Politics: Carer Support Payment will provide vital assistance to families
Earlier this week, Keir Starmer’s Labour government announced it would be increasing tuition fees to £9535 despite pledges to scrap them, writes Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin.
In Scotland, students pay £0 and have the opportunity to achieve their degree at university without the additional pressures of the yearly cost and how they will be able to afford them.
On multiple occasions Keir Starmer has been interviewed where he has spoken of the benefits he felt when undertaking his own university degree and the opportunity that that afforded him.
However, he has now gone back on his own promise leaving students with more fear and worry about the cost of their future and for many it will cause consideration of whether they should even go into further education at all.
The rise in cost will go up by 3.1 per cent taking the fees from £9250 a year to £9535.
This decision shows once again that Labour have not been honest with voters about how they will govern, backtracking on promises they made to hopeful voters.
In Scotland, we’ve kept our promise to students.
The Scottish Government has announced the nationwide rollout of the Carer Support Payment which will be paid by Social Security Scotland.
It has been introduced in phases since November last year and will now be available in every local authority – including Aberdeenshire.
This support is provided for unpaid carers who provide 35 hours or more of care a week to someone who gets disability benefits and as part of the rollout, some applicants may be able to backdate their payments to the initial rollout date.
This weekly payment of £81.90 is vital in supporting unpaid carers who do such vital work to help look after those close to them.
The nationwide rollout of the Carer Support Payment is a milestone moment for Aberdeenshire delivered by the Scottish Government.
This payment will be vital to support unpaid carers in the north-east who go above and beyond to help those they look after and our wider society.
The Scottish Government developed Social Security Scotland with dignity, fairness and respect at its core - the delivering of this 14th Scottish benefit is in keeping with those principles.
The Scottish Government has been preparing a new healthcare awareness campaign to ensure people know the best places to access support this winter.
Right Care Right Place helps the public decide the most appropriate service for their healthcare needs - whether they should contact their GP or pharmacy, call NHS 24 on 111 or use self-help guides on the NHS Inform website.
Hospital emergency departments should only be visited for critical emergencies.
We know how overwhelmed our health service can get during the busy winter period so it’s important we know who to get in touch with, in order to ensure we don’t add more pressure to the demand.
This will help everyone to get the right care, in the right place as quickly as possible while helping alleviate pressures on the rest of the NHS.
People can also help by making sure they receive their Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Covid-19 and flu vaccinations if eligible.
