Duncan Smith told to start again on carers' benefits after discrimination ruling
18 Dec 2015
IAIN Duncan Smith is being called upon by the SNP to "go back to the drawing board and start again" after a court ruling, which found that including the allowance given to carers in the UK Government's benefit cap discriminated indirectly against disabled people.
Eilidh Whiteford, the Nationalists' social justice and welfare spokeswoman at Westminster, has written to the Work and Pensions Secretary, demanding action and wanting to know whether or not the UK Government will now recompense those carers, who have lost out unlawfully as a consequence of the benefit cap.
Last month, the High Court in London found the Government had discriminated against disabled people when it failed to exempt some unpaid carers from the benefit cap.
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Carers can claim around £60 a week for caring for relatives but these claims can be included in the £500 a week or £26,000 a year benefits cap. The court found this indirectly discriminated against disabled people.
Ms Whiteford, who raised concerns about the Carers Allowance as far back as 2013,
"The Tories have lost all credibility when it comes to welfare and it is clear that the benefit cap will have a huge impact for many sick, disabled or frail people and those who support them," declared the MP for Banff and Buchan.
"Unpaid family carers are the back-bone of community care and play an indispensable role in supporting the needs of loved ones, often at enormous cost to their own health and well-being . As this ruling shows, the benefit cap discriminates against them."
She noted how the SNP had given ministers the chance to resolve this when it put forward amendments to exempt recipients of Carers Allowance from the benefit cap but they decided to "press ahead regardless with their damaging austerity agenda instead".
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Ms Whiteford added: "It should not take a High Court ruling to force the Tories into correcting their mistakes but Iain Duncan Smith now has an opportunity to take these ill-thought out and unlawful proposals back to the drawing board and start again."
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The Department for Work and Pensions has stressed how the Government "values the important role of carers" and it was now considering the court judgement, delivered last month, and would "respond in due course".
It noted how 98 per cent of carers were unaffected by the benefit cap, which was introduced across Scotland, England and Wales in 2013 and limits how much any one household can receive in welfare payments.
To qualify for the Carer's Allowance, carers must provide full-time care ie more than 35 hours a week to a severely disabled person who receives Disability Living Allowance.
Those who care for children or spouses have their Carer's Allowance exempted from the benefit cap.
But people, who provide care for another adult such as a parent or grandparent or a disabled son or daughter over the age of 18, have their benefit included in the £500 a week cap. This also means some have had their housing benefit cut, leaving them potentially at risk of losing their homes.
It is estimated some 1400 carers across the UK fall into the situation, which the court judged to be discriminatory.