Who can apply for carer benefits
To get carer benefits in Scotland, you must:
- be aged 16 or over
- usually live in Scotland, or have lived in England, Wales, Ireland, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man for at least 26 weeks of the last 52 weeks
The person you care for must also get a qualifying benefit.
There's more criteria to meet if you’re aged 16 to 19 and you study.
Then there's specific criteria for each payment type.
Carer Support Payment
To get Carer Support Payment you must also:
- provide unpaid care for 35 hours or more a week
- not earn above a certain amount, if you work
Carer Additional Person Payment
If you provide care for more than one person and want to get Carer Additional Person Payment, you must also:
- get Carer Support Payment - you can apply for this at the same time
- provide unpaid care for the additional person for 20 hours or more a week - this can happen at the same time you spend caring for anyone else
Scottish Carer Supplement
You'll automatically get Scottish Carer Supplement if you get Carer Support Payment.
Young Carer Grant
If you're aged 16 to 19, you might be able to get Young Carer Grant, if you:
- provide care for 16 hours a week on average
- do not already get Carer Support Payment
Check if you can apply
Answer some questions to check if you're eligible for Carer Support Payment.
You'll be asked:
- your age
- where you live
- if you provide care for 35 hours or more a week
- if anyone else provides care for the same person
- if you earn any money
This is not an application. It uses your answers to help work out if you can apply.
Check if you can applyAfter you've answered all the questions, you'll be able to check if you can also get Carer Additional Person Payment. Or you can just check if you can get Carer Additional Person Payment.
The person you care for
The person you care for must get a qualifying benefit at the correct rate. Check the list of qualifying benefits.
If someone else cares for the same person
Two carers cannot get the same benefit for caring for the same person.
For example, if a husband and wife care for a child, only one can get Carer Support Payment. But the other might be able to get Carer Additional Person Payment instead.
You can still get Carer Support Payment if someone else is getting one of the following for the same person:
- Carer Additional Person Payment
- Young Carer Grant
But you cannot get Carer Support Payment if someone else already gets either:
- Carer’s Allowance, or
- the carer's element of Universal Credit
The type of care you provide
The care you provide must be unpaid, for example as a family member or friend. You cannot get any of the carer benefits, if you provide care for a person:
- as a professional care worker
- through a volunteering scheme or charity
Even if you do not think of yourself as an unpaid carer, you may be eligible. Examples of caring for someone include supporting them:
- with their mental health
- during an illness
- with a disability
Supporting someone with their mental health
If you provide care for someone with a mental health condition, you may:
- comfort them during a panic attack
- stay close by so they do not feel alone
- support them through a crisis
- make sure they're safe
- keep them company
Supporting someone with an illness or disability
If you provide care for someone with an illness or disability, you may support them with:
- getting around
- getting dressed
- taking medicines
- using the shower or toilet
- cooking meals
- food shopping
- translating
Where you live
Usually, you need to live in Scotland to get carer benefits from Social Security Scotland but you might also be able to apply if:
- you live in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland or Gibraltar and have a genuine and sufficient link to Scotland
- you or a family member are posted abroad as a member of His Majesty's Armed Forces, or as a UK Civil Servant