Paying for Care in Scotland

Scotland is the only part of the UK where personal care is free wherever you receive it. If a council has assessed you as needing personal care or nursing care, at home or in a care home, it cannot charge you for that care¹. The policy began on 1 July 2002 for people aged 65 and over and has since been extended, and it remains the biggest single difference between care funding in Scotland and in England, Wales and Northern Ireland².

Free does not mean everything is free. Councils can still charge for help that is not personal care, such as housework, shopping and laundry, after a financial assessment³. In a care home, accommodation and living costs are means tested, and the free personal care payment towards them was £193.50 a week in the most recent independent figure, with a separate nursing care payment⁴. For unpaid carers, Scotland has its own benefit, Carer Support Payment, worth £86.45 a week in 2026/27, plus a weekly Scottish Carer Supplement⁵.

Personal care in Scotland is free if you are assessed as needing it

The starting point for all council-funded care is a needs assessment, which is free of charge⁴. Once a council has assessed someone as needing personal care or nursing care, that care must be provided free, whether it is delivered in their own home or in a care home¹. Personal care covers the intimate help most people associate with care: washing, dressing, toileting, help with eating and food, and prompting or help with medicines. Nursing care, meaning care that needs to be given or supervised by a nurse, is also free in Scotland¹.

This is a Scottish rule and it does not apply south of the border. In England, only a fixed weekly amount towards nursing care is free and personal care is means tested, while in Northern Ireland the health and social care trust can charge but rarely does⁸. The practical effect of the Scottish rule is that the most expensive element of someone's care, the hands-on personal and nursing support, is removed from the bill whatever their income or savings. What remains chargeable is everything around it, which is where the means test and the financial assessment come in. The care needs assessment is the gateway: without one, there is no entitlement to the free care payments, and the assessment itself costs nothing⁴.

The free personal care and nursing care payments in care homes

For people living in a care home, the free care is delivered through fixed weekly payments made by the council. Independent guidance puts the free personal care payment at £193.50 a week for care home residents in Scotland⁴. Earlier figures from when the rates were last published in detail were £177 a week for personal care and £80 a week for nursing care from April 2019, with the local authority paying these directly to the care provider on the resident's behalf². The rates are uprated over time, which is why the more recent £193.50 figure is higher.

The payments go to the care home, not to the resident, and they only cover the care element of the fees. Accommodation, food, heating and everyday living costs are still the resident's responsibility, subject to the means test⁶. If someone is assessed as needing nursing care, the nursing care payment is added on top of the personal care payment².

Two points are worth knowing in practice. First, you may be asked for details about your application for free personal and nursing care when dealing with benefits related to going into a care home, so keep the paperwork⁹. Second, if receiving the free payments has left you better off and you can afford to, you may be able to pay your own top-up fees for a more expensive room, which is a different situation from a third party paying top-ups on your behalf⁶. The guides to the personal expenses allowance and top-up fees cover these in detail.

What councils can charge for: non-personal care

Everything that is not personal or nursing care can be charged for. Local authorities can charge for non-personal care, such as activities like housework and shopping, and if they decide to charge they must carry out a financial assessment first³. The same principle applies in care homes, where accommodation and living costs sit outside the free care payments⁶. Independent guidance gives the everyday examples: help with housework and laundry is social care that is not covered, and you may have to pay for it⁸.

The line between the two categories is what the assessment says you need, not what the service is called. A care worker who helps someone wash and dress in the morning and then does their shopping is delivering two different kinds of support: the first is free, the second can be charged for. This is why the assessment matters so much, and why families who disagree with what has been classed as personal care can ask the council to look again.

Financial assessments for care charges

When a council decides to charge for non-personal care, it must carry out a financial assessment to work out how much the person should pay³. The law behind charging for adult social care in Scotland is the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002³. The assessment looks at income and capital, and there are set rules about how each is treated.

For care at home, the treatment of savings depends on age. Below State Pension age, if you have more than £6,000 in savings, you are assumed to have £1 a week of extra income for each £250 over £6,000. Over State Pension age, the assumed income is £1 a week for each £500 over £10,000¹. These are assumed figures, sometimes called tariff income: the council does not count the savings themselves, only the notional weekly income they generate.

