Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the threshold for weekly earnings to be eligible for Carers Allowance.

The Carer’s Allowance (CA) weekly earnings limit has increased by nearly a third since 2010 (£100 to £128), reflecting the increase in average earnings in recent years.

Going forward we plan to modernise the CA earnings rules and processes so they do more to support carers in combining their caring responsibilities with work where they can, by automating more of the earnings process by making fuller use of HMRC’s real time earnings information.

The Government keeps the earnings limit under review and increases it when warranted and affordable.