Investment for Orkney carers totals £90k

According to Social Security Scotland, the Scottish Government invested a total of £90,000 in Orkney carers in the county, last year, with 220 of the county’s carers receiving up to £442 each in payments.

The Carer’s Allowance Supplement is a supplementary payment made to carers twice a year, bringing the total level of support they receive in payments in line with Jobseekers Allowance.

Social Security Secretary, Shirley Anne Somerville said: “The Scottish Government recognises the important contribution carers make, and created the Carer’s Allowance Supplement to get more money into the pockets of carers in Scotland as quickly as possible.

“Last year this helped 83,000 carers, including 220 in Orkney Islands.

“We have made commitment to increase CAS annually in line with inflation so the payments made this year in June and October will be £226.20. This alongside our uprating of Carers Allowance means this year carers in Scotland will receive a higher rate than Jobseekers Allowance and a total of £452.40 more than carers outwith Scotland.”

Social Security Scotland chief executive, David Wallace, added: “Our priority is to make sure that people get the right amount of money paid to them, into the right place and at the right time. We were happy to have done this successfully for these rounds of payments.

“We are working hard to make sure our client correspondence is clear and that people who interact with us are being treated with dignity, fairness and respect. This approach is clearly working and is something we will build upon as we introduce future benefits.”