If you or your partner care for someone who claims a disability benefit you or your partner may be entitled to Carer's Allowance or a Carer Support Payment if you live in some parts of Scotland. If you are claiming Universal Credit you may be entitled to the Carer's Element.

To claim Carer's Allowance or a Carer Support Payment you must:

• Be aged 16 or over;
• Spend at least 35 hours a week looking after the person in need of care;
• Have net earnings of less than £151 a week, from April 2024. Any childcare costs or replacement care costs associated with working can be deducted from your earnings when calculating whether you qualify. For more information see work-related costs and Carer's Allowance;
• If you are in full-time education, to be entitled you must spend less than 21 hours in 'supervised study', and not doing a course described as full-time by the college or establishment providing it.

In addition, the person for whom you care must be claiming:

• Attendance Allowance,
• Disability Living Allowance (middle or higher rate care component),
• Constant Attendance Allowance at or above the normal maximum rate with an Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit,
• Constant Attendance Allowance at the basic (full day) rate with a War Disablement Pension.
• Personal Independence Payment (Daily Living component at either standard or enhanced rate).
• Adult Disability Payment Scotland (Daily Living Component at either standard or enhanced rate).
• Child Disability Payment Scotland (Middle or highest rate care component).

You must be over 16 to claim but there is no upper age limit. The person you care for can be anyone, including a relative. You do not have to live with the person you care for. 

To claim the Carer's Element of Universal Credit the eligibility rules are the same as for Carer's Allowance/Carer Support Payment, but there is no earnings limit involved. Also, if you are receiving a Limited Capability for Work element  (LCW or LCWRA) in your Universal Credit the same person can't get the Carer's Element as well, whichever element is highest will be awarded. 

If the person you are caring for gets a means-tested benefit they may lose their severe disability premium if you start claiming Carer’s Allowance/Carer Support Payment (this does not apply if you are eligible but not receiving any money) or the Universal Credit Carer's Element. For more information see disability premiums in benefits.

How much do you get?

The weekly rate of Carer's Allowance/Carer Support Payment from April 2024 is £81.90. This is reduced by the amount of certain other benefits that you get, including State Pension, Maternity Allowance, contributory Employment and Support Allowance, contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Widows' Benefits and Bereavement Benefits or Incapacity Benefit.

If you receive one of these benefits at £81.90 or more a week, you do not get a Carer's Allowance/Carer Support Payment as well but you can get an extra amount called a carer premium in Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

The monthly rate of Carer's Element in Universal Credit is £198.31. If you receive Carer's Allowance/Carer Support Payment your Universal Credit will be reduced by £1 for every £1 you receive. This means financially you will be no better off if you claim Carer's Allowance/Carer Support Payment and the Carer Element of Universal Credit, instead of just claiming the Carer's Element, but you will not be worse off either.

Due to the complexities of carers' benefits, and the potential for it to have a detrimental effect on the benefit of the cared for person, we strongly advise you to seek further advice from a recognised advice agency before claiming Carer's Allowance/Caarer Support Payment and the Carer's Element of Universal Credit. Your local AgeUK branch or Citizen Advice be able to help, or for more information about advice agencies see our more advice page.

Carer's benefits and the benefit cap

If you are entitled to Carer's Allowance/Carer Support Payment (even if you don't receive a payment due to other benefits you receive) or the Carer's Element of Universal Credit, your household will be exempt from the benefit cap.

Other benefits for carers

Even if you don't qualify for Carer's Allowance/Carer Support Payment or the Carer's Element of Universal Credit you may be able to claim Carer’s Credit, where entitlement to the state pension can be built up by people caring 20 hours a week or more. For more information see Carer’s credit.

If you are aged 16-18 and live in Scotland you may also be able to apply for a Young Carer Grant of £383.75 a year (from April 2024). This new scheme opened on 21 October 2019 for young carers who spend an average of 16 hours caring for people who have received a disability benefit for at least 3 months. You can get this grant as well as Carer's Allowance/Carer Support Payment if you meet the eligibility criteria for both. Apply online or by phoning Social Security Scotland for free on 0800 182 2222.

There is also an extra benefit for people in Scotland who get Carer's Allowance/Carer Support Payment on a particular date, the Carer's Allowance Supplement. If you are already getting Carer's Allowance/Carer Support Payment on the relevant dates you will automatically receive these payments.

Roll out of the Carer Support Payment in Scotland

You can apply for Carer Support Payment now if you live in:

• Dundee City
• Perth and Kinross
• the Western Isles

If you live anywhere else, you can apply for Carer Support Payment when applications open in your area. Carer Support Payment will be available in more areas from spring 2024 and across Scotland by autumn 2024. Until that happens, you can still apply for Carer's Allowance.

You cannot get Carer Support Payment and Carer's Allowance at the same time.

If you get Carer's Allowance and live in Scotland, you do not need to apply for Carer Support Payment. Your benefit will move to Carer Support Payment. This is planned to happen between February 2024 and spring 2025.