Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether carers approaching state pension age who will lose their entitlement to Carer's Allowance are automatically directed to claim Pension Credit..

Carer’s Allowance aims to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who give up the opportunity of full-time employment, in order to provide regular and substantial care for a severely disabled person.

For those over the age of retirement, the State Pension is intended to replace income when work ceases. It has been a long-held feature of the UK’s benefit system under successive governments that, where someone is entitled to two benefits for the same contingency, then whilst there may be entitlement to both benefits, only one will be paid to prevent duplicate financial provision for the same need. We have no plans to change these arrangements.

Where underlying entitlement of Carer’s Allowance occurs (all entitlement conditions are met, but the overlapping benefit rule prevents payment), additional financial support may already be available through Pension Credit, notably including the additional amount payable to carers in Pension Credit. This additional amount is currently £42.75 a week and 108,000 people are receiving it. It is paid to recognise the additional contribution and responsibilities associated with caring and means that lower income pensioners with caring responsibilities can receive more than other lower income recipients of Pension Credit. If a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, he or she may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.

Since April 2022, the Government has undertaken a substantial and sustained communications campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit and promote its take-up, including extensive advertising in regional and national newspapers, on social media, on the radio and on TV. The department also includes information in the leaflet that accompanies the annual uprating letters to pensioners drawing attention to the availability of Pension Credit and encouraging them to check their eligibility and make a claim.