- The carer element adds £209.34 a month to your Universal Credit if you care for a severely disabled person for at least 35 hours a week. That is £2,512.08 a year.1
- The person you care for must get a qualifying disability benefit, such as Attendance Allowance, the daily living part of PIP, or the middle or highest care rate of DLA.1
- Unlike Carer's Allowance, the carer element has no earnings limit: you can still get it if you earn more than £204 a week.3
- If you also get Carer's Allowance, your Universal Credit goes down by the full amount of your Carer's Allowance, so your total usually stays the same or goes up.4
How much is the carer element?
The carer element is a flat amount added to your Universal Credit maximum award. It does not depend on how many hours over 35 you care, or on how disabled the person you look after is.18
| UC carer element (monthly) | £209.34 |
| A year | £2,512.08 |
| Carer's Allowance, for comparison (weekly) | £86.45 |
| Carer's Allowance as a monthly figure (x 52 / 12) | £374.62 |
Carer's Allowance is the bigger payment, but for a Universal Credit claimant it is not extra money on top: it is taken off your Universal Credit pound for pound. The carer element, on the other hand, is part of the Universal Credit calculation itself.
Who can get the carer element?
You need to provide care for at least 35 hours a week for someone who gets one of these: Attendance Allowance, Pension Age Disability Payment, PIP daily living (either rate), DLA care at the middle or highest rate, Adult Disability Payment or Child Disability Payment (certain awards), Armed Forces Independence Payment, or Constant Attendance Allowance at certain rates.1
The legal test is that you meet the conditions for Carer's Allowance, or would do except that your earnings are too high. You do not have to claim Carer's Allowance to get the carer element.35
You cannot get it if you are paid to do the caring, for example as a care worker employed to look after that person.3
If you care for a disabled child, the carer element is paid on top of any disabled child addition already in your award.1
Can I get the carer element and Carer's Allowance?
Yes, you can be entitled to both, but Universal Credit is reduced by an amount equal to your Carer's Allowance.4 It does not add the carer element automatically when Carer's Allowance starts, so report it in your journal.1
Claiming Carer's Allowance can still be worth it: it gives you Class 1 National Insurance credits,4 and because it is not means-tested it keeps paying if your Universal Credit stops, for example because your partner's earnings go up.5
Check the knock-on effect first. When someone claims Carer's Allowance, the person they care for usually stops getting any severe disability premium with their benefits, or the extra amount for severe disability in their Pension Credit (£86.05 a week).4 A severe disability premium also stops when the carer element is claimed.1 Work out which way round leaves both households better off before anyone claims.
Worked example: a carer with no earnings
Sam is 30, single, and cares for their mother, who gets Attendance Allowance, for more than 35 hours a week. Sam rents a flat for £550 a month (assume all of it is eligible rent), has no earnings and savings under £6,000, and gets Carer's Allowance.
| Standard allowance (single, 25 or over) | £424.90 |
| Carer element | £209.34 |
| Housing element (rent) | £550.00 |
| Maximum Universal Credit | £1,184.24 |
| Less Carer's Allowance (£86.45 x 52 / 12) | -£374.62 |
| Universal Credit a month | £809.62 |
Sam's total income from Universal Credit and Carer's Allowance is £1,184.24 a month, the same as Universal Credit alone would be without Carer's Allowance. The differences are the National Insurance credits and the possible knock-on effect on the mother's benefits, which is why the order you claim in matters. Private renters get no more than their Local Housing Allowance rate for rent.
Worked example: a carer who works part time
Now say Sam also works and takes home £300 a week (£1,300 a month). That is over the £204 a week Carer's Allowance limit, so Sam cannot get Carer's Allowance, but still gets the carer element.3 Carers get no work allowance unless they have a child or a health condition that limits work, so the 55% taper applies from the first pound.6
| Maximum Universal Credit (as above) | £1,184.24 |
| Less 55% of £1,300 earnings | -£715.00 |
| Universal Credit a month | £469.24 |
Without the carer element this would be £259.90, so the element is worth the full £209.34 a month here.
What if I have a health condition, or we are a couple?
If you get the limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) element, you cannot also get the carer element. You get the LCWRA element instead.12
If you and your partner both care for the same person, you get one carer element between you. If you each care for a different severely disabled person, you can both get it.2 Where two people outside a couple care for the same person, only one of them can get it; you choose who, or DWP decides.2
Does the carer element stop the benefit cap?
Yes. You are not affected by the benefit cap if you get Universal Credit because you care for someone with a disability, or if you get Carer's Allowance.7 The person you care for will also usually be on a disability benefit that exempts their own household.
How do I claim the carer element?
Tell Universal Credit through your journal that you care for someone for 35 hours a week or more, and which disability benefit they get. If you start getting Carer's Allowance, report that too, because the carer element is not added automatically.1
The carer element depends on the person you care for getting a qualifying disability benefit, so if they are still waiting for a decision, tell Universal Credit as soon as their award is made.
- £209.34 a month (£2,512.08 a year).18
- For at least 35 hours a week of care for someone on a qualifying disability benefit.1
- No earnings limit, and you do not need to claim Carer's Allowance.3
- Carer's Allowance is deducted from Universal Credit in full.4
- Not paid alongside your own LCWRA element; one element per cared-for person.2
- Exempts your household from the benefit cap.7