Financial support for carers

Carer's Allowance

Carer’s Allowance is a monetary benefit for people who spend at least 35 hours a week providing care to someone who has a disability.

The person who is being cared for must be receiving a qualifying rate of a relevant disability benefit. These include:

• Attendance Allowance
• Disability Living Allowance
• Personal Independence Payment
• Adult Disability Payment
• Armed Forces Independence Payment, and
• Constant Attendance Allowance with a War Disablement Pension.

You don't have to be related to or live with the person you are caring for. Even if you do paid work, you may still be eligible to receive Carer’s Allowance, however, you must earn less than £139 a week after tax, National Insurance and expenses.

You do not qualify for Carer’s Allowance if you are in full-time education.

Only one person can claim Carer’s Allowance for the care of an individual. This means that if someone is already claiming Carer’s Allowance for caring for the same person as you intend to, you can’t both receive the benefit.

You can apply to receive the Carer’s Allowance in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

People who are living in Scotland and receiving Carer’s Allowance could also get an extra payment, Carer’s Allowance Supplement.

If you live in Scotland, learn more about the Carer’s Allowance Supplement on mygov.scot website.

Find out more about Carer’s Allowance on the Turn2Us website.

Attendance Allowance

Attendance Allowance is a monetary benefit for people of pension age who have care needs to help with a physical or mental disability.

To be eligible for Attendance Allowance, you must have needed help with your care needs for at least 6 months.

It is not means tested so your income is not taken into consideration when checking your eligibility for the Attendance Allowance.

You will not be eligible to receive an attendance allowance if you live in a council-funded care home or hospital.

There are two rates of the Attendance Allowance, a higher and lower benefit. The rate you may be entitled to receive will be dependent on the amount of care and support you need.

You can apply to receive the Attendance Allowance in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Find more information Attendance Allowance on the Turn2Us website.

Appealing a Benefit decision

The Royal British Legion can help anyone in the Armed Forces community appeal any state disability benefits they may be entitled to.

Our expert advisors can guide you from your benefit decision all the way through to taking further action if needed.