Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to make carer's allowance available to carers in receipt of a state pension.

Where 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 is currently £62.70 a week.

However, where the State Pension paid is higher than £62.70, social security rules operate to prevent Carer’s Allowance and State Pension being paid together, since they are designed to meet the same need i.e. to help maintain income. Paying both benefits together would represent duplicate provision. The relevant legislation is The Social Security (Overlapping Benefits) Regulations 1979 (regulation 4), which can be found at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1979/597/pdfs/uksi_19790597_290216_en.pdf

Where Carer’s Allowance cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to the benefit. This gives access to the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit, worth up to £34.95 a week, and even if a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, he or she may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.