Increase Carer's Allowance to equal minimum wage

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Increase Carer's Allowance to equal minimum wage

Petition Details

Carer's Allowance is currently £327.60 every 4 weeks for people who care for someone for at least 35 hours per week. Around £2.34 p/hour.

Additional Information

The national minimum wage for people over 21 is £11.44 p/hour which would be around £400 per week. Carers Allowance is a taxable benefit and is counted as income for other benefits like Universal Credit.

A recent study has shown that unpaid carers in England and Wales contribute £445 million to the economy every day – that’s £162 billion per year. The study says that the value of unpaid care is equivalent to a second NHS in England and Wales. Despite this, carers receive Carers Allowance which amounts to £4,258.80 per year. Because it is taxable, it is effectively treated as a wage when claiming other benefits, which many carers have to do to survive.

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