The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

We are supporting for the hon. Member for North East Fife’s (Wendy Chamberlain MP) Private Members’ Bill, which would introduce a new entitlement to one week of Carer’s Leave for all employees providing care for a dependant with a long-term care need. Funding for respite and short breaks for carers is also included in the National Health Service contribution to the Better Care Fund (BCF). In 2022/23, £291.7 million from the BCF will provide short breaks and respite services and advice and support for carers under the Care Act.

Carer’s Allowance is a devolved benefit under the Scotland Act 2016. The Scottish Government pays a Supplement to all its recipients, regardless of their means.

The payment made by the Welsh Government was part of the discretionary local welfare support offered under the Government of Wales Act 2006. It, similarly, was made regardless of means.

The UK Government takes a different approach and directs more of its financial support across Great Britain towards unpaid carers on the lowest incomes. For example, unpaid carers in receipt of Universal Credit can receive an additional £2,000 a year through the Carer Element, helping ensure this support goes to those most in need. The UK Government has therefore made no assessment relating to a top up payment to all recipients of Carer’s Allowance regardless of their means.

Carer’s Allowance is a devolved benefit under the Scotland Act 2016. The Scottish Government pays a Supplement to all its recipients, regardless of their means.

The payment made by the Welsh Government was part of the discretionary local welfare support offered under the Government of Wales Act 2006. It, similarly, was made regardless of means.

The UK Government takes a different approach and directs more of its financial support across Great Britain towards unpaid carers on the lowest incomes. For example, unpaid carers in receipt of Universal Credit can receive an additional £2,000 a year through the Carer Element, helping ensure this support goes to those most in need. The UK Government has therefore made no assessment relating to a top up payment to all recipients of Carer’s Allowance regardless of their means.

The Department has assessed the merits of a carer verification system for the paid workforce and further detail of this will be set out in the upcoming social care white paper.

We will ensure that unpaid carers have the support, advice and respite they need the Care Act 2014. We are working with stakeholders, including unpaid carers, to develop our plans and we will publish further detail in the white paper.

As both my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by Covid-19.

Our latest guidance for schools is set out below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-schools-and-other-educational-settings.

These are rapidly developing circumstances. We will continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.

Schools are best placed to make decisions about the most appropriate free school meal (FSM) arrangements for eligible pupils during this period. In the first instance, we are asking schools to speak to their catering teams and food suppliers about making food parcel arrangements for children staying at home as we believe that this is the best way to ensure that children are continuing to receive healthy meals. Where this is not possible, schools can use our national voucher scheme or alternatively can also set up their own voucher arrangements where the national scheme is not suitable. We have not put forward an approach that would involve direct payments to parents.

Schools and local authorities continue to accept FSM applications from parents or pupils. The department provides an Eligibility Checking System to support schools and local authorities in verifying and awarding FSM and we have developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for FSM.

Our Holiday Activities and Food Scheme will ensure that thousands of disadvantaged children have access to healthy meals this summer. On 16 March, we wrote to all bidders to let them know whether or not they were successful in their applications for funding and offered feedback to unsuccessful bidders. We will shortly announce the successful areas publicly.

The level of Carer’s Allowance (CA) is protected by uprating it annually in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Since 2010 the rate of CA has increased from £53.90 to £64.60 a week, meaning an additional £550 a year for carers. In 2022/23 the Government is forecast to spend £3.7 billion on CA, a 36% real terms increase in expenditure on 2016/17.

Additionally, carers have access to the full range of social security benefits according to their circumstances. There are carer “premiums” in income-related benefits, such as Income Support, Housing Benefit and Universal Credit. These amounts recognise the additional contribution and responsibilities associated with caring and mean that lower-income carers can receive more than others who receive these benefits. For example, in 2017, 6 out of ten households on Universal Credit with a Carer Entitlement recorded received a Monthly Award Amount of over £400: this is in addition to any CA they may receive.

