This petition was submitted during the 2019 to 2024 Parliament
Rejected petition Increase Carers Allowance to equal the national minimum wage.
Rejected on
Carers Allowance is currently £269 per month for 35 hours a week, which works out at roughly £1.92 per hour. National Minimum Wage for 18 year olds is currently £6.56 per hour. Carers Allowance is a taxable benefit and treated as a wage by the DWP.
Each carer saves the economy roughly 19k a year (https://www.carersuk.org/news-and-campaigns/press-releases/facts-and-figures) but receives a wage of £3238 per year. Caring is not normally a 35 hour a week job and some are caring for multiple family members with the increased costs associated with disabilities. Anybody could become a carer at any time of life, just as anybody could become disabled. Accidents and illnesses happen.
For govt info see https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance
Why was this petition rejected?
There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.
You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.
You may like to sign the petition we currently have open on this topic:
Make Carers Allowance equivalent to a fair wage & allow multiple claims
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/329815We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.