Spread the word this Carers Week
This Carers Week (8-14 June), we’re encouraging Scotland’s carers to make sure they’re getting the help they’re entitled to.
Carers Week is an important campaign, highlighting the challenges that unpaid carers can face and encouraging people who might not see themselves as carers to access support, whether that’s emotional, social or financial.
Over the last year, we have introduced a series of improvement to our payments for carers. We now have four payments available.
Carer Support Payment is a payment of £86.45 per week. It has replaced Carer’s Allowance for most carers in Scotland.
The payment is available to people providing care for 35 hours or more a week to someone who receives a qualifying disability benefit. The carer will need to earn less than £204 per week after tax, National Insurance and expenses.
Carer Support Payment is also available to some carers in education.
Scottish Carer Supplement is an extra payment for eligible unpaid carers who get Carer Support Payment. The payment, worth £11.70 per week, is only available in Scotland and gets paid automatically weekly alongside Carer Support Payment without the need to apply.
Carer Additional Person Payment is a new payment for people who care for more than one person. It is paid weekly at a rate of £10.40 per week.
Young Carer Grant is available for carers aged 16 to 19 who provide support for an average of 16 hours a week to someone receiving a qualifying disability benefit. It is a yearly payment of £405.10 and the money can be spent on whatever the young person wants.
Helpful resources
We want as carers to know more about the support they could be eligible for. If you are part of an organisation that supports carers in Scotland, you can access shareable resources via our Carers Week resources page.