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Carers play a vital role in our communities and I have contacted the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to highlight my concerns about the impact of this action by DWP. I have sought reassurance that in the event of any debt recovery action, individual circumstances are taken into account and that people are not prosecuted who have made a genuine error and not knowingly sought to defraud the benefit.

In order to raise the level of Carer’s Allowance to Job Seeker’s Allowance, we introduced Carer's Allowance Supplement as a temporary measure until Carer’s Assistance is being fully delivered by the Scottish Government. This required us to take Executive Competence for Carer’s Allowance, whilst it is delivered under the terms of an Agency Agreement with DWP. The terms of this Agency Agreement stipulate that it will be delivered in Scotland consistently with its delivery in England and Wales. This means that the earnings threshold will remain the same in Scotland as it is in England and Wales in 2019-2020.

We will continue to work with stakeholders and our Experience Panel members to ensure that when Carer’s Assistance is fully delivered in Scotland, that it meets the needs of our carers and those they support.

We are aware that more extreme weather can be a factor affecting the warmth of some people’s homes, not least for communities living on islands and in remote rural areas. This is an issue that has been raised with the UK government over many years by Scottish Ministers and others.

In developing the new Cold Spell Heating Assistance benefit, we are engaging with households who have claimed the existing benefit and a wide range of expert opinion. http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=9940&i=91199 .

Social Security Scotland has made 76,996 Carer's Allowance Supplement payments to date. The number of payments issued by Social Security Scotland per week were:

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-19504 on 5 November 2018 and S5W-15184 on 22 March 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Scottish Government would welcome an increase of Carer’s Allowance to the same rate as Job Seeker’s Allowance for all carers across the UK, as has already been implemented in Scotland.

As set out in the Carer’s Allowance Agency Agreement, “the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will, on behalf of the Scottish Ministers, continue to deliver an operational service for people resident in Scotland, consistent with the delivery of Carer’s Allowance and its related functions under the same procedures that cover the delivery of Carer’s Allowance paid to people resident in England and Wales”. This means that the earnings threshold will remain the same in Scotland as it is in England and Wales in 2019-2020.

The Scottish Government receives data from the Department for Work and Pensions about who is receiving Carer's Allowance and living in Scotland on the qualifying dates for Carer’s Allowance Supplement. We do not receive information about clients’ earnings.

We have emphasised to the Department of Work and Pensions the importance of providing accurate and up-to-date information relating to weather stations both before and after the introduction of the new benefit. This is necessary for the design and delivery of the new system, as well as to ensure there will be a smooth transition for existing recipients.

The experience panels are already collecting information that will inform our design and delivery of the new Cold Spell Heating Assistance. There are over 350 Experience Panel members with experience of Winter Fuel Allowance. Some of these panel members reflected specifically on their experience of Winter Fuel Allowance as part of our ‘About Your Benefits and You’ research in 2017.

It is our intention to seek the views of households who have applied for and benefited from Cold Weather Payments and Winter Fuel Payments as part of our Research Plan for 2019-20.