Invalid Care Allowance (Hansard, 25 November 1999)

§ Mr. Burstow
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will estimate the cost and number of beneficiaries of increasing the earnings limit for invalid care allowance from £50 to(a) £75, (b) £100, (c) £125 and (d) £150; [98463]
(2) if he will estimate the cost and number of beneficiaries of creating two levels of invalid care allowance, one at a lower rate, set at the level of short-term NI benefits and paid to all carers for the first three months and thereafter to carers giving fewer than 35 hours of care a week; and one at a higher level set at the level of the basic retirement pension available after three months to all carers giving more than 35 hours of care a week. [98461]

§ Mr. Bayley
The information is not available.

§ Mr. Burstow
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the cost and number of beneficiaries of continuing to pay invalid care allowance after care ends for(a) four weeks and (b) eight weeks. [98464]

§ Mr. Bayley
The estimated cost of continuing to pay Invalid Care Allowance (ICA) after entitlement ceases for four weeks is £10 million in 2000–01 with an estimated 50,000 gainers; and after entitlement ceases for eight weeks is £20 million in 2000–01 with an estimated 50,000 gainers.
For those who are most vulnerable and in greatest need, income is already protected via the income-related benefits, despite the loss of ICA when caring ends.

§ Mr. Burstow
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will estimate the cost of extending the entitlement to invalid care allowance to all people of pensionable age who provide more than 35 hours a week of care(a) at its current level and (b) if it were set at the same level as the minimum income guarantee; [98465]
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(2) if he will estimate the cost and number of beneficiaries of paying the carers' premium to pensioners who (a) provide at least 35 hours of care, and (b) provide care for a recipient of attendance allowance. [98462]

§ Mr. Bayley
If all other Invalid Care Allowance (ICA) conditions of entitlement are met, the estimated cost' of extending (ICA) new claims to over 65s is £5 million in 2000–01, with 35,000 gainers. In addition, and for pensioner recipients only, raising ICA to the level of the Minimum Income Guarantee (currently £75) is £105 million (after income related benefit offset) in 2000–01, with 250,000 gainers.
It is estimated that the consequent extension of carer premium entitlement to those aged over 65 would cost £15 million in Income Support (IS) in the year 2000–01², with 20,000 gainers, together with a much smaller sum of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. About half of this cost will arise from individuals caring for Attendance Allowance recipients³. ¹ Source: Family Resources Survey 1997–98. ² Cash prices. Costs rounded to the nearest £5 million, gainers rounded to nearest five thousand. ³ As survey based estimates the above is subject to sampling error. The accuracy of the costing is also affected by limitations of the data available on the time spent caring for a sick or disabled person. The answer depends on there being underlying entitlement to ICA and that all other ICA entitlement rules remain in place.