Social Security (Up-rating) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2022: scrutiny report

The Scottish Government originally introduced Carer’s Allowance Supplement (CAS) in the Act, as a twice yearly top-up to Carers Allowance to keep it level-pegging with Jobseeker’s Allowance until such time as the Scottish Government took on its delivery.

This was achieved by a complex formula set out in the Act, which has recently been amended to enable the Scottish Government to increase CAS beyond that amount. This year CAS is to be uprated by 3.1%. In addition, through provisions in the Carer’s Allowance Supplement (Scotland) Act, in December 2021 an extra payment of Coronavirus Carer’s Allowance Supplement will be made to Carer’s Allowance recipients, on top of the normal Carer’s Allowance Supplement (section 86A report, 5.2, see also Social Security Scotland information). This one-off additional payment of £230.10, giving a total that represented a doubling of CAS at the time, was previously paid in June 2020. In December 2021, eligible carers received a double payment of CAS (currently worth £231.40) of £462.80.

Given that the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 is still placing exceptionally high demands on unpaid carers and this shows no sign of lessening as protections against the spread of infection are weakened or removed, SCoSS suggests it would be helpful to understand more on the Scottish Government’s thinking regarding future payments of CCAS in 2022-23.

Recommendation 4: In view of the impact of the pandemic on unpaid carers, SCoSS invites the Scottish Government to set out its thoughts on the case for continuing to pay the Coronavirus Carer’s Allowance Supplement beyond 31 March 2022.