Carers ‘disproportionately hit’ by government cuts

Carers will be disproportionately hit by government benefit cuts over the coming years, research published today shows.

Tax and benefit changes from 2010-15 will result in a real terms drop of 6% in net income for households where a person claims carer’s allowance, compared with a 4% fall for other households, found an analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, commissioned by the Family and Parenting Institute.

The difference reflects the extent to which government benefit cuts are hitting disabled people cared for by loved-ones at home.

In particular, it arises from the government’s decision to replace disability living allowance with a new benefit, personal independence payment, with tighter eligibility criteria, and to limit eligibility for employment and support allowance to a year for claimants in households with savings or working spouses, except where the claimant is too ill or disabled to work at all.

The study also found that families with children were being disproportionately affected by the cuts. Average incomes for families with children are due to fall by 4.2% from 2010-15 in real terms, compared with 0.9% for all households, when all changes – not just those to taxes and benefits – are taken into account.

Larger families and those with younger children will be particularly badly hit, the research found.

“Many families will be left struggling to understand why they have been singled out in this way and how this sits alongside the Government’s ambition for the UK to become a family friendly nation,” said Family and Parenting Institute chief executive Katherine Rake.

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