Home › Benefit guides › Carer's Allowance and Carer Support Payment

Carer's Allowance and Carer Support Payment

Money for people who spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone with a disability. In Scotland it's Carer Support Payment, which comes with an extra Scottish Carer Supplement.

£86.45a week

£204a week earnings limit

35 hoursa week caring

+£11.70a week in Scotland

Who can get it

You're 16 or over and care for someone for at least 35 hours a week. The time can include helping with washing, cooking, shopping, medicines, appointments and keeping them safe.
The person you care for gets a qualifying benefit: PIP daily living, Attendance Allowance, DLA middle or highest care, Adult Disability Payment daily living, Child Disability Payment middle or highest care, Pension Age Disability Payment, or Armed Forces Independence Payment.
You earn £204 a week or less after tax, National Insurance and some expenses (half of pension contributions and some care costs while you work can be taken off).
You're not in full-time education or studying 21 hours a week or more. (Carer Support Payment in Scotland is more flexible for students.)

See what you could get

Answer a few plain questions and get a list of the benefits and help you're likely to get, with amounts and links to apply.

Check what I can get

How much in 2026-27

Payment	Per week
Carer's Allowance / Carer Support Payment	£86.45
Scottish Carer Supplement (Scotland, on top)	£11.70
Carer Additional Person Payment (Scotland, each extra person cared for)	£10.40

Carer's Allowance gives you Class 1 National Insurance credits too.

How it fits with other benefits

Universal Credit: Carer's Allowance comes off your UC pound for pound, but UC adds a carer amount of £209.34 a month, so most people still gain.
Pension Credit: it counts as income, but Pension Credit adds a carer amount of £48.15 a week.
State Pension: if yours is £86.45 a week or more you won't be paid Carer's Allowance, but claim anyway. The 'underlying entitlement' adds the carer amount to Pension Credit and Housing Benefit.
The person you care for: if they get the severe disability amount in Pension Credit or other benefits, it can stop when you claim. Check first.

If you care for fewer hours

If you care for at least 20 hours a week, Carer's Credit protects your State Pension record. In Scotland, young carers aged 16 to 19 who care an average of 16 hours a week can get a Young Carer Grant of £405.10 a year.

How to claim

England and Wales: claim on GOV.UK.
Scotland: apply for Carer Support Payment on mygov.scot.
Northern Ireland: claim on nidirect.

Claims can be backdated up to 3 months. If the person you care for is waiting for their disability benefit, claim within 3 months of their award so yours can be backdated too.

Sources

Every figure on this page is copied from these official pages, for April 2026 to March 2027 (checked 3 November 2026):

This is a guide, not advice. The office that runs each benefit decides who gets it. Rules can change.