Who is eligible?
All five of these must be true:
- You are 16 or over
- You care for someone for at least 35 hours a week — this can include emotional support, supervision, helping with appointments, paperwork, not just hands-on care
- The person you care for receives a qualifying disability benefit: Attendance Allowance, PIP daily living (any rate), DLA middle or higher rate care component, Armed Forces Independence Payment, or Constant Attendance Allowance
- You earn no more than £196 a week after tax, NI and allowable expenses (so a part-time job is usually fine)
- You are not in full-time education (over 21 hours per week of supervised study)
You don't have to live with them
You can claim Carer's Allowance for caring for someone outside your home — including a parent in their own house. The 35 hours can be spread across the week (e.g. 5 hours a day every day).
The Severe Disability Premium trap
This catches a lot of families. If the person you care for receives Severe Disability Premium (SDP) as part of their Pension Credit, Income Support, JSA, ESA or Housing Benefit, they will LOSE SDP if you start claiming Carer's Allowance for them.
SDP is currently worth around £81.50 a week. If the person you care for loses that, the household could be worse off overall.
Always check first
Before submitting Carer's Allowance, check whether the person you care for receives SDP. Carers UK on 0808 808 7777 and Age UK on 0800 678 1602 will both do this check free of charge.
What Carer's Allowance unlocks
- National Insurance credits — every week you receive Carer's Allowance counts as a paid-up NI year, protecting your State Pension
- Carer Premium on Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit — adds £45.60 a week on top
- Free council tax disregard in many councils
- Bereavement Support Payment protection if the person you care for dies — Carer's Allowance continues for 8 weeks
- Council respite and support services — many councils prioritise carers receiving Carer's Allowance
How to claim
Claim it now — free
Have ready: your National Insurance number, employment and earnings details, bank details, and the National Insurance number of the person you care for.
- Open gov.uk/carers-allowance
- You'll need: your National Insurance number, employment and earnings details, bank details, and the National Insurance number of the person you care for
- The online form takes around 20-30 minutes
- Claims can be backdated by up to 3 months — which can be a £1,000+ lump sum, on top of the ongoing weekly amount
Carer's Credit if you don't qualify
If you care for someone between 20 and 34 hours a week — too few hours for Carer's Allowance — you may still qualify for Carer's Credit. It gives you National Insurance credits (so your State Pension is protected) but no money. Apply with form CC1 from gov.uk/carers-credit.