Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of paying carer's allowance to all those eligible for that benefit, including those with an underlying entitlement.

An estimate of the overall cost to the public purse of paying Carer’s Allowance to those claimants with an underlying entitlement, but not receiving a payment, is not available and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.

Expenditure on Carer’s Allowance is published within the Benefit Expenditure and Caseload Tables 2017 – available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2017

Official statistics on the number of people (i) receiving a payment for Carer’s Allowance and (ii) have an underlying entitlement to Carer’s Allowance are available within Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk

Guidance for users is available at: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html