How many unpaid carers have applied for and received the £500 payment announced by the Welsh Government on 23 March 2022?
The registration period for the £500 payment, for unpaid carers who were in receipt of Carers Allowance on 31st March 2022, opened on 16th May 2022 and will remain open until 15th July 2022.
The first returns from local authorities were submitted to Welsh Government on May 27th and represent the first two weeks of the registration period. The returns show that 35,514 unpaid carers had registered for the payment by this date and 18,338 registrations had been processed by local authorities. 15,345 of the registrations processed have been successful and 11,795 unpaid carers have already received the £500 payment.
These figures show that over a quarter of eligible unpaid carers have successfully registered and over 20% have received the £500 payment.
Local authorities have been asked to provide two weekly updates on take-up of the payment.