Carers Allowance
You can get carers Allowance (CA) if you satisfy the following conditions:
- You care for a severely disabled person.
- Your care is regular and substantial.
- You are not in gainful employment.
- You are not in full-time education.
- You are over compulsory school age.
- You are not a person subject to immigration control – note: there are exceptions to this rule.
- You satisfy the residence conditions.
Carers Allowance, apart from the gainful employment rule, is not means-tested; other income or capital does not affect entitlement. This means, for example, that if you are under pension age and you access your pension funds after the age of 55, you can receive both Carers Allowance and your private or occupational pension.
Carers Allowance counts as income for means-tested benefits such as Pension Credit.
Actual receipt of, or the entitlement of an underlying entitlement to Carers Allowance may entitle you to extra amounts of Universal Credit (UC) or Pension Credit. Note: actual receipt of Carers Allowance or the Carers element of UC may affect the amount of benefit the person you care for receives.
The person you care for must receive a qualifying disability benefit.
Regular and substantial care must amount to 35 hours per week.
You must be gainfully employed. The mechanism for determining this is an earning threshold. Currently, this threshold is £196 (as at April 2025) or less per week. This means you cannot earn more than £196 per week from employment or self-employment to be eligible for Carer’s Allowance.
CA is an overlapping benefit. This means it overlaps with the state retirement pension. The higher of the two is paid, while an underlying entitlement to CA is retained for the purposes of Pension Credit.
For further information go to:
www.ageuk.org.uk (Factsheet 55)