According to the Family Resources Survey (2016/17), there were an estimated 5.4 million informal carers in the United Kingdom in 2016/17. Only some of these receive Carer’s Allowance.

DWP can provide a broad illustrative gross cost of paying an extra £8.50 a week (the current difference between the rate of CA and the Jobseeker’s Allowance over 25 rate) to 810,000 CA recipients (rounded down CA in-payment cases in Great Britain, August 2017). This would have cost in the region of £360m in 2018/19. (Around 9% of this expenditure covers carers living in Scotland where CA will shortly be devolved to the Scottish Government.) Actual costs will also be affected by possible behavioural impacts, such as whether the higher rates of benefit will encourage more people to claim CA and, therefore, may be higher than the indicative forecast costs. The information requested on premiums is not available.

Personal care assistants who meet the eligibility criteria for automatic enrolment must already be automatically enrolled into a workplace pension by their employers.

My Department is currently undertaking a review of the policy and operation of automatic enrolment. This includes looking at the existing policy coverage and how to achieve the right balance between enabling as many people as possible to save into a workplace pension, whilst ensuring that it should make economic sense for them to do so. The review report will be laid before Parliament at the end of the year. The review will have regard to the Equality Act and the principles of fairness, affordability and sustainability. This includes the need to balance the needs of individuals with the costs to employers and ensuring value for money for the taxpayer.

The government does not hold data on the number of carers withdrawing their private pensions to access the pension freedoms. The introduction of the pension freedoms offered individuals more choice on how to manage their financial affairs. The Government believes that in general people should be trusted to make their own choices about how to use their pension savings in later life - that includes access due to caring or ill health.

Many people with caring responsibilities can and do balance work and care, and this helps them plan for and boost their retirement income, and maintain wellbeing in later life. In recognition Government is working to ensure that adult carers can be supported to remain in and return to work. For example Government is working with stakeholders on a Carers Strategy to strengthen the support that is available to carers and has ensured that carers are central to its reforms to care and support with stronger rights in the Care Act 2014.

Through its recent Fuller Working Lives Strategy and its Work, Health and Disability Green Paper, the government has set out to ensure that wherever possible people with health conditions can be supported to remain in and return to work. This is good for both their finances, health and wellbeing. People who are unable to work and who are in receipt of certain welfare benefits will receive National Insurance credits to ensure they continue to build up Qualifying Years for their State Pension.

We are working with industry bodies, consumer representatives, the Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Pensions Regulator to interpret emerging research and data findings, and actively monitoring the market to understand the choices that consumers are making and identify emerging concerns.

I certainly take this opportunity to pay tribute to carers across our country for the selfless work they do, for the immense amount of money that they save taxpayers every year through what they do, but, above all, for the love and commitment that they give to the people they are caring for. What we have done is try to help by, for instance, increasing the number of carers’ breaks, because many carers will say to you that the one thing they need to go on caring is an occasional break and time away from their caring responsibilities. We should continue to work on all those things to help our carers.

To support implementation of the Care Act, a joint Programme Management Office between the Department, the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Association of Directors of Adults Social Services (ADASS) has been established. This unprecedented partnership is driving collaborative working with the care sector, influencing the local implementation of these changes to support a consistent and coherent approach across the country. Earlier this year this approach was recognised by the National Audit Office as best practice and recommended it should be adopted by other similar work programmes.

As part of this programme of work the Department has provided £2.7 million to nine regional local government networks to enable them to commission tools, products and non-statutory guidance to help local authorities in implementing the Care Act. The care sector has been involved in developing these materials and making sure they meet required standards. The materials focus on areas of key risk and challenge identified by local authorities and support the development of best practice. The Department also provided £4 million in 2015-16 for the ADASS to give local authorities targeted support and to help share best practice. Information on good practice, research and innovation aimed at improving the social care infrastructure is available at the following website.

https://www.adass.org.uk/support-and-resources/

In addition the LGA has included information on its website that details available learning and development resources, best practice guidance and practical tools to support the care sector. It also details the regional support available in each of the nine local government regions to help councils to implement the Care Act. The website is available at:

http://www.local.gov.uk/care-support-reform;jsessionid=B36A65C6DFFB6012739EB96FDBE5918B.tomcat2

