Work and Select Committee report - key recommendations

Overarching:

• DWP should take a stronger and more proactive lead in Government policy on carers. As well as identifying and implementing specific policies to improve the lives of carers, DWP needs to take specific account of carers in all its work, including its role in reducing child poverty and pensioner poverty, its efforts to see 80% of working age people in employment, and its vision of giving people equality of opportunity. 

 Information and advice:

• DWP’s information, advice and guidance services are not reaching significant numbers of carers. DWP should address problems with its benefit inquiry line and explore ways to make information more accessible to carers
• DWP should participate in the planned pilots looking at ways in which Primary Care Trusts can support carers to ascertain how it can work better with healthcare professionals, local authorities and third sector organisations which have regular contact with carers. Government should develop a national strategy for giving carers advice on benefits in healthcare settings.
• Information prescriptions should contain information on benefits for carers and the cared-for person.
• The Government should work with the devolved administrations to ensure that carers in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have access to helplines providing equivalent advice to the helpline which is being introduced in England.
• The national helpline and website should link up with local agencies to ensure carers and those they care for are well informed about local social care services.
• DWP should commission an independent customer survey to assess the potential impact of the merger of the Pension Service and the Disability and Carers Service.

Income and benefits

• Government should commission an independent review of the impact of caring on carers’ incomes and the long-term costs of caring.
• Government should give urgent and detailed consideration to replacing Carer’s Allowance with a two-tiered benefit for carers including a Carer Support Allowance for carers who cannot work and a Caring Costs Payment for all carers to compensate them for the additional costs they face.
• DWP should review the level of Disability Living Allowance to ensure it provides an appropriate contribution to the extra costs faced by disabled people.
• DWP should introduce a fast-track procedure for claiming Carer’s Allowance in emergency circumstances before DLA/AA is awarded.
• DWP should examine the case for extending entitlement to Carer’s Allowance to those who care for more than one person, none of whom qualify for Carer’s Allowance, but in total is equivalent to 35 hours care.
• DWP should urgently streamline the process for carers of State Pension Age to claim Carer’s Allowance.
• DWP should evaluate the effect of lifting the 21hour study rule for Carer’s Allowance.
• DWP should urgently commission and publish a thorough analysis of the costs and benefits of increasing the earnings limit and introducing a taper.
• DWP should remove obstacles for carers to engage in voluntary work by ensuring that reimbursed travel costs and the cost of replacement care are not counted as income in the calculation of Carer’s Allowance.
• Government should cost the proposal to allow carers to claim Working Tax Credits if they are working for 16 hours per week (as is the case for disabled people and parents).
• Government should cost the proposals for childcare costs for carers to be eligible for the childcare element of Working Tax Credits where one member of the family is entitled to Carer’s Allowance.
• Government should examine possibilities for further reform to the new system of Personal Accounts (a new Government backed pension scheme) to allow carers to pay in lump sums.

Employment and eduction/training

• Carers who want to work should be given better support, but there should be no conditionality (i.e. they should not be required to look for work in order to receive benefits) for people caring for more than 35 hours per week
• The Government should carry out a cost-benefit analysis of care vouchers which employed carers can receive from their employer to pay for care services.
• The Committee welcomed the Government’s commitment to provide training for Jobcentre Plus staff and to introduce care partnership managers. The Committee recommends that the Government develop and launch pilots for employment support for carers as soon as possible.
• When the rules for the new Employment and Support Allowance come into force, Jobcentre Plus staff need to be fully trained to identify carers. Their approach to disabled carers should be light-touch and personalised.
• The Government’s planned publicity campaign on the right to request flexible working should be targeted both at employers, especially SMEs, and employees.
• Government should evaluate the impact of an awareness campaign before considering further legislative steps such as a strengthening of the right.
• Government and business should work together to address the problem that much part-time working is in lower paid, low-skilled jobs, and as such offers limited opportunities for carers unable to work full-time.
• Government should work with employer organisations and federations to spread good practice.
• The Government should review whether the right to request flexible working should apply from the first day of employment, rather than after 26 weeks.
• The Committee welcomed the Minister for Disabled People Anne McGuire MP’s statement that Jobcentre Plus staff will encourage employers to accommodate flexibility in terms of caring responsibilities. Jobcentre Plus should also help carers to pursue self employment opportunities.
• Government should improve information and advice on emergency time off. It should also review the regulations to allow employers and employees more flexibility.
• Government and DWP in particular should be a model employer with regard to its employment all those with caring responsibilities.

Social care, assessments and other local services

• All carers should be able to look to their local authority for support, even if they do not qualify for local authority social care support.
• Government should carefully consider what support it can offer to those who are not eligible for social services support.
• The Committee welcomes the move towards flexible and responsive social care services through Direct Payment and Individual Budgets. It also looks forward to the Government’s forthcoming Green Paper on social care funding.
• The Committee is concerned about uneven implementation of the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004 and the lack of flexible, appropriate, good quality support services.
• Local authority assessments should be able to be ‘carried over’ to another local authority so that they can use the information to provide services.
• Government should take a strategic approach to Carers’ Centres in the UK with the objective of there being a national network of Centres, and should provide adequate core funding to give them a financial stability.
• Government should proactively negotiate concession cards for carers for travel, parking, leisure and other activities with local authorities, business and transport providers

Education/training

• The Committee believes that carers are disadvantaged in accessing education and training, and that more should be done to make courses more flexible.
• Government should ensure that education and training is available at all levels, not just for those with the lowest qualifications. Education and training providers should ensure they take all steps to provide for the needs of carers.

Discrimination

• Government should respond rapidly to the Coleman case on discrimination by association and should include carers in the Single Equality Act, which would give carers the protection they currently lack in employment, the provision of goods, facilities and services, and through public sector equality duties.