Extra £10 per week for people in Scotland looking after more than one person

Carers looking after more than one person will receive £10 per week, per person on top of current benefits, under Scottish Government plans.

Draft regulations have been put before Holyrood which would provide £520 every year for every additional person cared for, on top of the carer support payment and the Scottish carer supplement.

If the carer additional person payment is backed by MSPs, someone caring for two people could be eligible for almost £105 from March next year.

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the move was “another major milestone” in the delivery of devolved benefits.

“The Scottish Government recognises the immense contribution carers make to our society through caring for family, friends and neighbours,” she said.

“That is why we have made it a priority to deliver a series of improvements to better support them following the transfer of carer benefit awards from the Department for Work and Pensions to Social Security Scotland.

“We have a very different approach to social security in Scotland, with dignity, fairness and respect at its heart, and these changes build on previous work to help improve the lives of carers.

“We have already introduced carer’s allowance supplement and the young carer grant – which are only available in Scotland – and widened eligibility for carer support payment to enable more carers in education to access it.

“This is another major milestone in the process of delivering devolved social security and in building a system that better meets the needs of carers and disabled people in Scotland.”