Carer’s Allowance earnings limit increases to £196 per week

3 mins read

Monday 7 April 2025

From this week, the amount of earnings that a carer can have and still qualify for Carer’s Allowance and the Carer Support Payment in Scotland is increasing from £151 to £196 per week.

This is the biggest increase in the earnings limit since Carer’s Allowance was first introduced back in 1976. Contact has long campaigned for future increases in the National Living Wage to be tied to the earnings limit. This will now happen.

This increase will guarantee that anyone working 16 hours or less at National Living Wage is eligible for Carer’s Allowance or Carer Support Payment. They must still meet the other caring rules to qualify.

Follow the linked pages above for more information about how earnings are calculated and the other rules that you need to meet to qualify for Carer’s Allowance or the Carer Support Payment.

Annual uprating in benefits rates

This week also sees the start of the annual uprating of benefit payment rates.

Working age benefits are increasing by 1.7%. For example, the middle rate of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) care component will increase from £72.65 to £73.90 per week. The higher rate care component will increase from £108.55 to £110.40 per week.

The amount of Carer’s Allowance paid also increases from £81.90 to £83.30 per week.

Delay in higher payments starting for Universal Credit claimants

The increase in benefit rates does apply to Universal Credit. However, because of its monthly assessment period, there will be a delay before you see any increase in your Universal Credit payments.

The increase applies from the end of the first assessment period starting after 7 April. This means most Universal Credit claimants won’t see any increase until their May payment. Some will have to wait until early June.

No increase in the amount of Universal Credit received for those with transitional protection

If you get a transitional element in your Universal Credit award, the overall amount of Universal Credit you get is unlikely to increase at all.

This is because the transitional element you get is reduced by any increase in your other Universal Credit payments. This includes where an increase is due to the annual uprating in benefits rates.

Example

Alice is a lone parent whose Universal Credit includes a transitional element of £200 per month. Because of the annual uprating in benefits, her Universal Credit payments – such as her standard allowance, child element, carer element and disabled child addition – are all going to be uprated.

In Alice’s case, these increase by a combined amount of £18.37 per month. This results in £18.37 being deducted from her transitional element, reducing it from £200 to 181.63 per.