Effective date for a decrease or end of a Carer Support award

Change of circumstances

When a client has a change of circumstances that means their Carer Support award would decrease or end, the effective date for this change will be:

If the client has told us on time (Carer Support Payment regulations, regulation 27)

• If the client has told us about the change on time (‘as soon as reasonably practicable’) the effective date is the first day of the award week following the week in which we make the determination to change the award.

• This would include if the carer has told us, immediately after a change, or within a reasonable amount of time after becoming aware of the change.

• This could mean, for example, that a change to the carer’s earnings could be reported after it happened but would take effect from the date that we use the information reported to consider the carer’s entitlement and make the determination.
• In some situations we will receive information from third parties on a client’s change of circumstances – for example earnings information from HMRC or qualifying benefit information from DWP. If we get information from a third party before a client has told us about a change of circumstances it doesn’t necessarily mean the client has failed to tell us on time.
• If the client has died, we may be notified by another person, or via the Tell Us Once service. Where the client has died, the determination to end the award is effective from the start of the award week following the week in which the client died. If the cared for person or additional cared for person dies, this is treated differently – please see ’Death of the cared for person or additional cared for person’ section.

If the client has failed to tell us, or failed to tell us on time (Carer Support Payment regulations, regulation 27)

• If the client doesn’t tell us about a change of circumstances, or doesn’t tell us on time, the effective date is the first day of the award week following the week in which the individual should have notified us..
• It is reasonable to expect a client to report a change within 4 weeks. In considering whether a person reported a change as soon as reasonably practicable we must take into account the circumstance that that individual found themselves and this should include:
  • What information the person was given about changes to report and how to report them, i.e. notifications or communications with the client.
  • When the change happened versus when the individual became aware of it 
  • How long it took the person to report the change after they became aware of it 
  • If the change wasn’t reported within a month were there any exceptional or mitigating circumstances that practically prevented them from reporting the change earlier, and was this reasonable. An individual, or anyone acting on their behalf, cannot be reasonably expected to notify a change in circumstances within one month if there are special circumstances which mean they are unable to promptly report the change.
• In the case of a case transfer from Carer’s Allowance to Carer Support Payment we should take into account of the contents of the intro and outcome letter sent to the client in particular. These were specifically designed to advise the client of the basis of their award and instruct them to tell us if the information is wrong or anything changes to prevent overpayments at an early stage.
• A client whose award has transferred from Carer Support Payment to Carer Support will have received a letter informing them about the transfer, which will also remind them to notify us of any changes.
• We will get some information on changes to client’s circumstances from sources other than the client – for example earnings information from HMRC or qualifying benefit information from DWP. We may receive this information before a change of circumstances is reported by the client. This doesn’t necessarily mean the client has failed to tell us, or failed to tell us on time.
• You should consider whether or not a client has informed us of any change ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’ as set out above.
• Where a client has variable earnings and has been awarded Carer Support on the basis of average earnings, this decision could also consider the point at which it would be reasonable to expect the client to know that their average earnings had exceeded the threshold.
• If the change relates to a change in the situation of the cared for person (or additional cared for person) or their benefits this should take into consideration when the cared for person/additional cared for person or the client was informed about the change. Other factors can also be taken into consideration as set out in the guidance

Please note, in the following examples, the 2025/26 earnings threshold has been used for the purposes of the example. For current and previous earnings thresholds please see operational guidance on benefit amounts.

Where a new determination is being made following a determination where there was an error (including official error)

Where we need to make a new determination of entitlement to Carer Support because we have identified that a previous determination was incorrect due to an error resulting in an underpayment or overpayment [see chapter on determinations made in error, the change takes effect on the first day of the award week in which the earlier determination took effect (Carer Support Payment regulations, regulation 27(1)(b)).