There are also floors that protect people on low incomes. The charging threshold for a single person is £167 per week, uprated each year by the Scottish Government, which limits how much of someone's income can be taken in charges³. And the council cannot charge anyone else, such as your partner or someone you live with: the assessment is of the person receiving the care alone¹.

For care homes, the means test works on capital. If you have over £35,500, your council will not help you with paying care home fees, aside from any free personal and nursing care payments⁶. Below that, the council contributes towards the fees, but the resident keeps only the Personal Expenses Allowance, currently £37.65 a week in Scotland (2026/27 rate), for personal spending⁶. The rules on whether your home counts towards that figure are covered in the guide to care home assessments.

Paying for care at home in Scotland

Care at home is where the Scottish rules show their value most clearly. If you have been assessed as needing personal or nursing care, it will be provided free of charge, and in Scotland nursing care is free¹. That means the core care someone needs to stay living in their own home does not eat into their income or savings, however much they have.

What the council can charge for is the practical support around it: housework, shopping, laundry and similar help, charged after a financial assessment³. The charging rules described above then apply, including the £167 weekly threshold for a single person and the tariff income on savings³. Someone with only state pension income may pay little or nothing for non-personal care, while someone with larger income and savings can be charged the full cost.

A few protections are worth remembering. The council cannot charge your partner or anyone else you live with for your care¹. The needs assessment is free⁴. And if money is tight, councils can offer urgent support including loans or grants, food, fuel and other essentials¹. For a picture of how the whole UK compares, see the guides to paying for care in England and paying for care in Wales, and the overview of how the rules differ between the nations.

Carer Support Payment: £86.45 a week in 2026/27

Carer Support Payment is the Scottish benefit for unpaid carers, paid at a standard rate of £86.45 a week in 2026/27⁵. The weekly rate is set in the Carer's Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023, which state the weekly rate of payment as £86.45¹⁰. Official statistics published in May 2026, covering an earlier period, record the full amount as £83.30 a week, so figures from different dates differ; the 2026/27 rate is £86.45¹¹. The rate matches Carer's Allowance, which is also £86.45 a week for carers elsewhere in the UK¹².

To get the full payment, you must not earn more than £196 a week after tax, National Insurance and expenses¹¹. The payment is for people looking after a friend, partner or relative, and it is only available for people in Scotland¹³. In March 2026, 95,420 individuals received payments in respect of Carer Support Payment, and it is estimated that 134,380 carers in total were on the caseload¹¹. From launch to 31 March 2026, the payment had been paid to 109,260 individuals¹¹.

Who can get Carer Support Payment

The conditions are set out in the regulations and in official guidance. You must usually live in Scotland¹¹, and you must provide care for 35 hours or more a week, which includes caring all day every day¹¹. The person you care for must receive a qualifying disability benefit. These include the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment at the standard or enhanced rate, the middle or highest care rate of Child Disability Payment, Attendance Allowance, the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment, the middle or highest care rate of Disability Living Allowance, and Constant Attendance Allowance at specified rates with Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit or a War Disablement Pension¹¹.

The care itself must not be provided under a contract, or as voluntary work done for a charity or other not-for-profit organisation for which no payment is received other than reasonable expenses¹⁰. There is also an earnings limit of £196 a week after tax, National Insurance and expenses¹¹.

People moving to Scotland from elsewhere in the UK are covered: anyone who moves to Scotland and was getting Carer's Allowance at the time of their move can apply for Carer Support Payment¹⁴. Carers who care for more than one person can receive an additional £10.40 per week per additional cared-for person, known as Carer Additional Person Payment, paid alongside Carer Support Payment¹¹. If the person you care for dies, carers in Scotland now receive up to 12 weeks of continued support, an extension of the previous provision¹⁵.

Who pays Carer Support Payment, and how to claim

Carer Support Payment is paid by Social Security Scotland, the Scottish Government's benefits agency¹⁶. Applications can be made online through the Social Security Scotland portal¹⁷. The legal definition is carer's assistance given in accordance with the Carer's Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023¹⁸, under powers in the Social Security Act 2018, which provides that carer's assistance is assistance given by the Scottish Ministers¹⁹.

