The carer's allowance which I introduced in 1990, provides for the first time a direct payment, on a means tested basis, to people who are providing full-time care and attention to elderly and incapacitated pensioners. A carer's allowance may be payable where the person being cared for is in receipt of a widow's pension and is 66 years of age or over.
In 1991, I extended the carer's allowance to people caring for recipients of disabled person's maintenance allowance. The question of extending the allowance to other categories, such as people caring for the recipients of widow's pension under 66 years of age, would have to be considered in a budgetary context.