Many of Scotland’s three quarters of a million carers live in poverty and the impact of coronavirus is causing some even greater financial stress, campaigners say.

There are an estimated three quarters of a million adult carers in Scotland, as well as around 29,000 carers under the age of 16 – an estimate that campaigners view as conservative.

During a meeting organised by healthandcare.scot with Minister for Public Health Joe FitzPatrick, Claire Cairns from the Coalition of Carers in Scotland and Fiona Collie of Carers Scotland told the minister some carers are enduring lengthy waits for social security payments – support that will be the main form of income for those who have had to give up work to care full time for loved ones during the pandemic.

“Carers are often on low income and in poverty anyway,” says Ms Cairns. “The state of caring survey of 2019 by Carers UK found that over half of carers on carers allowance struggle to make ends meet and one in five are in debt as a result of caring.

“The whole covid-19 situation has brought additional financial pressure for many carers. A lot of people have increased heating costs because they are in-house more, shopping costs have gone up, people are trying to make sure that they have a supply of essentials but that’s very difficult for people on a low income.

“And for carers who are combining paid work with caring, a lot of them have had to give up work. Partly this is because the services that used to support them by providing replacement care have been temporarily closed which means they can no longer carry on working”.

A £5m fund to support students was recently made available and both Claire Cairns and Fiona Collie asked the minister that something similar done to support unpaid carers, ideally an emergency fund managed through local care centres.

UK Government guidance was recently updated to enable people to take furlough for caring responsibilities, but it is “very, very tightly defined”, says Ms Collie, leaving employers to decide whether staff can be furloughed and adding to some carers’ worries.

One of the Scottish government’s first priorities has been to maintain existing benefits but also make the system more flexible and responsive to the ways in which the pandemic might change things for carers, says Mr FitzPatrick.

£50m has been set aside to meet a surge in demand for benefits and council tax reduction requests. Local authorities have also been promised an extra £45m to double the Scottish Welfare Fund which provides low incomes families with crisis and community care grants.

“We have relaxed some of the rules for Carers Allowance to protect the support that carers receive if their caring role has to change due to coronavirus,” the Minister told the carer representatives. “So, where caring can’t take place due to self-isolation or an infection with coronavirus, this will not count as a break in care and Carers Allowance will continue to be paid.

“Guidance has also changed so that care doesn’t need to happen in the physical presence of the cared for person as it usually does so for example support provided over the phone or online can count towards the 35 hours of care required.

“We have also relaxed rules about the timing of applications so for example if someone applies for a Young Carer Grant after their 19^th birthday as a result of delays due to coronavirus, the application will be treated as though it was on time.

“I would encourage all young carers out there to find out if you are eligible for the grant and to apply if you are. That extra £305.10 can make a lot of difference especially during these challenging times.”

Mr FitzPatrick said Social Security Scotland and the government were continuing to work with the Department for Work and Pensions on option to deal with the financial impact of the outbreak, as well as how to provide support and downtime for carers who are without many of the normal support services.

“To help with this,” he said, “further funding is being made available to the Time To Live fund which delivers micro-grants to carers in all local authority areas. This has enabled the fund to be extended to all carers and can now support parent carers too.

“The Family Fund’s Take a Break Fund which supports carers of disabled children and young people will open in May 2020 for applications and we are working with the Family Fund to ensure carers can access these grants as quickly as possible and create suitable break opportunities that meet their needs.”

 

Also during the meeting, questions were put to the Minister about reports that people who were older or had a disability may not stand the same chance of receiving treatment for coronavirus.

 

Click here to watch whole meeting.

Click here for a transcript of the questions and Mr FitzPatrick’s answers.

 

For more information carers can contact the Money Talk team from the Citizens Advice Network in Scotland who can help to see what benefits you might be entitled to and offer advice to help make your money go further. You can access that service by calling 0800 085 7145. 

 

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