We recognise that carers perform a difficult role and often find it challenging to access support. The Care Act 2014 secured important rights for carers, including a responsibility for local authorities to assess and support their specific needs where eligible. We will work with unpaid carers and stakeholders to co-develop further detail in a White Paper for reform later this year.

We will certainly be looking at all those points within guidance. Local authorities have a duty to assess the needs of young carers under the Children and Families Act 2014, and that duty has remained in place throughout the pandemic. Authorities must ensure that young carers are identified and referred to appropriate support if needed, and that the young carer is not taking on excessive or inappropriate care and support responsibilities. We have also announced an additional £1 billion of new recovery premium funding, which schools can use to support young carers’ mental health and wellbeing, alongside their academic recovery.

There will be no test for self-sufficiency for those applying for settled status. As a matter of domestic policy, we have decided that the main requirement for eligibility under the EU Settlement Scheme will be continuous residence in the UK. Applicants will not need to demonstrate that they met the relevant requirements in the Free Movement Directive as to permitted activity.

The Government’s policy paper (Cm 9464), sets out that EU citizens, including carers and potential victims of trafficking, who arrive in the UK before the specified date and have five years’ continuous residence will be able to apply for UK settled status. EU citizens who arrive before the specified date, but do not yet have five years continuous residence, will be able to make an application to stay until they have built up the necessary five continuous years’ residence to be able to apply for UK settled status.

The Government’s policy paper (Cm 9464), sets out that EU citizens, including carers and potential victims of trafficking, who arrive in the UK before the specified date and have five years’ continuous residence will be able to apply for UK settled status. EU citizens who arrive before the specified date, but do not yet have five years continuous residence, will be able to make an application to stay until they have built up the necessary five continuous years’ residence to be able to apply for UK settled status.

The Government recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by carers in supporting the most vulnerable in society including the elderly and those with disabilities.

The Government thinks it is right that people in full-time education should be supported by the educational maintenance system, via its range of loans and grants, and not the social security system. That is why, as a general principle, full-time students are usually precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits.

However, the Government thinks it is important that carers maintain links with the education system and therefore carers are able to undertake part-time education and still receive Carer’s Allowance.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided by my hon. Friend the Treasury Minister (David Gauke) on 3 November 2014, Question 211605.

Where consistent with our naming policy the Government has made public the names of employers who have failed to pay their employees the National Minimum Wage, including the value of the arrears. Details of the most recent naming and shaming announcement in July 2015 are available here - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-minimum-wage-offenders-named-and-shamed.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided by my hon. Friend the Treasury Minister (David Gauke) on 3 November 2014, Question 211605.

Where consistent with our naming policy the Government has made public the names of employers who have failed to pay their employees the National Minimum Wage, including the value of the arrears. Details of the most recent naming and shaming announcement in July 2015 are available here - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-minimum-wage-offenders-named-and-shamed.

I have recently met with my Rt hon Friend the Minister of State for Care and Support (Alistair Burt) to discuss enforcement of the minimum wage in the care sector.

The Government is taking action to improve compliance with the National Minimum Wage in the social care sector. We are working closely with the Department of Health, and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Over the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2013, HMRC have made enquiries into 224 employers in the social care sector. Over half of these were paying less than the minimum wage- between them owing £1,347,150 arrears of pay to 6959 workers, with penalties issued with a total value of £158,239.

HMRC also opened 225 investigations in the period 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2015. 113 cases are closed with £110,943 arrears identified for 368 workers. Currently, there are 142 investigations open in social care.

The Department of Health has published statutory guidance for local authorities as part of the package of secondary legislation to accompany the Care Act. The chapter of statutory guidance on commissioning and market shaping explicitly states that local authorities should have evidence that contract terms, conditions and fee levels will not compromise care providers’ ability to pay at least minimum wages.

The Department of Health is asking all Local Authorities to sign up to the Social Care Commitment which incorporates a statement about employer compliance with minimum wage legislation. The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has written out to all its members encouraging them to support the Commitment as a way of raising standards in adult social care.

The Department of Health is also working with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Health Services Management Centre at Birmingham University to develop a set of Commissioning Standards. Local authorities will be encouraged to use these as a benchmark to support them to improve commissioning practices, including those which have an impact on the social care workforce such as employer compliance with National Minimum Wage.

In addition to the actions we are currently taking to reduce non-compliance in the social care sector, we will also be:

· issuing guidance to employers so that they understand the NMW law, including tips to avoid common mistakes and the records that they should be keeping to prove that they are paying their workers correctly.

· encouraging care sector workers who have been underpaid to make a complaint- making sure that they understand their entitlement.

Any worker who is concerned that they have not received what they are entitled to should call the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100 for confidential advice. HMRC follow up every complaint.