Household finances of Carer’s Allowance recipients
This research looks at carers, their use of Carer's Allowance, budgeting issues and how they can be better supported to return to work.
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In the welfare reform white paper Universal Credit: welfare that works, the government announced that it would carefully consider whether changes to Carer’s Allowance (CA) will be necessary to take into account the introduction of Universal Credit (UC) and provide clearer more effective support for carers.
The main aims of this qualitative research were to explore:
- budgeting issues for carers, how important CA is in the overall household budget and how it is used
- aspirations and closeness to the labour market and how carers can be better supported to return to work
- potential impacts of possible CA reforms
This research was undertaken on behalf of DWP by Gillian Parker, Anne Corden, Annie Irvine and Caroline Glendinning from the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York.
This report has helped us to understand more clearly how different kinds of CA claimants are using their benefit, which will help to improve the targeting of CA.