Carer's Allowance is £86.45 a week in 2026/27 if you care for someone for at least 35 hours a week and they get a qualifying disability benefit. You must be aged 16 or over, not in full-time education, and your earnings must be £204 a week or less after tax, National Insurance and allowable expenses. You can claim it online through GOV.UK, by phone, or by post, and a claim can be backdated by up to three months.

The allowance is paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in England and Wales, and by the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland at the same rate. In Scotland you apply for Carer Support Payment instead. It is not means-tested on your savings, but it is taxable income, and it comes with National Insurance credits for every week you receive it.

What is Carer's Allowance?

Carer's Allowance is a weekly benefit for people who spend a large part of each week looking after someone who is ill, disabled or elderly. It is the main benefit for unpaid carers, and it recognises the time and income that caring can cost. You do not have to be related to the person you care for, and you do not have to live with them.

The 35 hours a week can include practical help such as washing, cooking and taking the person to appointments, as well as keeping an eye on them, helping with paperwork and managing household tasks such as paying bills. The hours can be spread across the week, and they can be for one person only: you cannot add together hours spent caring for two different people to reach 35, and you do not get extra money if you care for more than one person. Only one person can claim Carer's Allowance for caring for a particular individual, even if several people share the caring.

Carer's Allowance is not a payment for the person who needs care. It is paid to the carer. It is separate from the disability benefits the person you care for may receive, such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Attendance Allowance, and claiming it does not reduce those benefits. It can, however, affect some other benefits, which is explained below.

How much is Carer's Allowance in 2026/27?

Carer's Allowance pays a single flat rate of £86.45 a week in 2026/27. There are no higher or lower tiers, and the amount does not depend on how many hours over 35 you care, or on your savings. The rate rose from £83.30 a week in 2025/26, an increase of £3.15 a week under the annual uprating of working-age benefits. Rates usually change each April, so always check the current rate on GOV.UK before relying on the figure.

You can choose to be paid weekly in advance or every four weeks. Over a year, £86.45 a week is about £4,495. The payment is taxable income, but on its own it sits well below the personal allowance of £12,570 a year, so most carers who have no other income owe no tax on it. If you have other taxable income that takes your total over the personal allowance, tax may be due on the combined amount.

Who can claim Carer's Allowance?

GOV.UK says all of the following must apply. You must be 16 or over, you must spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone, you must not be in full-time education or studying for 21 hours a week or more, and your earnings must be £204 a week or less after tax, National Insurance and expenses. You must also meet the residence and presence conditions set out on GOV.UK.

The person you care for must already be getting one of a list of qualifying benefits. The main ones are the daily living part of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance at the middle or highest rate for care, Attendance Allowance, the Armed Forces Independence Payment, and certain rates of Constant Attendance Allowance. If the person you care for has not yet been awarded one of these benefits, you cannot claim Carer's Allowance until their award is in payment, so it is worth claiming as soon as their qualifying benefit starts rather than waiting.

Your earnings are what matters, not your savings. Carer's Allowance is not means-tested, so the money you have in the bank and most unearned income do not affect whether you can get it. What counts as earnings is income from employment and self-employment. Occupational and private pension income does not count as earnings for this test.

The £204 earnings limit and the cliff edge

The earnings limit is the part of Carer's Allowance that catches most people out. From 6 April 2026 you can earn up to £204 a week and still receive the allowance, but the £204 is what is left after certain deductions, not your gross pay. You can take off income tax and National Insurance, half of anything you pay into a pension, equipment you need for your job, and up to half of what you pay someone who is not a close relative to look after the disabled person or your children while you are at work. Those deductions give you more room than the headline figure first suggests.

At the moment the limit is a cliff edge, not a taper. If your earnings after deductions go even £1 over £204 in a week, you lose the whole £86.45 for that week, not just the amount over the line. The limit is tested week by week rather than averaged across a month, so a single week of overtime can cost a week's allowance. That is why carers are advised to keep payslips and to report changes promptly.

In October 2026 the UK Government announced plans to end the cliff edge and introduce a taper system. Under the announced change, for every £1 earned over the weekly earnings limit, Carer's Allowance would fall by £1 instead of stopping altogether. The taper is planned to take effect from 2030/31 in England and Wales. Until then, the all-or-nothing rule applies, and anyone earning just over the line should check whether pension contributions or allowable care costs can bring them back under it.