The support work described above is part of a wider package of Sector-Led Improvement that the Department has funded the LGA and ADASS to deliver, under the umbrella of the Towards Excellence in Adult Social Care (TEASC) programme. The culture of Sector-Led Improvement, and the TEASC programme, are based on the principles that local authorities are responsible for their own performance, and are collectively responsible for the performance of the sector as a whole. This includes an ongoing commitment to share experience, advice and best practice at a regional and national level.

Funding decisions for 2016/17 onwards, including on adult social care, are subject to the forthcoming Spending Review.

Officials in the Department and across government are working hard to understand pressures on the care system and will consider adult social care expenditure and the future demand as part of this process. This includes ongoing Care Act pressures.

We will continue to review and monitor implementation of the Care Act which includes a series of stocktakes of local authority readiness and the latest, from June 2015, demonstrates an overall positive picture on implementation. It details:

- Councils’ confidence in their ability to deliver the Care Act Reforms in 2015/16 remains high, with 99% very or fairly confident.

- 89% of councils say that they are ‘on track’ with their implementation. The remaining 11% report themselves as only slightly behind.

There are two further local authority stocktakes planned for the remainder of the financial year which will monitor the progress on implementing change. It is our intention to repeat the surveys next year to continue monitoring progress, subject to agreement with local government.

The Department will also commission a piece of research to evaluate and inform implementation of the Care Act 2014. The research will focus on knowing more about how the Act is being implemented locally and to see how effectively the Act is achieving its underlying aims.

The Government recognises that social care is vital to enabling people to live healthy and independent lives.

Funding decisions for 2016/17 onwards, including on adult social care, are subject to the forthcoming Spending Review.

Officials in the Department and across government are working hard to understand pressures on the care system and will consider adult social care expenditure and future demand as part of this process.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 October 2015 to Question 13008.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 October 2015 to Question 13008.

The Government recognises the valuable contribution made by carers, many of whom spend a significant proportion of their life providing support to family members or friends.

The Care Act guidance is clear about policy on charging carers. The Care Act statutory guidance, at paragraph 8.50 states that:

“Local authorities are not required to charge a carer for support and indeed in many cases it would be a false economy to do so. When deciding whether to charge, and in determining what an appropriate charge is, a local authority should consider how it wishes to express the way it values carers within its local community as partners in care, and recognise the significant contribution carers make.”

The Care Act replicates the previous position where charging carers was permissible and the Government has no plans to change this. It would not have been appropriate to impose a blanket ban on charging for carers services, because in some cases small charges are necessary to the viability of services. However, the Care Act provides additional protection to carers by making it clear that local authorities cannot charge carers for services provided to the person being cared for. This means that carers may only be charged for services provided directly to them.

Most local authorities do not routinely charge carers in recognition of the valuable contribution carers make to their local communities, and the Carers Trust report confirms that this is still the case. We will continue to make the case against routine charging of carers and to monitor the situation closely.

The Department has been clear that local authorities are not required to charge a carer for support and indeed in many cases it would be a false economy to do so.

We have produced a suite of implementation support documents around the new carers’ rights, one of which is The Economic Case for Investment in Carers, a short factsheet for local authorities to use in considering whether to put in place a policy of charging carers, setting out the evidence that charging would be a false economy. This expands on the position set out in the Care Act statutory guidance, which at paragraph 8.50 states that:

“Local authorities are not required to charge a carer for support and indeed in many cases it would be a false economy to do so. When deciding whether to charge, and in determining what an appropriate charge is, a local authority should consider how it wishes to express the way it values carers within its local community as partners in care, and recognise the significant contribution carers make.”

The Care Act replicates the previous position where charging carers was permissible. It would not have been appropriate to impose a blanket ban on charging for carers services, because in some cases small charges are necessary to the viability of services. However, the Care Act provides additional protection to carers by making it clear that local authorities cannot charge carers for services provided to the person being cared for. This means that carers may only be charged for services provided directly to them.

