Unpaid carers face a real-terms cut of 4.5% in their weekly allowance, amid continued warnings about a major erosion in the value of state benefits.
The decision not to make an emergency increase in benefits in response to ballooning inflation has this month seen some benefits fall by the largest amount in 50 years. It comes after chancellor Rishi Sunak resisted calls to increase welfare payments in his spring statement to help address the rising cost of living.
New research suggests that people who receive the carer’s allowance, which is given to unpaid carers to help with their costs, are facing a cut of £170 a year in real terms this year. Like most benefits, carer’s allowance is increasing, by 3.1% – from £67.60 a week to £69.70, which works out at an extra 30p a day.
However, taking into account price rises and inflation which is predicted to reach 8% this year, the carers in fact face a 4.5% real-terms cut. Research by the Liberal Democrats suggests that this amounts to £3.30 less a week, or a drop of £171.60 over the year. In total, the group will effectively lose £160m this year.
There have already been concerns raised about the pressures facing the nation’s carers, including the ending of free Covid tests. Some have described the cut as a tax on caring. Research by Carers UK has found that 45% of unpaid carers are already finding it difficult to meet their monthly expenses, and 46% say increasing energy bills will negatively affect their health or the health of the person they care for.
Many Tory MPs are frustrated that more action was not taken in the spring statement to make the welfare system more generous. Many now think action will have to be taken at the next budget in the autumn, but that significant damage could have been done to incomes and the party’s standing by then. A campaign to convince Sunak to retain the £20 increase in universal credit introduced at the start of the pandemic was rejected.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, called for the carer’s allowance to be increased to £89.70 a week, or an extra £1,040 a year. “Many family carers were already struggling to make ends meet. Now they are facing soaring energy bills and food prices,” he said. “It is a cost-of-caring crisis that is hitting the unsung heroes across our country looking after their loved ones each day. Carers need more help from the government, but instead Conservative ministers are slashing the meagre support currently on offer. It is breathtakingly awful.”
A government spokesperson said the carer’s allowance paid £800 more a year than it did in 2010, that families can receive £2,000 a year through the carer’s element in Universal Credit, and that those receiving carer’s allowance may also be entitled to further support through the benefits system.