RNIB – supporting people with sight loss
Factsheet
Benefits for carers
Introduction
There are benefits that you may be entitled to if you are looking
after someone – including those with sight loss. You do not have to
be living with the person or related to them to claim these benefits
and the age of the person you are looking after doesn’t matter.
Carer’s Allowance
Carer’s Allowance is not means-tested and does not depend on
National Insurance contributions. It is taxable.
To claim Carer’s Allowance you must satisfy the following
conditions:
 you must be 16 or over
 if you do any paid work, you must not earn more than £116 a
week after deductions for tax, National Insurance and certain
expenses such as contributions to a pension or care costs
 you must not be in full-time education. However, the
meaning of “full time” is complicated and may depend on a
number of factors including the type of course you are doing. If
you are studying or thinking about studying then call our
Helpline for further advice.
 you must spend at least 35 hours a week looking after a
person who receives one of the following:
 middle or highest rate Disability Living Allowance care
component
 the daily living component of Personal Independence
Payment (either rate)
 Attendance Allowance (any rate)
 Constant Attendance Allowance.
To claim Carer’s Allowance, you must also:
 Be habitually resident in the UK – this is decided by looking at a
number of factors including reasons for coming to the UK, the
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length of your stay, future intentions, and previous links with the
country.
 Satisfy the past presence test – you will have had to be present
in the UK for 104 out of the previous 156 weeks (two out of the
last three years). You do not have to satisfy the past presence
test if you have a terminal illness.
These rules are complicated and there are some exceptions, for
instance if you are or have been living in a European Economic
Area (EEA) country. Contact our Helpline if you think you may
have difficulty passing these tests.
What else you should know about Carer’s Allowance
 If another person is already getting Carer’s Allowance for
looking after someone, you cannot also get Carer’s Allowance
to look after that same person.
 You can only get one award of Carer’s Allowance, even if you
care for more than one person.
 If you as the carer have a disability or long-term illness, you can
still receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal
Independence Payment (PIP) or Attendance Allowance (AA) for
yourself at the same time as claiming Carer’s Allowance for
looking after someone else.
 If you are getting Carer’s Allowance and the person you are
looking after dies, you will continue to receive Carer’s
Allowance for eight weeks after their death.
 Important: if the person you are looking after is claiming
income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or
Jobseekers Allowance (JSA), Income Support, Pension Credit
or Housing Benefit and their benefit includes the severe
disability premium, their benefit may be reduced if you start
getting Carer’s Allowance. However, their benefit will not be
affected if you just get the carer’s premium because of an
underlying entitlement to Carer’s Allowance (see “Can I receive
Carer’s Allowance at the same time as other benefits?” below).
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How to claim Carer’s Allowance
If you live in England, Wales or Scotland, call the Carer’s
Allowance Unit on 0345 608 4321 to request a claim form or go to
www.gov.uk to download it or complete it online.
If you live in Northern Ireland, you can call the Benefits Enquiry line
to claim. Call 0800 220674 (textphone 028 90311092) or visit
www.nidirect.gov.uk.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), who administer
Carer’s Allowance, can backdate your award for up to three
months on request.
If the person you are looking after is waiting for a decision about
their PIP or AA (or DLA for a child) claim and you claim Carer’s
Allowance within three months of them getting their decision,
your entitlement to Carer’s Allowance will then start from the same
date as their entitlement to any of those benefits.
How much will I get?
The basic rate of Carer’s Allowance is £62.70 a week. If you
already receive means-tested benefits such as income-related
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), income based
Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) or Pension Credit, you will not be
financially worse off by claiming Carer’s Allowance.
If you are under state pension age, Carer’s Allowance also gives
you Class 1 National Insurance contribution credits, which may
help you to qualify for a State Retirement Pension. For more
information about this see “What is Carer’s Credit” below.
Can I receive Carer’s Allowance at the same time as
other benefits?
You cannot normally receive payments for Carer’s Allowance at
the same time as contribution-based ESA, the State Retirement
Pension (SRP) or certain bereavement benefits. This is because
the “overlapping benefit” rules say you cannot be paid more than
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one of these benefits at the same time. However, it may still be
worthwhile claiming Carer’s Allowance if you get a means-tested
benefit such as income-related ESA, income based JSA or
Pension Credit to establish “underlying entitlement” to Carer’s
Allowance.
If you have underlying entitlement, you may be able to get an
increased amount of income-related ESA, Income Support,
Pension Credit, or Housing Benefit.
This increase is called the carer premium or the “additional
amount for carers”. It is worth up to £34.95 a week.
Remember, you can still get PIP or AA (or DLA for a child)
because of your own disability while claiming Carer’s Allowance for
looking after someone else.
Means-tested benefits
Many people get Income Support, income-related ESA or Pension
Credit to top up their Carer’s Allowance as these benefits help
people receive a minimum income.
 Income Support is a weekly cash benefit paid to carers and
some lone parents who are under state retirement age.
