Carers benefits and entitlements

Find information on benefits and entitlements in your role as a carer, including how to remain in work while still continuing your role as a carer.

Carer's Allowance

Carer's Allowance is the main state benefit for carers, so it's important to find out if you can receive it.

You might be able to get Carer's Allowance if all of the following apply:

you're 16 or over
you spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone
you have been in England, Scotland or Wales for at least two of the last three years
you normally live in England, Scotland or Wales, or you live abroad as a member of the armed forces
you're not in full-time education or studying for more than 21 hours a week
you earn less than £110 a week (after taxes, care costs while you're at work and 50% of what you pay into your pension)

To find out more, go to Carer's Allowance: How it works (GOV.UK)

Carer's Credit, National Insurance and pensions

Being a carer can make a significant difference to your state or personal pension, especially if you have to give up work to care.

Your National Insurance (NI) number is the number used to keep track of your NI contributions and your entitlement to benefits.

Your NI record, kept by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HRMC), will determine your entitlement to many social security benefits.

These include:

State Pension
contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance
contribution-based Incapacity Benefit
contributory Employment and Support Allowance
bereavement benefits

To be entitled to one of these "contribution-based" benefits, you have to satisfy two contribution conditions (except for bereavement benefits).

The first contribution condition is that you have to have paid enough NI contributions in one or more past tax years (the tax year runs from April 6 to April 5 the following year).

The second contribution condition is that you have paid, are paying, or have been credited with enough NI contributions in the last two tax years before your claim for the benefit.

To find out more, go to Carer's Credit: Overview (GOV.UK)

Employment rights for carers

Continuing to work while caring can help you feel good about yourself and provide you with social interaction outside of your caring role. But staying in work or returning to work might feel like a daunting prospect, and you may find it helpful to take some time off or to ask your employer if you can work flexibly.

Flexible working

One way to help juggle your responsibilities may be to request flexible working from your employer. Flexible working benefits you by giving you a better work-life balance while still being able to earn a living.

Flexible working doesn't necessarily mean part-time hours. You may be able to work the same number of hours but at times that suit you, such as evenings or weekends or work 'compressed hours' (for example, you work the equivalent of the hours you would normally work in five days over four days, giving you an extra day free).

Other types of flexible working arrangements include:

working from home
'job sharing' with someone else who wants to work part-time
flextime (where you build up 'credits' by working extra hours when you can and then use this 'credit' to take time off later)
only working during term times (if you need to be around for a child outside of school hours)
working when the person that you normally care for is being cared for by someone else (for example, they may have activities outside of the home on some days)

For more information, go to

The Care Act

The Care Act represents the biggest consolidation of social care legislation over the last 60 years; it brings existing social care law up-to-date and introduces some new duties and responsibilities.

For more information, go to: