How other benefits can affect Carer Support Payment

If you live with a partner

Your partner’s income or benefits do not affect your eligibility for Carer Support Payment. Or how much Carer Support Payment you can get.

Your benefits

If you get any of the following benefits, it could reduce the amount you get from Carer Support Payment:

• State Pension – learn more at GOV.UK
• Maternity Allowance – learn more at GOV.UK
• New Style Employment and Support Allowance – learn more at GOV.UK
• New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance – learn more at GOV.UK
• Incapacity Benefit – learn more at GOV.UK
• Severe Disablement Allowance – learn more at GOV.UK
• Widowed Parent’s Allowance – learn more at GOV.UK
• Training Allowance
• Unemployability Supplement (paid with War Pension)
• War Pension Scheme: War Widows or War Widowers Pension – learn more at GOV.UK
• War Pension (Additional allowance for spouse element)
• Industrial Death Benefit
• Unemployability Supplement (Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit - learn more at GOV.UK)

Those benefits are called ‘overlapping benefits’ because they overlap with Carer Support Payment. That means you cannot get one of those benefits and the full amount of Carer Support Payment at the same time. This is because those benefits and Carer Support Payment are designed to provide an income. If you already get an income from any of those benefits, you will not be able to get the full amount of Carer Support Payment. The full amount of Carer Support Payment is £81.90 a week. 

We’ve provided some examples to explain how this works.

If you get less than £81.90 a week from an overlapping benefit

In this example:

You get an overlapping benefit at a rate of £60 a week.

You then get awarded Carer Support Payment.

You would not get the full £81.90 from Carer Support Payment. This is because your overlapping benefit already pays you £60 a week.

So, you’d get the £60 a week from your other benefit, plus £21.90 a week from Carer Support Payment.

This would give you a total of £81.90 a week.

If you get more than £81.90 a week from an overlapping benefit

In this example:

You get an overlapping benefit at a rate of £100 a week.

You then get awarded Carer Support Payment because Social Security Scotland recognise your role as a carer.

You would not get paid any money from Carer Support Payment. This is because your overlapping benefit pays you more than £81.90 a week.

But you might be able to get more money from other benefits. This is sometimes called ‘underlying entitlement’.

Having an underlying entitlement means you’re eligible for Carer Support Payment but you cannot be paid Carer Support Payment because you get £81.90 a week or more from overlapping benefits.

How underlying entitlement can help you

Even if you do not get paid Carer Support Payment, your Carer Support Payment ‘underlying entitlement’ award letter could help you to get either:

• benefits you could not get before

• an extra amount paid on top of your other benefits

Underlying entitlement might help you get an extra amount if you get any of these:

• Pension Credit – learn more at GOV.UK
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance – learn more at GOV.UK
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance – learn more at GOV.UK
• Income Support – learn more at GOV.UK
• Housing Benefit – learn more at GOV.UK
• Council Tax Reduction – learn more at GOV.UK
• Universal Credit – learn more at GOV.UK

If you’re eligible for Carer Support Payment, you may not have to work as many hours to be eligible for:

• Working Tax Credit – learn more at GOV.UK
• Child Tax Credit – learn more at GOV.UK
• Tax-Free Childcare – learn more at GOV.UK

You may also be able to get other wellbeing and financial support, and help to take short breaks from caring.

Read about other support for carers.