The short answer
Carer Support Payment is Scotland's replacement for Carer's Allowance. It is delivered by Social Security Scotland rather than the DWP, and if you live in Scotland and care for someone it is the benefit you now apply for. People who were already on Carer's Allowance were moved across automatically, so there is nothing to do if you were already being paid.
- It pays £86.45 a week if you provide at least 35 hours of unpaid care a week for someone who receives a qualifying disability benefit.
- The Scottish Carer Supplement of £11.70 a week is added automatically on top, so the standard total is £98.15 a week.
- If you care for more than one person, Carer Additional Person Payment adds £10.40 a week for each additional person you care for.
- You can earn up to £204 a week after tax, National Insurance and allowable expenses and still qualify.
- A short break in caring of up to four weeks in any 26 weeks does not stop your payment, which matters a great deal when you are thinking about respite.
What Carer Support Payment pays in 2026/27
There are three separate elements. You do not apply for the second and third separately: Social Security Scotland adds them where they apply.
| Element | Weekly amount | Who gets it |
|---|---|---|
| Carer Support Payment | £86.45 | Every carer who meets the conditions |
| Scottish Carer Supplement | £11.70 | Added automatically to every award, so no separate claim is needed |
| Carer Additional Person Payment | £10.40 per extra person | Carers looking after more than one person, where the additional caring meets the conditions |
Rates shown are the published 2026/27 figures and are uprated each year. Confirm the current rate before you rely on it.
Margaret, caring for her husband at home
- Carer Support Payment
- £86.45 a week
- Scottish Carer Supplement
- £11.70 a week
- Total
- £98.15 a week
Margaret's husband receives Pension Age Disability Payment, and she provides around 50 hours of care a week. She does not work, so the earnings limit does not affect her.
Carer Support Payment is taxable income, but it is paid without tax deducted. It is not means-tested against savings, so having money in the bank does not rule you out.
Who can claim Carer Support Payment
- You are 16 or over.
- You usually live in Scotland and meet the residence and presence conditions.
- You provide at least 35 hours of care a week for one person.
- The person you care for receives a qualifying disability benefit.
- You earn no more than £204 a week after tax, National Insurance and allowable expenses.
- You are not in full-time education of 21 hours or more a week, unless one of the exceptions for students applies.
The 35 hours is broader than people expect. It counts time spent physically helping, time spent keeping an eye on someone to stop them coming to harm, and time spent on practical tasks for them such as cooking, laundry, shopping or managing appointments and paperwork. It does not have to be one continuous stretch, and it does not have to be at their house.
The person you care for has to be getting the right benefit
This is the condition that trips most families up. However much care you provide, Carer Support Payment can only be paid if the person you care for already receives one of these:
- Adult Disability Payment - daily living component
- Pension Age Disability Payment, or Attendance Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment - daily living component
- Child Disability Payment - middle or highest care rate
- Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance - middle or highest care rate
- Constant Attendance Allowance at or above the relevant rate, or Armed Forces Independence Payment
If the person you care for does not receive any of these, the first move is to check whether they should. Many older people who clearly need help have never applied for Attendance Allowance or Pension Age Disability Payment, and an award can unlock your claim as well as theirs. Our guide to Attendance Allowance and Pension Age Disability Payment walks through it.
How it interacts with other benefits, including the State Pension
Carer Support Payment does not sit neatly alongside every other benefit. Some benefits overlap with it, which means you cannot be paid both in full.
- State Pension and Retirement Pension overlap. If your pension is more than the Carer Support Payment rate, the payment itself is reduced to nil.
- Contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance, contributory Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Maternity Allowance and several bereavement and war pension benefits also overlap.
- Being paid Carer Support Payment can reduce a means-tested benefit the person you care for receives, most often the severe disability addition in Pension Credit. Check the household position before you claim, not after.