 Income based JSA is a weekly cash benefit paid to people
looking for work who are under state retirement age.
 Income-related ESA is a weekly cash benefit for people whose
ability to work is limited by their ill-health or disability and who
are under state retirement age. Call the Jobcentre Plus claim
line on 0800 055 6688 to find out more.
 Pension Credit is a weekly cash benefit for older people who
have reached Pension Credit qualifying age. Call the Pension
Credit claim line on 0800 99 1234 to find out more or to apply
for it.
If you receive Income Support, income based JSA or Pension
Credit as a carer then you can work for any number of hours a
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week. However, anything you earn over £20 a week will be
counted as income in the calculation for these benefits.
If you get Income Support or income-related ESA you may be
eligible to receive “maximum” Housing benefit, subject to other
rules. For Guarantee Pension Credit you should be entitled to
“maximum” Housing Benefit, subject to other rules.
Example of how to qualify for a carer addition if
Carer’s Allowance is not being paid
Mr Singh is 70 years old and spends at least 35 hours a week
looking after his wife. She gets the lower rate of Attendance
Allowance (but this is ignored as income) and a State Retirement
Pension of £74.50 a week. Mr Singh receives £120.50 State
Retirement Pension and a work pension of £52.00 a week. This
means their total income is £247.00.
The government has calculated that a retired couple need £243.25
a week to live on and they will be entitled to Guarantee Pension
Credit if they have an income of less than this each week.
Although Mr Singh can’t receive payments of Carer’s Allowance
because he is getting a State Retirement Pension, and the
“overlapping benefit “ rules stop him from being paid both benefits
at the same time, if he claims Carer’s Allowance he will have an
“underlying entitlement” to Carer’s Allowance.
Having an underlying entitlement to Carer’s Allowance means that
the carer addition of £34.95 will be added to the amount Mr and
Mrs Singh need to live on each week – and so the amount the
government say they can have each week will increase from
£243.25 to £278.20.
This means that Mr and Mrs Singh become entitled to Guarantee
Pension Credit of £31.20 each week (the difference between their
initial income of £247.00 and the increased amount the
government says they need of £278.20).
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Carer’s Credit
What is Carer’s Credit
Carer’s Credit is a National Insurance credit which is awarded
weekly. It is not a benefit payment and you will not receive any
money with Carer’s Credit. Instead, it helps you build up your
qualifying years for the basic state pension. Bereavement benefits
for spouses and civil partners will also be protected. You do not
need to make a claim for Carer’s Credit if you receive Carer’s
Allowance.
Do I qualify for Carer’s Credit?
If you are caring for someone for 20 hours or more a week you will
be eligible for Carer’s Credit if either:
 the person(s) you are caring for receives AA, Constant AA, the
daily living component of PIP, or the middle or higher care
component of DLA, or Armed Forces Independence Payment
 OR a health or social care professional has certified the
person(s) you are caring for as needing the level of care you
provide.
How do I apply?
You can apply for Carers Credit on the CC1 application form by
contacting the Carer’s Allowance Unit on 0345 608 4321 or you
can download an application pack from www.gov.uk.
Other sources of help for carers
A range of services are available to help you and the person you
are looking after.
 The person you care for is entitled to an assessment of their
needs by your local social services team. You can also ask for a
separate carer’s assessment – social services should consider
what support you need to continue caring for the person you
are looking after.
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 Local voluntary societies for blind and partially sighted people
often have volunteer visitors who can provide advice and
practical support.
 Call our Helpline on 0303 123 9999 for details of your local
voluntary society.
 Citizens Advice can usually give advice and information over
the telephone, as well as on an appointment or drop-in basis.
Visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk or call your local Citizens
Advice Bureau.
 To find out more about your rights as a carer call the Carers UK
Adviceline on 0808 808 7777, Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm,
or visit www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice.
How we can help
If you would like any more information about any of the benefits
covered in this factsheet, you can speak to our Advice team by
calling our Helpline. Our advisors can also carry out a full benefit
check with you, and give you advice about applying for other
benefits you may be missing out on.
Our Legal Rights Service is available to offer you help with more
complex benefit cases. If you would like to challenge a benefit
decision, or think you should be awarded more than you have
been, we can help you with the appeals process.
As well as putting you in touch with our specialist advice services,
our Helpline is your direct line to all the other support, advice and
products available from RNIB.
If you contact our Helpline, we can:
 give you information about your eye condition and available
treatments
 provide emotional support from qualified counsellors
 let you know about the people, services and organisations
available to help people with sight loss in your local area
 help you join and use our library service of over 40,000 titles in
braille, Moon, giant print and audio.
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Call our Helpline on 0303 123 9999, we’re ready to answer your
call Monday to Friday 8.45am to 5.30pm. You can also email us at
[email protected].
The factsheet gives general guidance only and is not an
authoritative statement of the law.
RNIB Legal Rights Service
May 2017
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