Increase Carer's Allowance to equal minimum wage

Carer's Allowance is currently £327.60 every 4 weeks for people who care for someone for at least 35 hours per week. Around £2.34 p/hour.

The national minimum wage for people over 21 is £11.44 p/hour which would be around £400 per week. Carers Allowance is a taxable benefit and is counted as income for other benefits like Universal Credit.

A recent study has shown that unpaid carers in England and Wales contribute £445 million to the economy every day – that’s £162 billion per year. The study says that the value of unpaid care is equivalent to a second NHS in England and Wales. Despite this, carers receive Carers Allowance which amounts to £4,258.80 per year. Because it is taxable, it is effectively treated as a wage when claiming other benefits, which many carers have to do to survive.

This Government fully recognises the invaluable contribution that unpaid and family carers make in providing significant care and continuity of support to their loved ones. Unpaid carers play a vital role in the lives of their family and friends. We acknowledge the challenges they are facing, and we are determined to provide unpaid carers with the support they need and deserve.  That is why we are expecting to spend around £4.2 billion this year to support them through Carer's Allowance.

Unpaid carers are overwhelmingly caring for a family member or friend, rather than someone unknown to them. The amount of unpaid caring they undertake, and its intensity, will differ from carer to carer, as will their reasons and motivation for accepting caring responsibilities. Many can successfully combine caring with some employment, so will continue to have income from paid employment. Those unpaid carers who do need financial support may be able to get help from the benefits system – and not only from Carer’s Allowance, but from a range of means-tested benefits as well.   

It is important to emphasise that Carer’s Allowance is not intended to be a replacement for a wage nor payment for the services of caring and is therefore not comparable with either the National Minimum Wage or the National Living Wage. The principal purpose of Carer's Allowance is to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who are not able to work full time because of their caring responsibilities. It is not, and was never intended to be, a carer's wage or a payment for the services of caring. It is also not intended to replace lost or forgone earnings in their entirety and this Government has no plans to change that principle. Instead, successive Governments have supported carers through allowances and benefits as well as wider cross-government actions.