living in Wales there were for the value of (a) £0.01 to £500, (b) £500.01 to £1,000, (c) £1,000.01 to £5,000, (d) £5,000.01 to £20,000 and (e) more than £20,000 in financial years (i) 2021-22, (ii) 2022-23 and (iii) 2023-24.
Answered by Paul Maynard
We are unable to provide a response to this request as it is not possible for us to identify the data requested by geographic location.