Remember that if you are not getting Carer’s Allowance the advice on this page is only any use to you if one of the following applies to you:

• You are ‘regularly and substantially engaged in caring for another person’, who has claimed Attendance Allowance, or Disability Living Allowance, or Personal Independence Payment, but hasn’t yet had a decision on their claim, so you haven’t been able to claim Carer’s Allowance yet. This applies for up to 26 weeks.
• You are ‘regularly and substantially engaged in caring for another person’ who gets Attendance Allowance, or the middle or higher rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance, or either rate of the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment. You might notice that these are the same as one of the tests for Carer’s Allowance, so why not just claim Carer’s Allowance anyway? The important point here is that the other rules for Carer’s Allowance don’t apply here, so if you think you can argue that you are ‘regularly and substantially engaged in caring’ it won’t necessarily matter if you are caring for less than 35 hours per week.
• You are looking after a member of your family (your partner or one of your children) who is ‘temporarily ill’. This is only going to help you for a fairly short time but might get you through an immediate emergency.

Let’s look at each of the possible benefits…

Income Support

• You have the right to claim Income Support as a carer
• However, you will still not be entitled to Income Support if you are actually working 16 hours or more per week.
  
• The big problem is that the amount you get will be reduced if you have other income (although some income is ignored, including the things further down this page) or if you have too much savings or other capital
• Unfortunately, any weekly earnings over £5 are counted as income
• Because of this, the way this normally works out in practice, if you are over 25, and are not disabled yourself, is:
• ⁃ If you earn £78.10 or more a week, you get no Income Support
• ⁃ If you earn between £5 and £78.09 per week, your Income Support and wages together add up to £78.10
• ⁃ If you earn less than £5 per week, you receive £73.10 per week from your Income Support, plus your wages.
• In other words, there’s not much point in earning more than £5 per week because the rest of it is knocked off your Income Support
• The principle is the same if you are under 25, but the amounts you get are smaller: again, there is no financial advantage to you in earning more than £5 per week
• You can claim Income Support by phoning the Jobcentre Plus on 0800 055 6688.

Housing Benefit

• If you rent your home, getting Income Support should entitle you to full Housing Benefit as well. Bear in mind, though, being entitled to full Housing Benefit is not the same as getting all your rent paid.
• Even if you are not entitled to Income Support you may still be entitled to some Housing Benefit, depending on how big your wages are, so you should make a claim
• If you want more information about Housing Benefit, click here

If you were getting Housing Benefit before for some other reason (for example, getting Jobseeker's Allowance, or working and being on low income) you should tell the local authority (council) that your circumstances have changed, otherwise you will be getting Housing Benefit for the wrong reason, and may end up being asked to pay back an overpayment

Council Tax Support

• If you rent your home, getting Income Support should entitle you to full Council Tax Support as well. Bear in mind, though, being entitled to full Council Tax Support is not the same as getting all your council tax paid. Depending on your local authority (council) you might find that you are entitled to more Council Tax Support than you were before.
• Even if you are not entitled to Income Support you may still be entitled to some Council Tax Support, depending on how big your wages are, so you should make a claim
• If you want more information about Council Tax Support, click here

If you were getting Council Tax Support before for some other reason (for example, getting Jobseeker's Allowance, or working and being on low income) you should tell the local authority (council) that your circumstances have changed, otherwise you will be getting Council Tax Support for the wrong reason, and may end up being asked to pay back an overpayment

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