If we consider it would be 'unjust' in the circumstances

• In situations where a carer hasn’t told us on time about a change of circumstances, but it is considered that it would be ‘unjust’ given the circumstances to set the effective date on the first day of the award week following the week in which they should have told us, a later effective date can be set (Carer Support Payment regulations, regulation 27(2)).
• This is so that individuals are not unduly disadvantaged because of circumstances beyond their control, genuine and reasonable mistakes made by them, or anyone acting on their behalf, and they reported the change as soon as they reasonably could be expected, under the circumstances.
• We also have the power to set a later date if we feel it would be unjust, given the circumstances, for the effective date to be
  • The first day of the benefit week following the determination or
  • The date that an earlier determination made in error took effect

Ending Carer Support after a suspension

For more details about the suspension process please see:

• Payment of Carer Support decision making guidance
• ‘Suspend a Case Payment’ operational guidance

An award of Carer Support may have been suspended because the individual has not responded to a request for information. If the individual either fails to respond within the period specified (Carer Support Payment Regulations, regulation 33(c)) in the suspension letter, or provides information indicating they are no longer entitled to Carer Support (Carer Support Payment Regulations, regulation 33(b)), a determination must be made to end the award.

Death of a cared for person or additional cared for person

When a carer is getting a component of Carer Support and the person they are caring for dies, or an additional cared for person dies, the relevant component(s) of Carer Support can continue to be paid either:

• Until the first day of the award week following the week in which the carer no longer satisfies any of the eligibility criteria other than providing care, or
• For a period of 12 weeks after the first day of the award week following the week in which the cared for person (or additional cared for person) died (Carer Support Payment Regulations, regulation 16(4))

For more information please see guidance on Death of an Individual.

Temporary Stops in Entitlement - exceptions to usual effective date rules

There is more detail about temporary stops in entitlement in the Payment of Carer Support chapter.

For temporary stops in entitlement, where a determination without application has been made to end entitlement due to

• earnings,
• breaks in care,
• the cared for person voluntarily relinquishing their qualifying disability benefit
• the cared for person having moved to Scotland from another part of the UK and no longer getting their qualifying disability benefit
• the individual being temporarily absent from, and no longer treated as present in, the Common Travel Area (Carer Support Payment Regulations, regulation 23(1))

The normal effective date rules apply in deciding when Carer Support should end (Carer Support Payment Regulations, regulation 27).

Different effective date rules apply for ‘temporary stops in entitlement’ where:

• The cared for person’s qualifying disability benefit has been set to £0 due to a stay in hospital or residential care, or legal detention (or where their payment has been stopped in these circumstances if it is a DWP disability benefit as these don’t use £0 rating). In this situation the Carer Support should end and the effective date would be the first day of the award week following the week in which the qualifying disability benefit is set to £0 or payment is stopped (Carer Support Payment Regulations, regulation 23(6))
• An additional cared for person’s qualifying disability benefit has been set to £0 or payment stopped due to a stay in hospital or residential care or legal detention. In this situation a determination without application should be made to end the Carer Additional Person Payment component. The effective date would be the first day of the award week following the week in which the qualifying disability benefit is set to £0 or payment is stopped (Carer Support Payment Regulations, regulation 23A).
• The cared for person’s qualifying disability benefit has been suspended due to failure to respond to a request for information (or uncertainty around entitlement if it is a DWP benefit). In this situation the Carer Support should end and the effective date would be the first day of the award week following the week in which the qualifying benefit has been suspended for 4 weeks (Carer Support Payment Regulations, regulation 23(7)).
• An additional cared for person’s qualifying disability benefit has been suspended due to a failure to respond to a request for information (or uncertainty around entitlement if it is a DWP benefit). In this situation a determination without application should be made to end the Carer Additional Person Payment component. The effective date would be the first day of the award week following the week in which the qualifying benefit has been suspended for 4 weeks (Carer Support Payment Regulations, regulation 23A).
• Note however that suspensions of a qualifying disability benefit where information has not been requested or there is not uncertainty around entitlement – for example, where there is an issue with payments to a third party etc – do not affect the carer’s entitlement to any of the components of Carer Support.