Benefits cliff edge for carers means work doesn’t pay. That’s a fairly dramatic headline – and we didn’t write it. In fact it was composed by ‘The Work and Pensions Committee’.
‘The Work and Pensions Committee’ has called upon the Government to remove the “cliff-edge” in benefit calculations that sees Carer’s Allowance (£64.60 per week) withdrawn in full as soon as Carers earn more than £120 per week.
This means that working additional hours can leave carers worse off – a clear contradiction to Government’s stated aims of “making work pay”. A pay rise can also leave parents facing the choice between losing Carer’s Allowance or losing free childcare for their three or four-year-old, which requires them to work 16 hours a week.
Universal Credit will remove disincentives to work for many carers, but it will be several years before Universal Credit is fully rolled out and some carers will still face cliff edges.
Many carers rely on the financial support of Carer’s Allowance. According to the latest census data, there are 6.5 million carers in the UK, with the number set to rise as our population and workforce age. Carers UK valued the annual unpaid economic contribution of carers at £132 billion. “They are indispensable to the person they care for and vital to society.”
Rt Hon Frank Field MP, Chair of the committee
This is what Frank Field had to say about the situation:-
“Carers are heroic and undervalued. They are a great untapped resource for our high employment, low productivity economy – and a sorely unrecognised one. They contribute hundreds of billions of pounds in unpaid work to our economy which is not counted on any Treasury balance sheet. Ensuring work pays and that employers adapt to accommodate caring is not just good for the caring: it is necessary for the whole economy. Government should lead on both practice and policy.”
For those wishing for more information, or wanting to contribute, they should contact ‘Press and Publicity’ at the committee. Jessica Bridges-Palmer, Senior Media and Policy Officer. Telephone: 020 7219 4984 .. Email: bridgespalmerj@parliament.uk