How Carer's Allowance affects other benefits

Carer's Allowance overlaps with some other benefits, which means it cannot always be paid on top of them. You cannot usually be paid Carer's Allowance if you are already getting State Pension, contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance, contributory Jobseeker's Allowance, Maternity Allowance or Incapacity Benefit at a higher rate. If the overlapping benefit pays more than £86.45 a week, you will not receive a Carer's Allowance payment, but you may still have what is called an underlying entitlement, which can unlock extra amounts in means-tested benefits such as Pension Credit.

It also affects the benefits of the person you care for. If they get a severe disability premium, or the extra amount for severe disability in Pension Credit, that extra amount will usually stop when you claim Carer's Allowance. The severe disability addition in Pension Credit is worth £86.05 a week in 2026/27, almost exactly what Carer's Allowance pays, so a household should check the combined effect before claiming. They might also lose a Council Tax reduction.

On the other side, claiming can open up extra help for you. For each week you get Carer's Allowance you automatically get Class 1 National Insurance credits, which count towards your State Pension and towards some contributory benefits. You may also be able to get a carer element added to Universal Credit, help with Council Tax, support from your local council, and grants or bursaries for courses and training. Your Universal Credit payment itself is reduced by the amount of Carer's Allowance, but the carer element can mean your total income goes up or stays the same, so the DWP advises checking the overall position rather than looking at one benefit in isolation.

Carer Support Payment in Scotland and Carer's Credit

If you live in Scotland, you do not claim Carer's Allowance. You apply for Carer Support Payment from Social Security Scotland instead. It pays the same £86.45 a week in 2026/27 and has its own earnings rules, and Scotland also pays a Scottish Carer Supplement. If you move between Scotland and the rest of the UK, tell the relevant authority so your claim is transferred correctly.

If you care for someone for at least 20 hours a week but do not qualify for Carer's Allowance, for example because you earn too much or you are in full-time education, you may be able to claim Carer's Credit instead. Carer's Credit does not pay any money, but it gives you National Insurance credits that protect your State Pension record. It is worth claiming if you are caring regularly and your National Insurance record has gaps.

How to claim Carer's Allowance

The fastest way to claim is online through GOV.UK, where the application is available around the clock. You can also claim by phone through the Carer's Allowance Unit on 0800 731 0297, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm, or by post on form DS700 if you are under State Pension age, or form DS700SP if you are over State Pension age. You will need the National Insurance number and date of birth of the person you care for, details of the qualifying benefit they receive, and information about your earnings and any courses you are taking.

A claim can be backdated by up to three months, so do not delay once the person you care for is getting a qualifying benefit. If your claim is refused, you can ask the DWP to look at the decision again, and you can appeal to an independent tribunal if you still disagree. Keep copies of everything you send, and note the date you claimed, because the backdating period runs from the date of claim.

Once you are getting Carer's Allowance, you must report changes straight away, including changes to your earnings, your hours of care, the benefits the person you care for receives, and any breaks in caring. If you go into respite care arrangements, the allowance usually continues for up to 28 days for each separate break. The DWP is currently reassessing Carer's Allowance overpayments that took place between 10 April 2015 and 2 September 2025, so anyone who received an overpayment letter should read it carefully and seek advice from Citizens Advice or Carers UK before agreeing to repay.

Frequently asked questions

How much is Carer's Allowance in 2026/27? It is £86.45 a week, for at least 35 hours a week of care for someone who gets a qualifying disability benefit.

Can I work and claim Carer's Allowance? Yes, as long as your earnings are £204 a week or less after tax, National Insurance and allowable expenses. Go £1 over and you lose the whole payment for that week.

Does Carer's Allowance affect the person I care for? It can do. Their severe disability premium or Pension Credit severe disability addition will usually stop, so check the household total before claiming.

Can I claim if I care for two people? You can only claim for one person, and you get no extra money for caring for more than one person, even if your total hours are well over 35 a week.

What if I live in Scotland? Apply for Carer Support Payment from Social Security Scotland instead of Carer's Allowance.

Rates and rules change each April. Check the current figures on GOV.UK before you act, and get independent advice from Citizens Advice or Carers UK if your situation is complicated.