Carer support payment priority improvements: impact assessment updates

Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment considerations

The Carer’s Assistance (Miscellaneous and Consequential Amendments, Revocation, Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 will provide for one benefit, Carer Support, consisting of three components. In addition to the pre-existing Carer Support Payment, the regulations will introduce Scottish Carer Supplement as a regular payment alongside Carer Support Payment, introduce an extra payment for those caring for more than one person, known as Carer Additional Person Payment, and extend the Carer Support bereavement run-on from 8 to 12 weeks. Young Carer Grant will also be extended to 19-year-olds.

Published summary statistics for Carer’s Allowance Supplement^[76] show that 91,630 payments were made to eligible carers on the qualifying date in October 2024. With the projected caseload of Carer Support Payment recipients expected to rise^[77] due to the benefit having more generous eligibility criteria than Carer’s Allowance – for example, by extending eligibility to more students in full-time education – more carers are likely to be affected positively by the changes.

Scottish businesses, including third sector organisations, were given the opportunity to respond to the public consultation on Carer Support Payment^[78] (formerly ‘Scottish Carer’s Assistance’) in 2022 and to the 2016 consultation on Social Security in Scotland^[79], with a total of 41 organisations responding to the most recent consultation. The proposals were generally well received by organisations.^[80]

Paying Scottish Carer Supplement as a regular payment alongside Carer Support Payment

Carer’s Allowance Supplement is currently a biannual payment received by eligible carers. Scottish Carer Supplement will replace Carer's Allowance Supplement and be paid regularly alongside Carer Support Payment awards. Having carers’ eligibility continuously assessed alongside their Carer Support Payment eligibility would mean that more working carers, with fluctuating earning will not miss out on the additional financial support. Moving to Scottish Carer Supplement should also enable carers to receive any backdated amounts quicker.

A majority of respondents (62%) agreed with this proposal, noting that higher more regular payments would help with budgeting and provide a more stable income. However, some were in favour of keeping Carer’s Allowance Supplement as a 6 monthly lump sum payment to help with extra costs at certain times of year, such as Christmas.

Paying Scottish Carer Supplement alongside the Carer Support Payment awards could also result in increased client contact with carer support and advice organisations. Throughout the development of priority improvements for Carer Support Payment, we have engaged with stakeholders quarterly – including our Carer Benefits Advisory Group^[81] which has representation from Carers Scotland, Carers Trust and Citizen’s Advice Scotland – to provide updates on policy development, seek views and provide them with the chance to ask questions about the improvements, including more recently integrating the Supplement.

As with introducing any new change to an already complex benefit, it is expected that there will likely be some impacts to carer support and welfare advice organisations, as carers take time to process and adapt to any changes.

To support people in managing the financial impacts of moving from 6-monthly payments to more frequent payments of Scottish Carer Supplement, we plan to mitigate any impacts on carer support and welfare advice organisations by providing stakeholders with clear information and targeted communications around these future changes. This will include providing carers with advance notice of any changes and what this will mean for them. Any communications will be tested with users to ensure that carers will understand how the introduction of Scottish Carer Supplement as part of a regular payment cycle impacts them. This will provide carers with more time to manage their budgets and adjust accordingly, and for carers to contact Social Security Scotland with any questions that may arise about their payments. Our communications will also ensure that carers have more time to contact carer support services if they wish to seek advice from carer or welfare advice organisations.

We are also working to produce a monitoring and evaluation process for Carer Support Payment with research officials, so that once Scottish Carer Supplement is introduced we will receive ongoing valuable data and feedback from carers regarding their experience in accessing the benefit. This includes direct research such as Social Security Scotland Client Surveys. Ongoing stakeholder engagement with key stakeholders, including our Carer Benefits Advisory Group^[82], will also provide us with an opportunity to monitor the impacts of Scottish Carer Supplement.

