LABOUR is promising to give a boost to around one million “unsung heroes,” who care for vulnerable relatives by pledging a £10 a week benefits hike if it got into power, Jeremy Corbyn will say on Tuesday.
The promise by Labour south of the border comes just weeks before the local council elections in May and mirrors the same one offered by the SNP Government in Scotland; to uprate Carers Allowance to the same level as Jobseekers Allowance; a rise of 17 per cent or nearly £600 a year.
The Conservatives insisted they had already boosted Carers Allowance by £450 a year since 2010 and claimed Labour’s promise was “not worth the paper it is written on” because the source of the increase – scrapping the Tories’ planned cuts to inheritance tax – had been committed 11 times over.
The Nationalist Government in Edinburgh is still devising the new Scottish social security system after it last year received powers over a raft of benefits.
It has established so-called “experience panels” to get information from benefit recipients to feed into devising the new system. But, as yet, no date has been fixed for introducing it.
Last week, Scottish Labour, which supports the upgrade, called on the SNP administration to “get a move on”; Jeane Freeman, the Social Security Minister, said: "We are working hard to identify how we can introduce an increase as quickly as possible."
In its consultation document, the Scottish Government acknowledges carers make an “immense contribution” to society and says there are “around 759,000 unpaid adult carers in Scotland providing care to one or more people - 17% of the adult population - and an estimated 29,000 young carers in Scotland aged under 16”.
Current Carer’s Allowance is £62.10 per week; an increase to match Jobseekers Allowance would see it rise to £73.10 per week or £572 during a whole year. It is currently claimed by 69,848 Scots compared with 48,300 in 2010.
During a campaign visit to Birmingham, Mr Corbyn will say that Conservative cuts to inheritance tax would be scrapped to pay for the hike in Carer's Allowance south of the border.
"Britain's social care crisis was made in Downing Street by cutting £4.6 billion from council care budgets. Millions of unpaid carers have been forced to fill the gap and put under even greater pressure as a result.
"The care they give to the disabled, sick and elderly saves taxpayers £132 billion a year. So we believe these unsung, unpaid heroes not only deserve our praise and recognition, they deserve better financial support,” the Labour leader will declare.
"That's why Labour is convinced it's both morally and economically right to give the Carer's Allowance a boost of £10 a week.
"We also think it's only fair that this extra support for carers is funded by scrapping the Tory cut on inheritance tax, which will only benefit the wealthiest people in Britain.
"This will be the first step in helping to transform our social care system for the 21st century and boosting support for family carers," Mr Corbyn will insist.
Labour said that around 6.5 million people across the UK provide unpaid care for older, disabled and seriously ill relatives and friends but many of those eligible for welfare support do not claim it.
It found an estimated 795,000 people were receiving Carer's Allowance in August 2016 and the figure was going up by around 50,000 a year.
Claimants have to spend at least 35 hours a week looking after someone and Labour said its reforms would benefit an estimated one million carers south of the border by 2021.
It said the projected cost of the policy in 2020/21 would be £538m, which would be covered by the expected cost of the £650m cut to inheritance tax, which allows married couples to pass on estates worth £1m free of death duties, it plans to reverse.
But Luke Hall, the Tory backbencher, who sits on the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, said: “Carers make a huge contribution to society, so it’s only right that we do everything we can to support the selfless work they do. That’s why we already increased the rate of Carer’s Allowance, meaning an additional £450 a year for carers since 2010.
“Labour have already committed the money from corporation tax cuts eleven times over - so there is no way they could find the additional money for this promise. It's not worth the paper it's written on - just like Labour's reputation for economic management,” he added.
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