Carer Support (Scotland)

If you live in Scotland and are caring for one or more disabled person you may be entitled to Carer Support which consists of 3 payments:

• Carer Support Payment
• Scottish Carer Supplement
• Carer Additional Person Payment

If you’re eligible, you will be awarded all 3 payments at the same time without having to make separate applications.

If you are aged 16-19 and not eligible for Carer Support benefits you may be entitled to a Young Carer Grant instead.

If you live in England or Wales you may be eligible for Carer’s Allowance instead.

How much you can get, how it is paid and effect on other benefits.

Carer Support benefits are paid every 4 weeks in arrears. If you’ve moved to Carer Support benefits from Carer’s Allowance you may be paid weekly.

Carer Support benefits are paid as one single payment that is made up of Carer Support Payment, Scottish Carer Supplement and Carer Additional Person Payment.

The following table shows how much Carer Support benefits you can get and the effect on other benefits:

Eligibility

To qualify for Carer Support benefits you must:

• be 16 or over (only available to 16-19 year-olds if you have reached minimum school leaving age and are not studying for 21 hours a week or more unless an exception applies)
• usually live in Scotland
• the person you care for must get a qualifying disability benefit.

There is additional qualifying criteria for each payment

Carer Support Payment

To qualify for Carer Support Payment you must:

• spend at least 35 hours a week caring for a disabled person who is in receipt of a qualifying disability benefit
• earn no more than £204 a week from paid work, after tax National Insurance and expenses

Carer Support Payment is not ‘means-tested’ – this means that your (and your partner’s) income and savings are not taken into account. However, your own earnings and other overlapping benefits may affect your entitlement.

Carer Support Payment counts in full as income for Universal Credit and other income related benefits.

Carer Additional Person Payment

You may qualify for Carer Additional Person Payment if you are caring for more than one person. To qualify you must:

• meet the conditions for Carer Support Payment; and
• spend at least 20 hours a week caring for the additional person

The additional person can be a child or adult and must be receiving a qualifying disability benefit.

The care you are providing for them can happen separately or at the same time as you are caring for another disabled person.

There is no limit to the number of people you can claim a Carer Additional Person Payment in respect of.

Carer Additional Person Payment has no impact on other benefits.

Scottish Carer Supplement

You automatically qualify for Scottish Carer Supplement if you are getting Carer Support Payment. You do not have to make a separate application for it.

Scottish Carer Supplement has no impact on other benefits.

What are the qualifying disability benefits?

To be eligible for Carer Support benefits the person you care for must be in receipt of one of the following qualifying disability benefits:

• Adult Disability Payment – the standard or enhanced rate of the daily living component
• Child Disability Payment – the middle or highest rate of the care component
• Pension Age Disability Payment
• Attendance Allowance
• Personal Independence Payment – the standard or enhanced rate of the daily living component
• Disability Living Allowance – the middle or highest rate of the care component
• Scottish Adult Disability Payment – the middle or highest rate of the care component
• Constant Attendance Allowance at or above normal maximum rate with Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit 
• Constant Attendance Allowance at or above normal maximum rate with Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit or at or above the basic (full day) rate with a War Disablement Pension 
• Armed Forces Independence Payment

Claiming Carer Support benefits won’t affect the qualifying disability benefit of the person you care for but it could affect other benefits you and the person you care for get. Seek advice if you are unsure how claiming Carer Support benefits may affect other benefits.

What counts as caring?

You must provide at least 35 hours per week of care for the main or only person you care for to get Carer Support Payment. You do not have to be related to or live with the person you are caring for.

To get Carer Additional Person Payment you must provide at least an additional 20 hours per week for each additional person you care for. You do not have to be related to or live with the additional person you are caring for. The additional care can be carried out at the same time for each person you are caring for. This means that the 20 hours you spend caring for an additional person may take place during the 35 hours that you are caring for the main person you care for.

You cannot average the hours out if you provide enough hours of care in some weeks but not others. You also cannot include care you do as paid work or that you carry out as voluntarily work.

Care includes time spent supporting someone with their mental health, during an illness or with a disability. It includes providing physical assistance, supervision or prompting and can also include time spent preparing for the disabled person to come and stay with you and time spent cleaning up after their visit. Any physical help you give, time spent keeping an eye on the person, time spent providing encouragement and reassurance and time spent doing practical tasks for the person all count as caring.

It can be easy to underestimate the amount of care you are providing, particularly if you’re caring for a child or somebody with cognitive or mental health needs. With children, if the support you are providing is substantially in excess of the support a child of the same age without a disability would need, then it probably counts as caring for Carer Support benefits.

Entitlement if you work

You can claim Carer Support benefits if you work. However, you are not entitled to Carer Support Payment if you earn more than £204 a week after tax, National Insurance and certain expenses. This is around the same as £884 a month or £10,608 a year.

If your earnings vary, you may still be entitled to Carer Support Payment if you sometimes earn more than £204 a week, provided that your average earnings are no more than £204 a week.

Only earnings from paid work count. Earnings from work done during any breaks from caring are ignored.

The following do not count as earnings:

• payments from other benefits 
• payments from pensions 
• student support payments 
• fostering allowances meant to pay for the cost of caring for the foster child 
• contributions towards your living or housing costs from someone you live with who is not a tenant or boarder 
• the first £20 a week of any payments you get from someone boarding in your home, including rent payments and contributions towards bills, and 50% of any payments above £20 
• income tax refunds 
• redundancy payments 

You can deduct the following expenses from your earnings:

• 50% of any contributions you pay into an occupational or private pension
• up to 50% of your take home pay for any childcare fees you pay so you can work
• up to 50% of your take home pay if you have to pay someone else to care for the person you claim Carer Support Payment in respect of so you can work
• necessary costs directly related to your job that your employer or your business does not pay you back for. For example, work travel, work clothes or phone calls. Travel to your usual place of work does not count as an expense 
• self-employment business expenses, for example, heating, lighting or cleaning 

You must tell Social Security Scotland about any changes to your earnings, including if you start or stop work or if the amount you earn goes up or down.

More information about how work affects Carer Support Payment can be found on the mygov.scot website.

How to apply

You can apply for Carer Support Payment online, by phone, by post or in person. Before applying you can use the following eligibility checker to check your entitlement.

The easiest way to apply is online.

To apply by phone contact Social Security Scotland on 0800 182 2222 (Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm)

To apply by post you can call Social Security Scotland to ask for a form to be posted to you or you can download and print the form. Send it to the address shown at the end of the form.

For information on applying in person see here.

You will need to provide the following information as part of the application process:

• your payslip for the period immediately before you are claiming from and any subsequent payslips you have received since – if you work
• your most recent finalised business accounts – if you are self-employed
• your bank or building society details
• details of the person you care for

See here if you need help to apply.

This advice applies in England, Wales and Scotland. If you live in another part of the UK, the law may differ. If you are in Northern Ireland you can visit the Labour Relations Agency or call their helpline Workplace Information Service on 03300 555 300.

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