Carer support payment priority improvements: impact assessment updates

Note on impact assessments approach

This note summarises the impact assessments for improvements to carer benefits which the Scottish Government plans to implement through the draft Carer’s Assistance (Miscellaneous and Consequential Amendments, Revocation, Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2025.

We considered whether the range of impact assessments produced for the original Carer Support Payment regulations^[1] should be updated and republished alongside laying the amendment regulations. We concluded it would be proportionate and more effective to focus on any additional or different impacts of the changes being made through these regulations. However, this note refers to and builds on the previous impact assessments, and going forward we will continue to consider equality impacts as a whole across the suite of carer benefits available in Scotland.

The full range of impact assessments carried out alongside the development of Carer Support Payment are available to read online, as well as the equalities impacts policy note published alongside the earlier amendment regulations^[2].

The impact assessments considered in this document are:

• Equality Impact Assessment
• Islands Communities Impact Assessment
• Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment
• Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment
• Consumer Duty Impact Assessment

In line with statutory obligations, the Children’s Rights and Well-being Impact Assessment for the draft regulations will be published separately.

To support the implementation of actions identified through these assessments, we have developed an Impact Assessments Action Tracker to monitor progress of continuing work within the Scottish Government, with Social Security Scotland, and with the Carer Benefits Advisory Group comprising internal and external stakeholders.