People on Carer’s Allowance due extra £288 payment before end of next month

Tens of thousands of people claiming Carer’s Allowance will receive one-off payments for £288.60 in June and December this year. Carer’s Allowance Supplement is an automatic payment made twice each year by the Scottish Government to recognise the important contribution made by unpaid carers.

To qualify for the automatic payment next month, people need to have been in receipt of either Carer’s Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), or the newly launched Carer Support Payment from Social Security Scotland, on April 8, 2024. People who applied for either benefit before that deadline, who are waiting on an award decision, will receive the payment in arrears if their claim is successful.

The payment is administered by Social Security Scotland and delivered separately from Carer’s Allowance. The second Carer’s Allowance Supplement payment will be made in December to those in claim on October 7, 2024 - the exact payment dates will be confirmed nearer the time.

The latest figures from the DWP show that in August last year 84,896 people were receiving Carer’s Allowance.

Carer Support Payment

Unpaid carers across Scotland will soon be able to apply for a new devolved benefit. Carer Support Payment will gradually replace Carer's Allowance for everyone already claiming the DWP benefit.

New claims for Carer's Allowance were replaced by the Scottish payment in November 2023 for people living in Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and the Western Isles and is set to launch in 10 more council areas this summer - the phased rollout will start with North and South Lanarkshire and Angus on June 24.

From August it will extend to Fife, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, and North, East and South Ayrshire and be available in the rest of Scotland in November. Carer Support Payment is only available to new claimants - people already receiving Carer’s Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will not be affected by the rollout and will have their current award transferred over to Social Security Scotland in stages.

It’s important to be aware the DWP will continue to pay Carer’s Allowance until the move to Carer Support Payment is completed. Payments will be the same - £81.90 per week.

There will be no gap in payments during the transfer and the amount someone receives will stay the same. The weekly earnings threshold will also be the same as the DWP, this is now £151 for the 2024/25 financial year.

If you move from Carer's Allowance to Carer Support Payment, you can also choose to be paid weekly instead of every four weeks.

Eligible carers who live in areas where Carer Support Payment is not yet available are being urged to still apply for Carer's Allowance to make sure they don’t miss out on support.

Carer Support Payment is also available to carers aged 16-19 in full-time ‘advanced’ education and carers aged over 20 in full-time education at any level. These regulations will see eligibility further extended to some 16-19-year-old carers in full-time ‘non-advanced’ education, such as school, from June 24.

Carer Support Payment rollout timetable

• Available to claim now - Perth & Kinross, Dundee City and Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)

• June 24 - North and South Lanarkshire, Angus

• August 19 - Fife, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, and North, East and South Ayrshire

• November 4 - Available across Scotland

Backdated payments

The new regulations also now include special backdating rules. This means that carers who are not getting Carer’s Allowance but are eligible for Carer Support Payment can have their payments backdated to the date Carer Support Payment first became available. This stops carers missing out on money they are entitled to because they live in an area included in the later phases of the rollout.

The main group to benefit will be carers aged 16-19 in full-time “advanced” education (such as university), and carers aged over 20 in full-time education at any level.

To get their fully backdated payments, carers must apply within 13 weeks of the benefit becoming available in their area.

Transfers from DWP to Social Security Scotland began in February this year, with all awards expected to be moved by Spring 2025.

Full details about Carer Support Payment can be found on the Scottish Government website here.