Most local authorities do not routinely charge carers in recognition of the valuable contribution carers make to their local communities, and the Carers Trust report confirms that this is still the case. We will continue to make the case against routine charging of carers and to monitor the situation closely through the implementation monitoring process set out below.

To support implementation of the reform programme, we have established a joint Programme Management Office between the Department, Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Adults Social Services. This unprecedented partnership is driving collaborative working with the sector, influencing the local implementation of these changes to support a consistent and coherent approach. This approach was recognised by the National Audit Office as best practice and should be adopted by other programmes.

The programme includes a series of stocktakes of local authority readiness and the latest, from June 2015, demonstrates an overall positive picture on implementation:

- Councils’ confidence in their ability to deliver the Care Act Reforms in 2015/16 remains high, with 99% very or fairly confident.

- 89% of councils say that they are ‘on track’ with their implementation. The remaining 11% report themselves as only slightly behind.

The Government recognises the valuable contribution made by carers, many of whom spend a significant proportion of their life providing support to family members or friends.

That is why we continue to support implementation of the improved rights for carers enshrined in the Care Act 2014. The Department has provided £104 million of funding to local authorities for these rights in 2015/16, which include an extended right to assessment and, for the first time, a duty on local authorities to meet carers’ eligible needs for support.

To support implementation of the reform programme, we have established a joint Programme Management Office between the Department, Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Adults Social Services (ADASS). This unprecedented partnership is driving collaborative working with the sector, influencing the local implementation of these changes to support a consistent and coherent approach. This approach was recognised by the National Audit Office as best practice and should be adopted by other programmes.

The programme includes a series of stocktakes of Local Authority readiness and the latest, from June 2015, demonstrates an overall positive picture on implementation:

- Councils’ confidence in their ability to deliver the Care Act Reforms in 2015/16 remains high, with 99% very or fairly confident.

- 89% of councils say that they are ‘on track’ with their implementation. The remaining 11% report themselves as only slightly behind.

We have also produced a suite of implementation support documents around the new carers’ rights, one of which is The Economic Case for Investment in Carers, a short factsheet for local authorities to use in considering whether to put in place a policy of charging carers, setting out the evidence that charging would be a false economy. This expands on the position set out in the Care Act statutory guidance, which at paragraph 8.50 states that:

“Local authorities are not required to charge a carer for support and indeed in many cases it would be a false economy to do so. When deciding whether to charge, and in determining what an appropriate charge is, a local authority should consider how it wishes to express the way it values carers within its local community as partners in care, and recognise the significant contribution carers make.”

The Care Act replicates the previous position where charging carers was permissible. It would not have been appropriate to impose a blanket ban on charging for carers services, because in some cases small charges are necessary to the viability of services. However, the Care Act provides additional protection to carers by making it clear that local authorities cannot charge carers for services provided to the person being cared for. This means that carers may only be charged for services provided directly to them.

Most local authorities do not routinely charge carers in recognition of the valuable contribution carers make to their local communities, and the Carers Trust report confirms that this is still the case. We will continue to make the case against routine charging of carers and to monitor the situation closely through the implementation monitoring process set out above.

We have no plans to create a new duty around NHS identification of carers. The Care Act requires NHS bodies and local authorities to co-operate with each other in the exercise of their respective functions relevant to care and support, including those relating to carers, so we would expect local authorities and NHS bodies to cooperate in identifying and signposting carers. The Department is working with ADASS and NHS England to produce a “local pathway” for carer identification and support that will set this out in more detail.

The Department has also provided over £2 million in recent years to the professional bodies such as the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Nursing, as well as Carers UK and the Carers Trust, to develop initiatives to raise awareness of carers among healthcare professionals and to help identify and support carers.

The Department is also leading on the development of a new National Carers’ Strategy that will be looking at the best of international practice and examine what more we can do to support existing carers and the new carers.