Social security

Benefits for carers

Unpaid carers play a vital role in looking after the people they care for, but we know this can affect their own health and wellbeing, and restrict social, education and employment opportunities.

We want to help carers protect their health and wellbeing, so they can continue to care if they wish, and have a life alongside caring. Our carer benefits provide unpaid carers with income in recognition of their caring role, to help them access opportunities outside of caring.

Carer Support Payment

Carer Support Payment is replacing Carer’s Allowance in Scotland, and is paid by Social Security Scotland.

Carer Support Payment is being rolled out across Scotland in phases. As of July 2024 it is available in the following areas:

• Angus
• Dundee City
• Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)
• North Lanarkshire
• Perth and Kinross
• South Lanarkshire

Carers who are already getting Carer’s Allowance

The ‘case transfer’ process, where the benefits of carers in Scotland who already receive Carer’s Allowance are transferred to Carer Support Payment, began on 26 February 2024.

Carers do not need to do anything as their award will transfer automatically. The amount they receive will not change. Both the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Social Security Scotland will write to people in advance to let them know that their award will be transferring. More information on moving from Carer’s Allowance to Carer Support Payment in Scotland is available at the mygov.scot website.

Benefits of Carer Support Payment

Carer Support Payment improves on Carer's Allowance, which it is replacing, by:

• extending availability to more carers in full time education

• providing links to wider services to help carers access all the support they are entitled to
• introducing clearer processes and timescales for carers who want to challenge a benefit decision

Future improvements to carer support

Once all eligible carers have had their benefits transferred from Carer’s Allowance to Carer Support Payment, we plan to deliver further improvements as soon as possible. This includes:

• extra support for those caring for more than one person
• extending support for carers following the death of the person they care for

Carer’s Allowance is the most complex benefit we are replacing in terms of its links with other benefits, including DWP benefits. This means that in working to develop and deliver these improvements to Carer Support Payment, we need to work closely with DWP and HMRC to make sure  we can make changes in a way that will protect the wider support that carers rely on.

Our work with carers

We developed plans for Carer Support Payment following extensive public consultation, and engagement with carers and the organisations that represent them. This included feedback from research with our Experience Panels. Read Experience Panel reports we have published to date. 

Organisations that work with carers and wider experts who have played an important role have included:

• Carer Benefits Advisory Group
• Young Carer Grant Working Group
• Disability and Carers Benefits Expert Advisory Group
• Scottish Commission on Social Security

We will continue to engage with carers to ensure that any changes to support continues to make a positive difference.

We are also working to improve benefit take-up as we want to ensure that carer benefits reach everyone who is entitled to them.

Wider support for carers

The improvements we have made and are proposing to make to carer benefits are on top of a range of wider support we provide for carers including through the Carers (Scotland) Act. 

Our work to develop Carer Support Payment is also linked to wider work which is ongoing to improve support for carers and the people they care for, including through the development of a National Care Service.