Introducing Carer Additional Person Payment

We considered Carer Additional Person Payment as part of the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment^[83] for The Carer’s Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023^[84], and found it would mainly affect carer support services and welfare advice agencies, as carers adapt to the new Social Security Scotland system and eligibility requirements, and consider applying for the new support.

We are committed to working with our stakeholders, including our Carer Benefits Advisory Group^[85] which has representation from a range of carer and welfare advice organisations, including Carers Scotland, Carers Trust and Citizens Advice Scotland, to reduce these impacts. We will provide clear information and communications, including targeted online information events, updates to the MyGov website and media releases. Resources including factsheets will be available to help stakeholders advise carers on how to access the additional payment, if they care for more than one person and satisfy other eligibility criteria.

As noted previously, as with any change to social security benefits, the introduction of Carer Additional Person Payment could result in increased client contact with carer support and advice organisations. This will be mitigated as far as possible through clear and targeted communications with carer and welfare advice organisations, as well as carers themselves already in receipt of Carer Support Payment, advising them on how to access this extra support by completing a declaration of care for the cared for person during the application process.

Extending the bereavement run on

Extending the run-on of support provided through Carer Support Payment from eight to twelve weeks, following the death of the cared for person will provide financial support for longer than is currently available. As this policy involves an extension to the pre-existing run-on rather than any change in the level of support provided, we do not expect that this extension specifically would increase carers’ engagement with carer and welfare advice organisations significantly. However, we do recognise that carers’ contact with Social Security Scotland may increase as a result of this change.

Extending Young Carer Grant to 19-year-olds

We know from Young Carer Grant statistics to 31 March 2025^[86] that 19,095 Young Carer Grant applications were received since its introduction in October 2019, with 18,400 applications then processed. Of these, 68% were then authorised. By increasing Young Carer Grant to 19-year-olds, this could increase the number of calls to carer support and welfare advice organisations, as more young carers seek advice on whether they are eligible.

We estimate that extending Young Carer Grant to 19-year-olds will increase the caseload by up to 1,200 in 2026/27, its first full year, after accounting for population changes and the fact that more 19-year-olds take up Carer Support Payment than 18-year-olds^[87]. We assume that there would be no switching from Carer Support Payment to Young Carer Grant for those 19-year-olds already receiving Carer Support Payment.

The 2011 census^[88] indicates that the number of 19-year-olds providing 20+ hours of care is approximately the same as the number of 18-year-olds. This is further supported by the 2022-23 Carers Census^[89] which states that most young carers provided up to 19 hours of care per week on average. Based on this data, we assume therefore that the number of 19-year-olds providing 16+ hours of care per week is broadly similar to that of 18-year-olds. The recent 2022 national census^[90] supports this point further, though to note that a detailed breakdown by age rather than categories of age (i.e. 18-64 years old) was not available.

As this is an extension to pre-existing support, we do not expect the number of calls to carer support and welfare advice organisations to increase significantly, but we do recognise that carers may have questions on how this support links with Carer Support Payment and other support they or their household may receive, especially when the benefit is first extended to more young carers. We are therefore continuing to work closely with Social Security Scotland communications colleagues to develop targeted communications for young carers, including a factsheet, to convey the extension of support and mitigate any impacts to carer and welfare advice stakeholders.

Amendments to the principal regulations

The further amendments to the principal regulations do not change how the benefit is delivered but aim to increase the fairness and provide greater clarity in regulations. The increased clarity and fairness may reduce carers’ engagement with carer and welfare advice organisations.

Summary and conclusion

We do not expect the introduction of the priority improvements for Carer Support Payment to have any direct impacts on private businesses. We do however, as with any change in any form of social security benefits, expect there to be an increase in carers’ engagement with carer and welfare advice organisations, as well as an increase in calls to Social Security Scotland, when the changes are first made.

We will continue to work closely with Social Security Scotland’s Communications team to alleviate any uncertainties as far as possible, with clear and tailored communications materials for carer and welfare advice organisations, and carers who already receive Carer Support Payment. Young carers will also be provided with more information on what the extension to Young Carer Grant mean for them.