Lord David Freud, work and pensions minister, announced in the House of Lords yesterday that ministers would exempt all recipients of carer’s allowance from the benefit cap.
The u-turn follows a High Court ruling in November that found the £26,000 cap on welfare payments unlawfully discriminated against disabled people by failing to exempt their unpaid, full-time carers from the cap.
Currently, carer’s allowance is on the list of benefits that are subject to the cap. A total of 1,400 carers are subject to the policy, according to government figures.
Lord Freud said the government would bring forward an amendment to the Welfare Reform and Work Bill at Third Reading setting out the exemption