Taking up the support entitles the worker to request changes in working hours and flexibility up to three years after the caring break.26 • In Canada, people who have had to stop work to care can receive income replacement worth 55 per cent of earnings (up to a maximum of $650 a week) as part of the country’s broader employment insurance scheme. [...] The complexity of this rule has led to some carers inadvertently accruing overpayments which then need to be repaid – in some cases in excess of £20,000.29 Twenty-three per cent of carers report that financial concerns, such as the loss of carer’s allowance or other benefits, are a barrier to entering employment, education or training.30 Introducing a work allowance for carers on UC and reforming. [...] Age UK estimates that the cost to the economy of carers being unable to work is £5.3bn.31 FABIAN SOCIETY 13 CARING FOR CARERS Policy options (a) Introduce a work allowance for carers on universal credit. [...] Similarly, in 2019, the Fabian Society included carers alongside parents in a call for the creation of a work allowance for second earners.33 Both of these policies are likely to be cheap: few would initially be eligible and moving more people into work would generate savings to the exchequer that would offset the costs of the allowances. [...] Carers UK propose the earnings limit for carer’s allowance should increase from its current value of £139 per week to the value of 21 hours of work per week, pegged to, and automatically increasing in line with, the national living wage (NLW).34 A lower cost option would be to set the threshold to a lower number of hours on the National Living Wage but then ensure it was increased annually in line.
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