Benefits advice for carers

If you spend at least 35 hours caring for someone you may qualify for Carer's Allowance. The person you care for must already get certain benefits and you will need to meet the eligibility criteria.

You can find out more and claim Carer's Allowance online at GOV.UK or by contacting the Carer's Allowance Unit on 0800 731 097.

What you need to know

Carer’s Allowance can affect the other benefits that both you and the person you care for get.

It is a taxable benefit and forms part of your taxable income. It counts as income for other means-tested benefits you may qualify for.

You do not get paid extra if you care for more than one person.

If a disabled person has more than one carer who meets the criteria, a decision will have to be made which carer claims Carer's Allowance.

Carer premium

If you get any means-tested benefits and you are awarded Carer's Allowance, a carer premium should be included in your award (sometimes this is called a carer element or a carer addition). This means that part of your Carer's Allowance will be disregarded.

You may be entitled to a carer element for Universal Credit (UC) if you earn too much but you meet the other Carer's Allowance criteria.

A carer premium may help you qualify for other benefits. To check what benefits you could get, you can use the independent benefits calculator, entitledto. The calculator will give details of your estimated benefit entitlement.

Backdating

You can request backdating for a maximum of 3 months as long as you meet the qualifying criteria for this period. If there has been a delay in the person you care for being awarded a qualifying benefit, you can ask for backdating to the date the qualifying benefit was awarded from as long as you claim Carer's Allowance within 3 months of that decision.

Challenging a decision

If your claim has been refused or if you disagree with a decision about your benefit entitlement you may be able to challenge this. Please see our guide to benefit challenges and appeals for more information.

The carer element is an extra monthly amount that the DWP often do not add to your Universal Credit (UC) unless you request it (by following the correct process).

Eligibility

To qualify for the carer element you must spend at least 35 hours per week caring for someone who is in receipt of a relevant disability benefit. These are,

• Attendance Allowance at either rate,

• Disability Living Allowance care component at middle or higher rate,

• Personal Independence Payment daily living at either rate,

• Constant Attendance Allowance (at least the full day rate) paid with Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes or,

• Armed forces Personal Independence Payment.

There are two routes to qualifying:

1. You receive Carers Allowance.

2. You can inform the UC section that you are a carer, without making a separate claim for Carers Allowance.

How to request the carer element

• You must report a change of circumstances on your online account.

• Say that you are caring for someone receiving a relevant disability benefit.

• Declare who you are caring for and ask for the carer element to be included on your journal. 

• If the relevant disability benefit has only recently been awarded for a past period, you should ask for arrears of the carer element to cover that period as well.

The DWP do not always include the carer element automatically, even if they hold all the necessary information. You will often have to request that it is included, even if the DWP know you are claiming Carers Allowance (and are deducting the amount you receive from your monthly payment).

DWP have stated:

"… the UC service recognises Carers Allowance as an income but is not currently able to interpret what that means to a claimant’s circumstances. This is why we ask the claimant to declare their caring activity within their Universal Credit account. By ensuring their account holds accurate information, they are also ensuring that they receive the correct amount of allowance and are placed in the correct work group."

Points to consider

• We would usually advise that you should also claim Carers Allowance. This isn’t strictly necessary but useful for national insurance credits and as protection in case Universal Credit stops for any reason because the Carers Allowance would remain in payment.

• Claiming the carer element could potentially reduce the benefits of the person receiving the care by removing their Severe Disability Premium if they have one.

• You cannot have a carer element if you have the Limited Capability for Work Related Activity element.

If you are a carer but you don't qualify for Carer's Allowance, you may qualify for Carer's Credit. This is a National Insurance credit towards your State Pension while you're not making any contributions because of your caring role.

To qualify you must be caring for a disabled or ill person for at least 20 hours per week. You can find out more about Carer's Credit on GOV.UK.

If you are a carer you may qualify for Council Tax discounts, exemptions or reductions.

Single person discount

You may be entitled to a 25% discount on your bill if:

• You are the only adult who lives in the property

• You live with certain others who are disregarded for Council Tax purposes such as full-time students, carers, people who have a severe mental impairment, long-term hospital patients or care home residents.

Carer's discount

Sometimes called carer's disregard or disregarded person discount, carers who meet the criteria below are disregarded for Council Tax purposes.

To be eligible you must:

• provide care for at least 35 hours per week

• live in the same property as the person you care for

• not be the partner of the person you care for, or their parent if you care for a child under 18

• provide care for a person who gets one of the following benefits:

  • either the middle/higher rate of the Disability Living Allowance care component

  • the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment/Armed Force Independence Payment

  • Attendance Allowance

  • the highest rate of constant Attendance Allowance

You do not have to be entitled to Carer's Allowance and income and savings will not affect your eligibility. If there is more than once carer in the property, they can all be disregarded as long as they all meet the above criteria. 

Severely mentally impaired people

If you live with a person who meets both the criteria below they will be disregarded for Council Tax purposes:

• They have a certificate from their GP confirming the condition. Most councils have an application form to be completed by the GP

• They are entitled to the middle/higher rate of the Disability Living Allowance care component, the daily living component of Personal Independence Payments/ Armed Force Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance or the highest rate of constant Attendance Allowance

Council Tax exemption

Your home may be exempt from Council Tax if:

• You have left the property empty and it is no longer your main residence because you are providing care to someone

• All residents are severely mentally impaired

• The property has been left empty by someone who is staying in hospital or a care home on a long-term basis where personal care is provided

Disability Reduction Scheme

If anyone living in your property is regarded as 'substantially and permanently disabled' you could get a reduction in your Council Tax if there is:

• an additional bathroom or kitchen in the property needed for the disabled person

• a room (other than a bathroom, kitchen or toilet) needed and mainly used by the disabled person

• enough space in the property for the disabled person to use a wheelchair indoors (for example widened door frames)

The reduction would mean that your Council Tax bill would be reduced to the band below your current charge. If your property is in the lowest band already you would get a reduction of one sixth of the bill.

Council Tax Support

Each council is responsible for their own Council Tax Support scheme and eligibility criteria vary from council to council for residents under state pension age. Most councils base eligibility on your income and capital (means-tested).

To find out more about your local scheme you should contact the local council which you pay your Council Tax to.

You can apply to become an appointee for someone who cannot act for themselves due to illness, mental illness or a learning disability. 

Benefit for the person you act for will be paid direct to you and you will be responsible for managing the benefit claim.

You must be over 18 and only 1 person can act as appointee. An appointee can be a relative, friend or an organisation or representative such as a local council or solicitor.

You can find more information about becoming an appointee on GOV.UK.

Online benefit check

To check what benefits you could get as a carer you can use an independent benefits calculator, entitledto. The calculator will give details of your estimated benefit entitlement.

How to claim

For further information on eligibility and how to apply for Council Tax support, Council Tax discounts and exemptions, please contact your local council.

For details of other benefits, including how to claim, please see the GOV.UK website.

If you still have questions about your entitlement after your estimate from the calculator you can contact the Welfare Rights Service.

If your claim for benefit or tax credits has been refused or if you disagree with a decision about your benefit entitlement you may be able to challenge this. Please see our guide to benefit challenges and appeals for more information.