Carer's Allowance

(asked on 30th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the contribution-based state pension is being offset against entitlement to carer's allowance.


Answered by
Guy Opperman Portrait
Guy Opperman
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This question was answered on 15th January 2021

There are no plans to reassess this policy. Successive Governments have supported the policy that where someone is entitled to two benefits for the same contingency then only one will be paid. Entitlement to State Pension and Carer’s Allowance differ but are both paid 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, while State Pension replaces income in retirement. To avoid duplicate provision for the same need, social security “overlapping benefit” rules - operate to prevent them being paid together.

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 from April 2020, increased to £67.25.

Entitlement to Carer’s Allowance also gives access to the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit of £37.50 a week. If a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, they may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.

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