Carer Support Payment also gives you National Insurance credits towards your own State Pension for every week you are paid. If your payment stops, Carer's Credit can protect your record for a further period, but it is not automatic and has to be claimed.
You can take a break without losing the payment
This is the rule most carers in Scotland do not know, and it is the one that changes decisions. You are allowed a break from caring of up to four weeks in any 26-week period and still be paid Carer Support Payment, provided you had been giving 35 hours or more of care for at least four of the previous 26 weeks and the person you care for keeps their qualifying benefit throughout.
In plain terms: a two-week or three-week respite stay in a care home, taken so that you can have a holiday, recover from your own illness or simply stop for a while, does not normally cost you your Carer Support Payment.
- The four-week break can extend to 12 weeks where you or the person you care for were in hospital for at least eight of those weeks, subject to a longer caring history of 35 hours a week for at least 14 of the previous 26 weeks.
- Payment stops if your total breaks add up to more than 12 weeks in any 26-week period.
- Tell Social Security Scotland about any break. Do not assume it is too short to mention.
- A short respite stay is treated differently from a permanent move. The permanent move is covered in the next section.
What happens if the person you care for moves into a care home
A permanent move changes the picture, and it is far better to understand it in advance than to find out through an overpayment letter. Tell Social Security Scotland as soon as the move is planned, and tell any other benefit office involved.
- 01
Their disability benefit is usually reviewed after 28 days
Where the local authority or NHS is paying towards the person's care home fees, Attendance Allowance, Pension Age Disability Payment or the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment usually stops after 28 days in the home. It can stop sooner if they had a recent stay in hospital or a care home in the 28 days before.
- 02
If they pay their own fees in full, that benefit normally continues
This is the exception that matters most in practice. A self-funding resident generally keeps Attendance Allowance or Pension Age Disability Payment while they are paying their own care home fees. There are also separate rules for people receiving hospice care with a terminal illness.
- 03
Your Carer Support Payment follows the qualifying benefit
Carer Support Payment can only continue if the person you care for still receives a qualifying benefit and you are still providing at least 35 hours of care a week. If their benefit stops, your payment stops with it.
- 04
Some means-tested help runs on for eight weeks
If your payment stops because of the move, the carer premium or carer addition in benefits such as Pension Credit, Income Support or Housing Benefit can usually continue for eight weeks afterwards. The carer element of Universal Credit does not: it ends when the caring or the qualifying benefit ends.
Whether the person you care for will be self-funding or council-supported is the single question that determines most of the above, and it is decided by a financial assessment against the capital limits. Our guides to care home costs in Scotland and Free Personal and Nursing Care set out how that assessment works and what the state contributes either way.
If the person you care for dies
Carer Support Payment does not stop immediately. Where you were entitled to it right up to the death, payment continues for up to 12 weeks afterwards, or until you stop meeting the other conditions of entitlement, whichever comes first. The same run-on applies to Carer Additional Person Payment where an additional cared-for person dies.
Social Security Scotland still needs to be told. If you also received Carer's Credit, or a carer addition within a means-tested benefit, those offices need to be told separately.
How to apply
- 01
Check the qualifying benefit first
Confirm what the person you care for receives and at what rate. If they receive nothing, look at Attendance Allowance or Pension Age Disability Payment before you apply for anything else.
- 02
Work out your weekly hours and your earnings
Count the full 35 hours honestly, including supervision and practical tasks. Work out your earnings after tax, National Insurance and allowable expenses against the £204 weekly limit.
- 03
Apply
Apply online at mygov.scot/carer-support-payment, or call Social Security Scotland free on 0800 182 2222, Monday to Friday. Paper forms and support in other languages and in British Sign Language are available.
- 04
Ask about backdating
If the qualifying benefit was awarded recently, ask for your claim to be backdated within the 13-week window.
- 05
Get a free benefits check while you are at it
Citizens Advice Scotland and Carers UK will check the whole household position free of charge, including Pension Credit, Council Tax Reduction and the effect on the person you care for.