New carer support payment launches in Scotland

The introduction of carer support payment

Carer support payment (CSP) was introduced for new claims in the pilot areas of Perth and Kinross, Dundee and the Western Isles on 20 November 2023.1 Anyone in those areas who does not currently get carer’s allowance (CA), and meets the rules for CSP, can apply. Applications for CA can no longer be made in those areas. There will be a phased roll-out for new claims in other areas of Scotland starting from spring 2024, and it is due to be fully rolled out nationally by autumn 2024.

For those who do already get CA, transfers to CSP will begin in February 2024.2

The main rules

The rules for CSP are similar to those for CA. The claimant must:

• be 16 or over (and beyond school leaving age);3
• provide regular and substantial care to a cared-for person – ie, 35 hours or more care a week);
• care for someone in receipt of a qualifying disability benefit – ie, the daily living component of adult disability payment (ADP) or personal independence payment (PIP), disability living allowance (DLA) or child disability payment (CDP) care component at the middle or highest rate, attendance allowance or certain armed forces disability payments;
• earn no more than £139 a week after subtracting tax, national insurance and certain other deductions; and
• not be subject to immigration control, and meet the residence tests.

The claimant must not be entitled to: the carer element of universal credit (UC) in respect of a different cared-for person; CA; or a young carer grant. They cannot get CSP if someone else gets it, CA or the carer element of UC in respect of the same cared-for person.

Differences from carer’s allowance

The main differences are with regard to entitlement of students, and the past presence test for people coming from abroad.4

Students

Full time students are not eligible for CA. But many student carers will be eligible for CSP. The exception is that 16–19 year olds in full-time, non-advanced education are not eligible. The reasoning for this is that such young people’s parents will often be able to claim benefits for them (although this may well stop around, or not long after, a young person’s 19th birthday), and that there is other funding available for young carers in the form of the young carer grant (although it is only available for 16–18 year olds). In addition, an education maintenance allowance or further education bursary maintenance allowance may be available. The Scottish government also has a concern that these young students could be pushed into a caring role if they were to be eligible for CSP, although this view is not shared by CPAG or by many carer charities, and the Scottish government has committed to look at this again in due course.5

The student carers who are eligible for CSP are:6

• full-time student carers aged 20 or over;
• full-time advanced/higher education students of any age – ie, on a Higher National Certificate (HNC) course or above);
• part-time students at any level.

Students aged 16–19 on a non-advanced/ further education course of ‘full-time education’ or approved training (ie, ‘No one left behind’ provision) are not eligible.

The definition of ‘full-time education’ for carer support payment is:7

• education undertaken in pursuit of a course, where the average time spent during term time in receiving tuition, engaging in practical work or supervised study, or taking examinations, exceeds 21 hours per week; and
• in calculating the time spent in pursuit of the course, no account is taken of time occupied by meal breaks or spent on unsupervised study.

Part of the regulation concerning students will come into force on 1 October 2024 – ie, once CSP is fully rolled out). These provisions allow 16–19-year-old carers in full-time further education to be eligible for an award in circumstances in which they would be eligible for UC – for example, if they are a young parent, or they are estranged from their own parents.8

Past presence test

There are residence criteria to meet for CSP, which are mostly similar to CA: you must be present in the common travel area, satisfy the past presence test, be habitually resident in the common travel area, and be ordinarily resident in Scotland. However, the past presence test is a shorter period than it is for CA. This is in line with Scottish disability benefits. You must have been present in the common travel area for 26 weeks out of the last 52 (rather than, for CA, 104 weeks in the last 156). In addition, if the person you care for is terminally ill, there is no past presence requirement. This will help UK nationals returning from abroad to care for an elderly parent, who currently have no entitlement to CA until they have been back in the UK for two years.

The amount and payment of benefit

CSP is paid at the same rate as CA – currently £76.75 a week. In addition, carers in Scotland who get CA or CSP are entitled to a carer’s allowance supplement paid twice a year in a lump sum (£270.50 twice a year in 2023). Payment of carer’s allowance supplement will continue in this way until case transfer to CSP is complete. After that, it is likely to be paid along with CSP.

Payment of CSP is usually every four weeks in arrears. However, for some people it will be paid weekly in advance, including those who are currently paid CA weekly in advance by the DWP.

Like CA, CSP can be backdated for up to three months (or 13 weeks, to be precise) if the claimant met the conditions during that time, or for longer if they claim within 13 weeks of the cared-for person getting an award of a qualifying benefit.

How to apply

CSP can be claimed online at mygov.scot, by phone on 0800 182 2222, or by a paper or online interactive application form. In addition to getting help to apply from welfare rights workers or other advisers, people can also get help to apply from Social Security Scotland’s local delivery teams.

Interaction with other benefits

CSP is treated similarly to CA in terms of its interaction with other benefits. There are similar overlapping benefit rules to CA, so that, for example, a claimant cannot get CSP and state retirement pension, but instead will have underlying entitlement to CSP. CSP provides entitlement to a carer element in UC, or a carer premium/addition in other means-tested benefits.9

Where someone living in Scotland and getting CSP moves to another part of the UK, CSP can continue for up to 13 weeks. They should apply for CA in the part of the UK that they move to. If someone moves to Scotland and is getting CA, transfer to CSP takes place as part of the case transfer process or, if that is complete, CSP is awarded without the need to apply for it.10

Future changes

The Scottish government intends to make other changes to CSP. This includes introducing an additional payment for carers of more than one disabled person, and extending entitlement when someone dies. There are also plans to introduce short-term assistance where the cared-for person is in receipt of short-term assistance – ie, continued payments of CSP where the cared-for person is challenging a decision to stop their award of a qualifying benefit.

*The Carer’s Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 No.302 (‘CSP Regs’)