Carers receiving payments through Self-Directed Support

People who are eligible for social care support can choose to get this through a ‘direct payment’ which allows them to employ people to support them. This may be known as ‘Self Directed Support’. People who are eligible for this support are allowed to employ family or friends to support them.

This means some unpaid carers may be receiving some payments through ‘Self Directed Support’ or ‘Direct Payments’ from the person they care for, to provide care for them. They may have a contract for the care they are providing in this way.

These carers can be entitled to Carer Support Payment where they are providing 35 hours of care in addition to any care they are paid for or providing under a contract as part of Self-Directed Support.

Carers who are not providing 35 hours of care for the person they are caring for in addition to the care they are paid for through Self-Directed Support would not be eligible. They would not meet the requirement of providing 35 hours of care which is not provided under a contract.

If the carer was already receiving Carer Support Payment for caring for someone else, they may want to apply for Carer Additional Person Payment for caring for the person who is paying them through self-directed support. In this situation they would only be eligible for Carer Additional Person Payment if they were providing at least 20 hours per week of unpaid care in addition to any care they were being paid for or providing under a contract.

Example 3 – unpaid caring in addition to paid care – regular and substantial

Sammy provides care for Mark. Mark has opted to manage his own care through self-directed support, and he pays Sammy for 12 hours a week at £15 per hour. Sammy is able to show that they are actually caring for Mark for around 49 hours per week, therefore they are providing at least 35 hours a week of unpaid care. Sammy’s earnings from the 12 hours per week of paid care are £180, which is under the earnings threshold for Carer Support. Taking all of this into account, Sammy is eligible to receive Carer Support.

Example 4 – unpaid caring in addition to paid care – care for an additional person

June receives Carer Support Payment for the care she provides to her husband Malcolm. June’s neighbour Frances also pays June for an hour’s care per day through Self Directed Support. June contacts Social Security Scotland to ask if she can get Carer Additional Person Payment for looking after Frances. The client advisor requests more information about the extent of the care that June provides for Frances. If June is caring for Frances for at least 20 hours per week in addition to the 7 hours she is paid for, then she would be able to receive Carer Additional Person Payment. The hours of unpaid care for Malcolm and Frances can overlap (see Caring requirement for Carer Additional Person Payment section) so it’s possible for June to meet the 35 and 20 hour caring requirements at the same time.