Young Wrexham

Carer's Allowance

The Carer's Allowance is a benefit for people who are giving regular and substantial care to disabled people in their own homes.

You don’t have to be related to, or live with, the person you care for.

Carer’s Allowance is currently £61.35 a week. You can check the current rate here.

Carer’s Allowance forms part of your taxable income and it can affect your other benefits.

To be eligible, you must:

• Be over 16 years old
• Care for a disabled person for over 35 hours a week
• Look after a disabled person who is getting a middle or higher rate care component of disability living allowance
• Not be in full time education or studying for more than 21 hours a week
• Earn less than £102 a week (after taxes, care costs while you’re at work and 50% of what you pay into your pension

To apply, you can either download a claim form or apply online here.

You can choose to be paid either weekly in advance, or every 4 or 13 weeks. You’ll be paid into an account e.g. a bank account.

If you are not sure if you can claim Carer's Allowance, please talk to the Citizens Advice Bureau or the Carer’s Allowance Unit on 0845 608 4321 (Telephone), 0845 604 5312 (Textphone) or via cau.customer-services@dwp.gsi.gov.uk.

Effect on other benefits

Carer’s Allowance can affect other benefits that you might claim and the benefits of the person for which you care.

For example, their severe disability premium will stop if you get Carer’s Allowance.

Any means-tested benefits you get will be reduced by the same amount that you get from Carer’s Allowance.

Look up the full list of benefits affected here.

Please Note: The new benefit cap will affect the total amount of benefit you can get, meaning you might get less overall than you think.

You should use a benefits calculator to work out how much you can get and if/how your other benefits will be affected.