One in four Preston residents are missing out on benefit for providing care

A meeting of Preston City Council heard that 983 out of the 3,443 people eligible for the cash support - 28.6 percent - are going without it.

Those who spend at least 35 hours a week looking after someone – and meet other certain criteria – are entitled to a payment for their caring role, which currently amounts to £67.25 per week.

In order to be eligible for the allowance, the carer must have weekly earnings of less than £128, while the person being cared for has to be in receipt of certain other benefits.

The figures emerged as part of a motion put forward by Liberal Democrat councillor Mark Jewell.

He called for the authority to do more to promote the availability of carer’s allowance by including details of it on residents’ annual council tax bills.

However, he also wants to see the government add an extra £20 a week – or £1,000 a year – to the benefit.

“It would cost the government substantially more…if there was no one else to care for that person.

“Relying on the compassion and humanity of carers should not be done on the cheap.

“Throughout this pandemic, many carers have been left isolated, not able to access even a little respite. Many will feel lonely and, quite frankly, exhausted – and [will be] struggling financially,” Cllr Jewell warned.

His proposal won unanimous cross-party support, with the Conservative group “fully endorsing" it and Labour council leader Matthew Brown noting that similar benefits elsewhere in Europe were paid at a higher rate.

“The government gets a huge reserve army of labour for the many people who care for loved ones and receive that pittance for doing it – and that needs to be addressed morally,” said Cllr Brown, who noted that Preston is one of the few districts to have retained its debt and welfare advice service which can make people aware of their benefit entitlements.

However, the meeting heard concern about previous issues with the overpayment of carer’s allowance which saw the government try to reclaim £150m from around 80,000 carers in 2019.

Labour councillor Jono Grisdale said that people already had to be “in poverty” to meet the eligibility criteria – and he feared staff cuts at the department for work and pensions could lead to future mistakes.

“Are we just handing £20 more to impoverished people doing a fantastic job…in order for the maladministration of [the benefit] to ensure that it’s clawed back from them at a later date?” he asked.

However, the authority will now write to the chancellor to make its request for an uplift in the benefit.

Cllr John Browne said that the current payment amounted to “next to nothing “ compared to when his own mother had claimed it for looking after his father, branding the present system “an absolute disgrace”.

Click here for full details of the eligibility criteria for carer's allowance and how to make a claim.