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Policy

Social security

From
Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice
Directorate
Social Security Directorate
Topic
Communities and third sector, Economy, Equality and rights, +3 more … Housing, Money and tax, Public sector
Policy actions  3 of 16

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.

Find out more about benefits for carers, including how to apply, at the mygov.scot website. These include payments unique to Scotland.​​​​​​

Carer Support Payment

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

Benefits of Carer Support Payment

Carer Support Payment is different from Carer's Allowance. It:

  • provides an extra payment through Scottish Carer Supplement
  • extends availability to more carers in full time education
  • extends support for carers following the death of the person they care for from 8 to 12 weeks
  • provides an extra payment for those who care for more than one person on a qualifying disability payment, Carer Additional Person Payment
  • provides links to wider services to help carers access all the support they are entitled to
  • removes the requirement to be providing care for a certain number of weeks to be paid during temporary breaks in care
  • introduces clearer processes and timescales for carers who want to challenge a benefit decision

Our work with carers

We developed plans for replacing the DWP’s Carer’s Allowance 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:

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 to carer benefits are on top of a range of wider support we provide for carers including through the Carers (Scotland) Act. 

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