Carer's Allowance Eligibility and the £204 Earnings Limit

All of the following must apply:

• ✓Yes: You are 16 or over and you spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone.
• ✓Yes: The person you care for already gets one of the qualifying benefits (listed below).
• ✓Yes: You are not in full-time education and you are not studying for 21 hours a week or more.
• ✓Yes: You are not subject to immigration control.
• ✓Yes: Your earnings are £204 or less a week after tax, National Insurance and expenses (see the calculator below).
• ✓Yes: You have been in England, Scotland or Wales for at least 2 of the last 3 years (this does not apply if you are a refugee or have humanitarian protection status).
• ✓Yes: You normally live in England or Wales, or you live abroad as a member of the armed forces.

The qualifying benefits are:

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

If you are from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, you and your family usually also need settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to get Carer's Allowance.

Our guides cover PIP, Attendance Allowance, Pension Age Disability Payment, Adult Disability Payment and Disability Living Allowance. For the rate, how to claim and how Carer's Allowance affects other benefits, read the full Carer's Allowance guide.

In Scotland you need to apply for Carer Support Payment instead of Carer's Allowance. Carer Support Payment pays up to £86.45 a week, and your take home pay cannot be more than £204 a week. It's OK if your take home pay is sometimes more than £204 a week. Social Security Scotland can work out how much your average take home pay is.

In Northern Ireland you must have been in Northern Ireland for at least two of the last three years (this does not apply if you are a refugee or have humanitarian protection status), and you must permanently live in Northern Ireland or live abroad as a member of the armed forces. The person you care for must get Personal Independence Payment daily living part, Disability Living Allowance middle or highest rate for personal care, Attendance Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance at no less than the full day rate, or Armed Forces Independence Payment. The earnings limit is £204 a week after tax, National Insurance and expenses. The weekly rate is £86.45 but you get less if you get certain benefits or State Pension.

You can work and get Carer's Allowance as long as you spend at least 35 hours in your caring role and your earnings are £204 a week or less after tax, National Insurance and expenses. If your earnings in a week are over £204, the regulations treat you as gainfully employed on every day of the following week, and you are only entitled to Carer's Allowance for a day on which you are not gainfully employed. Enter your weekly figures below to work out your earnings against the £204 limit.

Your earnings are any income from employment and self-employment after tax, National Insurance and expenses. Expenses can include:

• ✓Yes: 50% of your pension contributions.
• ✓Yes: Equipment you need to do your job, for example specialist clothing.
• ✓Yes: Travel costs between different workplaces that are not paid for by your employer, for example fuel or train fares.
• ✓Yes: Business costs if you are self-employed, for example a computer you only use for work.
• ✓Yes: If you pay a carer to look after the disabled person or your children while you work, you can treat care costs that are less than or equal to 50% of your earnings as an expense. The carer must not be your spouse, partner, parent, child or sibling.

Example: you earn £100 a week (after tax, National Insurance and other expenses) and spend £60 a week on care while you work. You can treat £50 of this as an expense.

Payments that do not count as earnings include:

• ✗No: Money received from an occupational or private pension.
• ✗No: Contributions towards your living or accommodation costs from someone you live with (they cannot be a tenant or boarder).
• ✗No: The first £20 a week and 50% of the rest of any income you make from someone boarding in your home.
• ✗No: A loan or advance payment from your employer.

Yes. You cannot get the full amount of both Carer's Allowance and your State Pension at the same time. If your State Pension is £86.45 a week or more, you will not get a Carer's Allowance payment. If it is less, you get a payment that makes up the difference.

If you get Pension Credit and your State Pension is more than £86.45 a week, you will not get a Carer's Allowance payment but your Pension Credit payments will increase instead.

You are only entitled to Carer's Allowance for a day on which you are not gainfully employed, and the regulations treat you as gainfully employed on every day of a week if your earnings in the immediately preceding week were over £204. The independent review of Carer's Allowance overpayments found that in 2023 to 2024 the main cause of identified overpayments referred to Debt Management was claimants having earnings over the permitted limit, in 57.6% of cases referred.

• You must report changes in your circumstances, including changes to your income.
• You may have to repay the money if you did not report a change straight away, gave wrong information or were overpaid by mistake.
• If you get Universal Credit, your payment will be reduced by an amount equal to your Carer's Allowance payment.
• You may get an extra amount of Universal Credit for caring for someone who gets a disability-related benefit, whether you get Carer's Allowance or not.

Universal Credit can include a carer element even if your earnings are over the Carer's Allowance limit. Regulation 30 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 counts you as having regular and substantial caring responsibilities if you would satisfy the conditions for Carer's Allowance but for the fact that your earnings have exceeded the limit. Read more in our Universal Credit guide.