Written question WQ82441

The financial pressures on unpaid carers have increased during the pandemic and while small grants for individual carers and families can provide some immediate relief to those eligible, as was the case through the Carers Support Fund, or local authority assistance grants, our funding to support local authorities and other services is the primary means to support carers. We are also committed to strengthening support for unpaid carers through a £1m Covid hardship fund in 2021.

Some unpaid carers are entitled to welfare benefits, including Carers Allowance and Attendance Allowance. When we established our Single Advice Fund (SAF) we required providers to offer welfare benefit entitlement checks to all those who accessed their services, regardless of their presenting concern. In the first year, the benefit advice services delivered through the Single Advice Fund have helped people to claim more than £34m in benefits they are entitled to.

The Single Advice Fund advice and access partners have run ‘Test and Learn’ pilots, delivering tailored messages and support to encourage take-up among groups least likely to be claiming all the financial support they are entitled to.

The pilots started in October 2020 and ended in March 2021. Some 1,440 people were reached, of which 188 were full-time carers. They were advised about more than 5,000 issues relating to benefit entitlements, helping them to gain additional benefits of around £2.4m per year. The learning from the pilots is being shared, helping people from key groups, including older people and their carers to continue to claim the financial support they are entitled to.

We continue to provide significant resources to local authorities through the Revenue Support Grant to enable them to deliver the services and support their communities rely on.