Our response to the Autumn Budget 2026

We welcome the call in today’s Autumn Budget to end the earnings cliff-edge in the Carer’s Allowance for unpaid carers. 

The current earnings limit of £204 a week allows unpaid carers to work 16 hours a week maximum. Any unpaid carer earning even 1p more currently faces losing £86.45 a week. Today’s announcement that the allowance will instead be tapered, and reduced by £1 for every £1 earned over the weekly limit, will give many carers breathing space and ability to work longer hours without risking losing support. It will also address some of the worst fears of overpayments identified in the Sayce Review.

However, more needs to be done to ensure the welfare system allows unpaid carers to find, return to, or stay in work. We would like to see a taper for Carer’s Allowance brought in line with Universal Credit, withdrawing the allowance at 55p for every £1 over the earnings limit. Having a consistent taper across benefits would reduce complexity and give reassurance to unpaid carers. 

We also want to see the Government fully implement the recommendations of the Sayce Review to ensure unpaid carers are not forced into thousands of pounds of debt due to overpayments.

More broadly, the Chancellor, John Healey, stated he would “Reject crude cuts…that drive up costs elsewhere in the system.” He reiterated the plans announced at Labour Party Conference to fund a new National Care Service with an adjustment to the ‘triple lock’ pension funding mechanism, and spoke about the upcoming Milburn Review into young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) - 45% of whom are disabled. We would reiterate our call to ensure a National Care Service guarantees social care for working-age disabled adults, and to ensure that the Milburn Review guarantees meaningful work for disabled young people rather than a box-ticking exercise.

The Chancellor also mentioned that the current system of disability payments was “not fit for purpose” for either disabled people or taxpayers, promising a white paper for reform in 2027 after publication of the Timms Review. In our research, we have found disabled people and unpaid carers agree that the current system is not fit for purpose, in either guaranteeing support or allowing fair assessments of their claims. We hope the Government will consider what disabled people and unpaid carers have told us about improving assessments and recognising the actual costs for disabled people.

The plans for an extra £1bn for social and affordable housing are also significant for disabled people. We know that disabled social tenants are more likely to be unemployed or economically inactive, with 42.5% of disabled social tenants less likely to be in work than non-disabled tenants. But those with an unmet need for accessible housing are four times more likely to be unemployed according to Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion research. We hope additional funding for social housing ensures disabled tenants have access needs met, allowing them to be near suitable work and fully participate in day-to-day life.