Clause 3
Pensions Bill
4:15 pm
Lorely Burt (Shadow Minister (Small Business), Trade & Industry; Solihull, Liberal Democrat)
My figures are taken from those presented by Help the Aged. Notwithstanding the hon. Gentleman’s figures—or the Government figures—they are still double what we have proposed. [Interruption.] I should move swiftly on.
We welcome this part of the Bill, particularly because carers do a phenomenal job. If we want to bandy figures about, let us consider the situation if carers did not do their job. It would cost the NHS roughly double what it currently spends to look after people who are selflessly cared for by carers who give their time and who also suffer financially. This Bill goes some way to redress the situation for carers who care for 20 hours or more a week, and it is therefore extremely welcome.
I want to explore the situation for people who miss out. By 2010, as it stands under this legislation, of the 160,000 carers who will be caring for 20 hours or more a week and not building entitlements to the basic state pension, 120,000 will get credit through the carers credit. This means that 40,000 will not be building their entitlement. We are trying to address that.
Amendment No. 26 was suggested by Carers UK. The Equal Opportunities Commission and Help the Aged also support it. The type of people who would miss out on carers credits will be those who have fluctuating conditions and who may be on and off benefit; those who care for someone who goes into hospital long enough to lose their benefits; those who care for someone who does not want to claim disability benefit but the carer nevertheless sacrifices that amount of time—very willingly, as a rule; and those who care for more than one person but neither of them is in receipt of the right benefits. We discussed those people on Second Reading. We propose that a health or social care professional could nominate—certify—that those people are in need of care for 20 hours or more a week.
Amendment No. 63 was, again, not our idea; it was proposed by Carers UK. It lists nearly all disability benefits and argues that if a carer is caring for someone in receipt of said benefits for more than 20 hours a week, they should be eligible to accrue entitlement to the basic state pension. The amendment is also supported by Help the Aged, Age Concern and the Equal Opportunities Commission. At the moment, under the eligibility criteria, someone would need to be caring for a person almost constantly, day or night, to qualify. The extension of the list of benefits is important.
What the Government have done so far is excellent, but we ask them to go the extra mile for the 40,000 people of the 160,000 who will not benefit for reasons that are not their fault.