Ministers urged to overhaul and raise carer’s allowance | Carers
By: Patrick Butler Social policy editor | Published: 2025-07-16 23:01:00 | Source: www.theguardian.com
The carer’s allowance benefit should be overhauled and the basic rate of payment increased to lift more unpaid carers and disabled people out of financial hardship, according to a living standards thinktank.
The Resolution Foundation said unpaid carers on low incomes were paying a “very heavy price” – a typical penalty of 10% or as much as £7,000 a year compared with non-carers – for looking after loved ones full-time.
It called for the basic rate of carer’s allowance – currently the lowest-value benefit at £83.30 a week – to be raised to at least the £92.05-a-week rate of jobseeker’s allowance to help improve miserable living standards for the poorest carers.
It also called for the removal of the notorious “cliff-edge” penalty on carer’s allowance claimants’…
