The threshold for getting support as an unpaid carer needs to be lowered after a year where the number of unpaid carers rose to 1.1 million but the majority remained ineligible for help, a new manifesto from carers’ organisations states.

The manifesto, published ahead of the Holyrood election in May, sets out a list of changes campaigners want to see made to the Carer’s Allowance benefit.

It asks MSPs to back a range of changes, including lowering the threshold to get support and removing ‘cliff edges’ in entitlement.

All schools should be identifying pupils who are caring for a family member as having additional support needs, the document also states.

The number of Scots caring for someone rose by nearly 400,000 during the pandemic, taking the total to 1.1 million – more than the entire health and care workforce – but most are not eligible for Carer’s Allowance.

Current rules mean people can only get the benefit if they care for more than 35 hours and earn less than £128 a week, alongside a host of other eligibility criteria.

The Scottish government is currently drawing up a replacement benefit that will be named Scottish Carer’s Assistance.

As well as changes to social security, the organisations behind the manifesto say wider changes are needed, including better funding of charities and the removal of social care charges.

They say services need to include unpaid carers as “equal and expert” partners in care, where they can be involved in decision-making.

Health and social care Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) currently include carer representatives but they do not have a vote on any decisions about services.

Scottish government research provided to healthandcare.scot found that half of carers representatives surveyed in January 2021 said they had examples of where their interventions, as members of IJBs, had made a real difference.

But a similar proportion said there had been no change in the effectiveness of the support for accessing services since March 2020.

The manifesto sets out detailed proposals for changes to Carer’s Allowance, including removing the overlapping benefit rule that stops carers in receipt of other support – such as a pension – from getting help.

In the meantime it says the existing benefit should be made available to more people, including those in education.

Schools and teachers should improve identification of young carers as the current approach is “inadequate”, the manifesto says, including compulsory awareness training.

The manifesto was produced by Carers Scotland, Carers Trust Scotland, the Coalition of Carers in Scotland, Crossroads Caring Scotland, MECOPP, Shared Care Scotland, and the Scottish Young Carers Services Alliance.

Read more: Insight: Where is the plan for social care?; Little awareness of carer’s role despite benefit lift; Most of Scotland’s unpaid carers miss out on support; Carers promised benefit top-up payment

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