Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an Equality Impact Assessment of the implications of raising the earnings threshold for Carers Allowance by a lower percentage than the percentage rise in the National Living Wage in 2023-24.

The weekly Carer’s Allowance earnings limit will be increased from £132 to £139 net from April 2023 (subject to parliamentary approval). This increase of 5.5% is in line with growth in Average Weekly Earnings for the year to May-July 2022, as published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

DWP use the ONS Annual Average Weekly Earnings growth measure for benefit uprating purposes where appropriate, as it is regarded as the most robust and up to date estimate of earnings growth across the economy available at the time we review the earnings limit. This is consistent with the approach we have normally taken over the last few years and, as such, an Equality Impact Assessment has not been undertaken and we have no plans to do one.