Benefits advice for carers

  1. Overview
  2. Carer's Allowance
  3. Universal Credit carer element
  4. Carer's Credit
  1. Council Tax
  2. Become an appointee
  3. Information and support

2. Carer's Allowance

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.

Page 2 of 7

Benefits and financial help