Written Statement: Registration period for £500 payment to unpaid carers to re-open

The registration period for the £500 payment to unpaid carers will reopen on 15^th August and remain open until September 2^nd 2022.

Unpaid carers who were receiving Carer’s Allowance on 31 March 2022 have this final chance to make a claim if they have not done so already. There is no change to the eligibility criteria. Unpaid carers must contact their local authority to register before the new closing date.

The latest data on take up of the payment shows that as of July 22^nd, over 70% of eligible unpaid carers had successfully registered for the payment and 65% had already been paid. This figure is likely to be higher given the number of claims yet to be processed by local authorities.

We invested in an extensive communications campaign to promote the payment throughout May and June. Information was shared via social media outlets including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We also ran a takeover of the Wales Online homepage on multiple dates. The overall performance of the online campaign was strong; the ads generated over 1.5million impressions and reached more than 78,000 individual people.

To reach people who are not online, we shared the messages via pharmacy bags, radio ads and a half page advert throughout May and June in a wide array of printed newspapers across Wales.

The payment was also covered by national news television outlets and promoted by local authorities and organisations supporting unpaid carers.

Despite this coverage, I am aware that some unpaid carers missed the deadline or did not realise that they are required to contact their local authority to register for the payment. I hope that re-opening the registration period will allow more unpaid carers who were in receipt of Carers Allowance on March 31^st to benefit from this payment.

I would welcome the support of Members of the Senedd to promote awareness of the new registration window.

This statement is being issued during recess in order to keep members informed. Should members wish me to make a further statement or to answer questions on this when the Senedd returns I would be happy to do so.