In most cases the payment is made to the carer, but the regulations allow the Scottish Ministers, where they consider it appropriate, to make the payment to another person to be used for the benefit of the individual¹⁰. Processing takes time: the median average processing time for applications processed to 31 March 2026 was 48 working days, though official statistics for March 2026 also record a figure of 71 working days, so the documents differ on this point¹¹.

If a claim is refused or an existing award is changed, there is a route to challenge it. Short-term Assistance is available when a disability or carer benefit is reduced or stopped and the person challenges that decision, and it does not have to be paid back²⁰. Carer Support Payment also carries National Insurance credits, which protect a carer's state pension record²¹.

Carer Support Payment has replaced Carer's Allowance

Carer Support Payment has replaced Carer's Allowance for most carers in Scotland²². The change is part of the wider transfer of benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions to Social Security Scotland, alongside Adult Disability Payment replacing Personal Independence Payment and Pension Age Disability Payment replacing Attendance Allowance²³. UK-wide statistics on Carer's Allowance now exclude Scotland, because recipients there are administered by Social Security Scotland²⁵.

If you already receive Carer's Allowance, you do not need to do anything. The Department for Work and Pensions will carry on paying your Carer's Allowance until Social Security Scotland starts paying your Carer Support Payment²⁶. Existing recipients are moved automatically, with no new application, and the amount stays the same¹⁶. If you live in Scotland, you must apply for Carer Support Payment rather than Carer's Allowance for any new claim⁵.

One point that catches people out is the qualifying benefit for the person being cared for. Pension Age Disability Payment, Scotland's replacement for Attendance Allowance, is a qualifying benefit for Carer Support Payment²⁸. It is for people of State Pension age who are disabled or have a long-term health condition and need help looking after themselves or supervision to keep them safe, or who are terminally ill²⁴. Applications under Special Rules for Terminal Illness are handled on a fast-track basis²⁸. The guides to money help for unpaid carers and benefits cover the wider picture.

Scottish Carer Supplement: £11.70 a week in 2026/27

On top of Carer Support Payment, carers in Scotland get the Scottish Carer Supplement, worth £11.70 a week in 2026/27⁷. The weekly rate is set in legislation, which states the weekly rate of payment of Scottish Carer Supplement as £11.70¹⁰; a regulation made in March 2026 gives the rate as £11.29, so the documents differ, with the 2026/27 figure being £11.70²⁹. The payment is only available in Scotland²².

You do not need to claim it. It is paid automatically, weekly, alongside Carer Support Payment, without the need to apply²², and it is paid for every week in which the carer is paid the Carer Support Payment component³⁰. Those eligible for Carer Support Payment are also entitled to the supplement³¹. All three components, Carer Support Payment, Scottish Carer Supplement and any Carer Additional Person Payment, are paid at the same time³⁰.

The supplement replaces Carer's Allowance Supplement, which from 15 March 2026 was replaced for carers in receipt of Carer Support Payment¹¹. Carer's Allowance Supplement had been introduced in 2018 as a twice-yearly top-up, worth £230.10 a payment in 2019-20, or £460.20 a year, to bring carers' support in line with Jobseeker's Allowance³². The new supplement spreads the money across the year instead.

Two tax points matter. Scottish Carer Supplement is taxable, and you need to notify HMRC if you receive it⁷. It is treated as income for Pension Credit purposes, but it is disregarded in the calculation of income for Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit³⁴.

Where to get free help

Several organisations provide free, impartial information on paying for care in Scotland. Independent Age publishes detailed advice on paying for care services at home and in a care home¹. Carers UK Scotland covers free personal care and the carer payments¹³. MoneyHelper, the government-backed money guidance service, sets out the benefits carers can claim⁵, and Contact supports families with disabled children moving into adult services³. For urgent money problems, Scottish councils can offer loans or grants, food, fuel and other essentials¹. Related guides on this site cover care needs and financial assessments, money when someone is terminally ill and what happens to benefits when someone dies.