Entitlement to Carer Support and components

Some eligibility criteria apply to the overall Carer Support award and some eligibility criteria apply only to the individual components. However, clients must be in receipt of Carer Support Payment in order to get the Scottish Carer Supplement component or the Carer Additional Person Payment component.

Eligibility for Carer Support

The individual must meet all of the following criteria to be eligible for Carer Support: 

Age

An individual who is 16 years of age or older can be eligible for Carer Support (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 4).

Where an individual was born on 29 February, their birthday should be taken to fall on 28 February in a year which is not a leap year (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 4(2)).

Residence and presence  

Only the carer needs to meet the residency criteria, not the cared for person.

To receive Carer Support, carers will need to be: 

• ‘ordinarily resident’ in Scotland (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 6(1a)), and 
• ‘habitually resident’ in the Common Travel Area (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 6(1b)) (the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands),
• not be subject to immigration control (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 6(1c))
• ‘present’ in the Common Travel Area, and have been ‘present’ in the Common Travel Area for at least 26 of the past 52 weeks (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 6(1d-e)).

In general, if someone is ‘ordinarily resident’ somewhere it means that they live there. If someone is ‘habitually resident’ somewhere it means that place is their main home and they intend to stay there. 

There are a number of special circumstances in which an individual will be treated as if they have met some or all of the residence and presence conditions where they do not. 

Carers will also need to have a right to public funds. For example, someone seeking asylum to the UK who has not yet been granted asylum does not have a right to public funds. This is just one example and more information on the Residence and Presence conditions can be found here.

Under Special Rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) carers who are terminally ill or caring for someone who is terminally ill (this can be the cared for person for whom they are applying for Carer Support Payment, or the cared for person for whom they are applying for Carer Additional Person Payment) can be awarded Carer Support without needing to pass the ‘past presence test’ (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 6 (6)).

Education  

Carers cannot receive Carer Support if they are aged 16 to 19 and studying full-time, non-advanced education or undertaking approved training (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 13). Full-time education is any period in which they attend a course of education at a school or other educational establishment for 21 hours or more per week. There are some exceptions to this rule for students with certain circumstances (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 13(2)).

Carers who are aged 16 but have not yet reached minimum school leaving age should be treated as if they are in full-time non-advanced education for the purposes of Carer Support and would therefore not be entitled until they reach minimum school leaving age and meet all other eligibility criteria.

Individuals in education are entitled to Carer Support if they are:

• aged 16 and over and studying less than 21 hours per week
• aged 16 to 19 and studying full-time advanced education in further (college) or higher (university) educational settings
• aged 20 or over, regardless of the hours studied or level of educational qualification
• aged 16 to 19 in full-time, non-advanced education and meet the ‘exceptional circumstances’ criteria. This group of students are able to receive certain reserved benefits in their own right due to adverse circumstances. This would be the case if one or more of the following apply:
  • they are without parental support
  • they are responsible for a child or qualifying young person (including foster parents)
  • they are receiving a disability benefit and have been assessed or treated as having a limited capability for work
  • in a couple, and their partner is not a student, or is a student and any of the above exceptions apply to them.

Eligibility for Carer Support Payment

An individual needs to meet the following criteria to be eligible for Carer Support Payment.

Provision of care to a cared for person

For Carer Support Payment, carers must be providing ‘regular and substantial care’ to someone who is getting a qualifying disability benefit. ‘Regular and substantial care’ is defined as 35 hours or more a week for Carer Support Payment (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 5(2)). The qualifying disability benefits for the cared for person are:

• Adult Disability Payment – daily living component at the standard or enhanced rate
• Child Disability Payment – middle or highest rate care component
• Pension Age Disability Payment
• Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance - middle or highest rate care component
• Attendance Allowance
• Constant Attendance Allowance at or above normal maximum rate with Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
• Constant Attendance Allowance at or above the basic (full day) rate with a War Disablement Pension
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• Personal Independence Payment – daily living component
• Disability Living Allowance – middle or highest care rate

Care must not be provided under a contract or as voluntary work done for a charity or other not-for-profit organisation (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 5(4)) . Therefore those undertaking care by contract or as voluntary work will not be entitled to Carer Support Payment.

Carers can sometimes be treated as if they meet the caring requirement for periods where they have temporarily breaks from caring. 

Individuals cannot be entitled to the Carer Support Payment component if:

• another individual is in receipt of Carer Support Payment for the same cared for person
• another individual is in receipt of Carer's Allowance for the same cared for person
• another individual is in receipt of the carer element of Universal Credit for the same cared for person (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 5(3))

It is possible for a carer to be entitled to Carer Support Payment where they have previously been entitled to Young Carer Grant, as long as their entitlement to Carer Support Payment would start after the 13-week qualifying period for Young Carer Grant.

An individual can be entitled to Carer Support Payment in respect of a cared for person where another individual is entitled to Young Carer Grant for that cared for person.

Earnings limit  

An individual is not entitled to Carer Support Payment if in the previous award week their earnings exceed the threshold, after certain deductions. For current and previous earnings thresholds please see Disability, winter heating and carers benefit payment amounts.

Entitlement to Scottish Carer Supplement

An individual is entitled to Scottish Carer Supplement for each award week in which Carer Support Payment is payable to the individual. Carers do not need to apply separately for Scottish Carer Supplement which is awarded automatically if a carer is eligible for Carer Support Payment. Carers with ‘underlying entitlement’ to Carer Support Payment only are not entitled to Scottish Carer Supplement as Carer Support Payment is not payable to these individuals due to the ‘overlapping benefits’.

Entitlement to Carer Additional Person Payment

For Carer Additional Person Payment, carers must be providing ‘regular and substantial care’ to an additional cared for person, who is not the person for whom they are getting Carer Support Payment, and who is getting a qualifying disability benefit. Regular and substantial care is defined as 20 hours or more a week (Carer Support Regulations 2025, regulation 14B(1) & 14B(3)). The qualifying disability benefits are the same as for Carer Support Payment. See Provision of care to a cared for person section above.

For Carer Additional Person Payment, carers can carry out the 20 hours or more caring requirement at the same time as they care for any other person(s) within the award (Carer Support Regulations 2025, regulation 14B (5)).

Carers can sometimes be treated as if they meet the caring requirement for periods where they have temporarily breaks caring.

Carers can receive Carer Additional Person Payment for each additional person they care for. However, there can only be one award of Carer Additional Person Payment for each additional cared for person  (Carer Support Regulations 2025, regulation 14B (2)). A carer can receive Carer Additional Person Payment where another carer is receiving any of the following benefits for care provided to the same additional cared for person  (Carer Support Regulations 2025, regulation 14B (4)):  

• Carer Support Payment
• Carer’s Allowance
• the carer element of Universal Credit
• Young Carer Grant

What this means is that there may be situations where two partners are caring for two people at the same time: 

• Carer 1 can receive Carer Support Payment for one cared for person – cared for Person A, and Carer Additional Person Payment for the other additional cared for Person B.  
• Carer 2 could do the reverse – receiving Carer Support Payment for Cared for Person B, and Carer Additional Person Payment for the other additional Cared for Person A. 
• A third young carer may then also receive Young Carer Grant for caring for either or both of Cared for Persons A and B. 

Care must not be provided under a contract or as voluntary work done for a charity or other not-for-profit organisation (Carer Support Payment Regulations 2023, regulation 5 (4) & Carer Support Regulations 2025, regulation 14B (6)). Therefore those undertaking care by contract or as voluntary work will not be entitled to Carer Additional Person Payment. Refer to additional guidance on caring requirement.