Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the (a) Green Paper on Social Care, and (b) parallel work-stream on working-age adults will include proposals for financial support for carers.

Carers need to be at the heart of discussions on a sustainable settlement for social care. As well as making an invaluable difference to the people they support, carers are vital partners in the health and social care system.

The Green Paper will, therefore, include a focus on how society supports carers to ensure that they are properly valued, recognised and supported to provide care in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing. Further details will be included in the Green Paper.

The workstream on working age adults will consider issues which uniquely affect working age adults. As caring is relevant to people of all ages, issues affecting carers will be included in the Green Paper.

Carers have access to the full range of social security benefits according to their circumstances. Since 2010, the rate of Carer’s Allowance has increased from £53.90 to £64.60 a week, meaning an additional £550 a year for carers.