To ask the Minister for Communities whether she will make a bid for additional financial award for carers who have had no uplift in carers allowance throughout the pandemic.

As you may be aware, the rate of Carer’s Allowance was increased to £67.25 a week from April 2020 as part of the annual benefits up-rating exercise.

A number of temporary easements were introduced from April 2020:

unpaid carers are able to continue to claim Carer’s Allowance if they have a temporary break in caring, because either they or the person they care for becomes infected with coronavirus or has to self-isolate because of it; and

providing “emotional support” to a severely disabled person is also counted towards the Carer’s Allowance threshold of 35 hours of care a week.

With the continuing impact of the coronavirus pandemic, these temporary easements in Carer’s Allowance have been extended until 12 May 2021.

In terms of providing longer term additional financial support for carers here, it is anticipated that this will be considered as part of the upcoming welfare mitigations review and, until the review is finalised, my Department will continue to examine how we can best support carers throughout this COVID-19 pandemic.