The four eligibility conditions
You qualify for Carer's Allowance if all four of these apply:
- You provide at least 35 hours of unpaid care per week to your child. “Care” here includes practical support, emotional support, supervision, and helping with medical or daily needs. The 35 hours can include nights and time spent on the phone organising appointments.
- Your child is on a qualifying benefit. For SEND children, that means middle or higher rate DLA care, or standard or enhanced PIP daily living (from age 16). The lower DLA care rate does not qualify.
- You earn under the weekly earnings limit (around £196 per week after tax, National Insurance, and allowable expenses, as of April 2025; verify against gov.uk for the current figure). The earnings limit is the most common reason parents who'd otherwise qualify don't.
- You aren't in full-time education (21+ hours per week of supervised study).
What you get
Carer's Allowance is around £83 per week in 2025-26 (uprated each April). You can apply to backdate up to 3 months, so the actual claim can be worth a few hundred pounds at the start.
Carer's Allowance also gives you National Insurance credits towards your State Pension, which is often the more valuable long-term benefit for parents who've been out of paid work caring.
The overlapping benefits trap
Carer's Allowance is an “earnings- replacement” benefit, which means it overlaps with several other benefits. If you receive any of these at a higher rate, you can't be paid Carer's Allowance on top:
- State Pension
- Contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance
- Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance
- Maternity Allowance
- Bereavement allowances
Even if you can't be paid the cash, it's usually worth applying for underlying entitlement: the DWP records that you'd qualify if you weren't on the overlapping benefit, which then unlocks the carer premium on Pension Credit or the UC carer element.
The interaction with Universal Credit
If you're on UC, you can claim Carer's Allowance (which is then offset against your UC, so no net gain on the £83) AND get the UC carer element (around £200 per month, a net gain). For most UC claimants the carer element is more valuable than the Carer's Allowance itself; some parents claim CA purely for the National Insurance credits and let UC absorb the cash.
How to apply
Apply via gov.uk. You'll need your details, your child's details and DLA award reference, and your bank details. The form takes about 30 minutes. The DWP usually decides within 6 to 12 weeks.
Where the law comes from
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.