The Carer's Assistance (Young Carer Grant and Carer Support Payment) (Miscellaneous Amendment and Saving Provision) (Scotland) Regulations 2025

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Carer’s Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (“the principal Regulations”) and make consequential, revocation, transitional and saving provision in connection with the introduction of Carer Support consisting of three components Carer Support Payment, Carer Additional Person Payment and Scottish Carer Supplement. These Regulations also make miscellaneous amendment to the Carer’s Assistance (Young Carer Grants) (Scotland) Regulations 2019 and the principal Regulations.

Part 2 makes amendments to the Carer’s Assistance (Young Carer Grants) (Scotland) Regulations 2019 to provide for the extension of eligibility for Young Carer Grant to 19-year-olds.

Part 3 provides an overview of arrangements for payment of Carer Support. It makes provision for the Carer Additional Person Payment and the Scottish Carer Supplement. New regulation 14A and 14B inserted by regulation 3(9) outline the eligibility rules for these two new components of Carer Support. It also provides that a new Carer Additional Person Payment, Scottish Carer Supplement are to be paid alongside Carer Support Payment as part of an award of Carer Support and as such these Regulations make provision in connection with the amendment of the pre-existing statutory framework for carer’s assistance in Scotland and clarify how the rules in the principal Regulations will apply to Carer Support and each component.

These Regulations also make miscellaneous amendments to the principal Regulations:

• extend the period a carer continues to get support after the death of a cared for person from 8 to 12 weeks,
• remove the requirements for carers to have been providing care for at least 14 or 22 of the past 26 weeks to become entitled to continue to be paid during a temporary break in care,
• provide for carers who are temporarily absent from the common travel area, to be treated as present in the common travel area, where that absence is for the specific purpose of caring for the additional cared for person,
• allow carers whose entitlement ended as as a result of them being absent and longer treated as present in the common travel area to receive a determination without an application of their entitlement to carer’s assistance if they satisfy the eligibility criteria under Part 3 of the Regulations within 26 weeks of the decision to end their entielement,
• provide that an individual is not entitled to Carer Support Payment in any award week in which their earnings in respect of the immediately preceding week exceeded the threshold,provide where a person receiving Carer’s Allowance moves to Scotland from another part of the United Kingdom, and applies for Carer Support within a specified time, their entitlement can be backdated to when their Carer’s Allowance entitlement ends and they can receive the payment equivalent to the value of Carer Additional Person Payment and Scottish Carer Supplement,
• make other minor amendments to the principal Regulations.

Regulation 34A and schedule 1A make provision to transfer individuals who meet the eligibility criteria for Carer Support Payment to become entitled to Carer Support by making a determination without application. Schedule 1A includes provisions to make a further determination for an individual in certain circumstances, address changes of circumstances and when an increase or decrease of entitlement takes effect.

Part 4 and the schedule 2 make provision for consequential amendments to primary and secondary legislation in connection with the introduction of Carer Support and the extension of the period Carer Support continues to be paid after the death of a cared for person. The amendments ensure that individuals who are entitled to Carer Support consisting of three components have the same entitlements and disregards under that legislation as individuals who are entitled to Carer Support Payment before 15 March 2026. Paragraph 2 of schedule 2 amends section 81 of the 2018 Act to remove entitlement to the Carer’s Allowance Supplement for those in receipt of Carer Support Payment as a consequence of the introduction of Scottish Carer Supplement which replaces the Carer’s Allowance Supplement currently paid under section 81 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 for those in receipt of Carer Support Payment. Entitlement to Carer’s Allowance Supplement will continue for individuals who are currently entitled to Carer’s Allowance due to transitional protection and those in receipt of Carer’s Allowance outside the United Kingdom.

Part 5 makes revocation and saving provision.

Part 6 makes transitional provision.