The Carer’s Assistance (Young Carer Grant and Carer Support Payment) (Miscellaneous Amendment and Saving Provision) (Scotland) Regulations 2025: scrutiny report
The Scottish Commission on Social Security's scrutiny report on the draft Carer’s Assistance (Young Carer Grant and Carer Support Payment) (Miscellaneous Amendment and Saving Provision) (Scotland) Regulations 2025
Contents
- Document Cover
- Summary of recommendations and observations
- Summary
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Carer Additional Person Payment
- 3. Scottish Carer Supplement
- 4. Single benefit with three components
- 5. Extension of Young Carer Grant to 19-year-olds
- 6. Extending the bereavement run-on
- 7. Breaks in care
- 8. Other amendments
- 9. Areas for clarification
- 10. Approach to scrutiny
- Annex A: About the Scottish Commission on Social Security
- Annex B: Scrutiny timeline
7. Breaks in care
Currently, a carer can continue to be paid Carer Support Payment during a temporary break in care of up to four weeks in any 26-week period. New carers need to build up an initial period of 22 weeks care before they can be paid during a break. The break can be up to 12 weeks if a hospital stay is involved.
The draft regulations remove the requirement for a carer to build up a period of care before they can continue to get support during a break. The same provision will apply to Carer Additional Person Payment.
This provision provides more stable support to carers through short breaks. If there is a longer break in caring, entitlement ends.1Entitlement ends by a determination under regulation 36(a) of The Carer’s Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 The introduction of Carer Additional Person Payment brings new consequences in this situation for a carer who cares for more than one person. If entitlement to Carer Support Payment ends because of a longer break in caring for the cared for person, then so does entitlement to Carer Additional Person Payment even if there is no break in care for the additional cared for person.
Example: Beata gets Carer Support Payment for caring for her dad. She also cares for her mum and gets Carer Additional Person Payment. Her dad moves into a care home and Carer Support Payment stops. Beata is still caring for her mum as normal but her Carer Additional Person Payment also stops.
The level of care provided to the additional cared for person may be enough to qualify for Carer Support Payment. If so, a switch from Carer Additional Person Payment may be the best option. However, this is complex and a challenge for the Scottish Government to design processes that work smoothly and are proactive in guiding people through the system. It is also a challenge for Social Security Scotland to make sure that call handlers are equipped to give accurate information.
Recommendation 11: Scottish Government should make sure that processes proactively guide people through the system when they continue to have caring responsibilities for another person when Carer Support Payment entitlement ends for example, if the cared for person moves into care or they die.