Working carers 'to keep benefits'

People who care for elderly relatives will no longer have their benefits cut if they get a job under government plans, Harriet Harman has said. The women's minister told a newspaper she wanted to make it easier for carers to have a job at the same time.

"We weren't afraid of being called the nanny state and we won't be afraid of being called the granny state," she told The Birmingham Post. She was speaking as Labour gathers in Birmingham for its spring conference.

Labour's deputy leader, who is also Commons leader, will set out the plans in a speech to the conference on Sunday.

Carers are currently entitled to an allowance of £48 a week - but only if they earn no more than £95 a week.

If they earn more they lose the right to an allowance, meaning many carers are forced to choose between quitting their job and losing benefits. Ms Harman will say she does not want people to have to "choose between their jobs and caring for a relative".

She said Labour had transformed "stay-at-home mum" into the working mother through its welfare reforms such as Child Tax credits. "But the next big social revolution is that the stay-at-home daughter, who used to look after elderly relatives, is now the working daughter. The big issue facing families is not only caring for children and earning a living, but also supporting older relatives and earning a living," she told The Birmingham Post. She said details of the new system will be revealed by the prime minister in May.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls is expected to open the conference later by announcing plans to speed up the government's flagship academy schools programme. An extra five academies will be opened each year in England, Mr Balls will tell delegates, bringing the total slated to open by 2010 up from 233 to 243.

The extra academies will be funded by savings in the cost of setting up the schools, including reduced expenditure on consultants, he will add. Mr Balls will tell local authorities in England they "must" give their support to the programme, which have proved controversial. Critics say the academies - which are independent from local education authorities and often backed by businesses or universities - cost more than traditional comprehensive schools but do not deliver results to match.

But Mr Balls will tell the Labour conference: "The evidence is clear: academies are turning round low-performing schools in disadvantaged communities; with fair and comprehensive admissions and even more disadvantaged intakes than their catchment areas; delivering faster rising results than other schools. This is progressive politics in action - giving kids in our poorest communities a better chance and showing we can break the link between deprivation and attainment."

The accelerated opening schedule is part of a National Challenge programme to be launched in May, with the aim of ensuring that no school has fewer than 30% of its pupils getting five good GCSEs. Labour is expected to use its Birmingham conference as a launch pad for local elections in May in about 161 councils in England, all Welsh councils, the ballot for London mayor and the London Assembly. The gathering, which incorporates the party's local government and women's conferences. London Mayor Ken Livingstone is scheduled to address delegates, setting out his case for a third term in office.